PRIMARY PRODUCTS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20947, 10 August 1931, Page 11

PRIMARY PRODUCTS.

MEETING COMPETITION. NEED FOR HIGH STANDARD. STEADILY INCREASING OUTPUT. [BT TELEGRAPH. —OWN CORRESPONDENT.] CHRISTCHUHCH. Sunday. The need for improvement in the quality of New Zealand's products to enable them to meet increasing competition was emphasised by the Prime Minister when opening the Winter Show on Saturday evening. "Primary producers find competition increasing year by year," said Mr. Forbes, "and the only way in which thoy can face it is by improving the quality of their products. As far as the Government is concerned, we endeavour by co-operation with scientific research and the instruction of the farmers to work toward this improvement, and I think we can claim that great progress has been made in this direction. It will not be long before we shall he able to double our production. "The value of our production in 1931 is £36,275,000. In 1930 it was £46,000,000, and in 1929 it was £55,000,000. It must be remembered that with a smaller income we are bound to have difficult times, but there is no reason to be downhearted in a country like New Zealand, and the figures for the last few years show what we can do. In the 1931 season, a total of 9,829,000 carcases of frozen mutton and lamb were exported, an increase of 30,000 over the previous season. Butter and cheese have had similar gains. In 1930 the export was 93,734 tons, and this year it was 97,031 tons, while 2000 tons more cheese were exported last year than the year before. A record for fruit was established last season, when 1,293,000 cases were sent to Great Britain. "There has been a steady improvement in the quality of the products of the secondary industries. Anyone comparing the exhibits of 30 years ago with those of to-day would hardly credit the amount of progress made. "The Department of Scientific and Industrial Research is being reorganised, and a board is being set up specially to deal with both secondary and primary industries. What struck me when I was abroad was that practically every industry had its own laboratory. Those are the lines along which we should go. We should concentrate on scientific assistance for our industries." PRODUCE FOR BRITAIN. IMPORTANCE OF QUALITY. LESSON FROM DENMARK. [BY TELEGRAPH.—OWN CORRESPONDENT.] WHANGAREI, Saturday. A representative gathering of officials of North Auckland dairy companies in Whangarei was addressed at Whangarei to-day by Mr. H. J. A. Wilkins, chairman of directors, and Mr. W. T. Charter, a director of the British Co-operative Wholesale Society, and Mr. T. Mos3, the New Zealand farmers' representative on the New Zealand Producers' Association's Selling Board in London. Mr. W. Grounds, chairman of the North Auckland Conference executive, presided. Mr. Edgar Harding, chairman of the New Zealand Co-operative Marketing Association, briefly introduced the speakers. Mr. Wilkins, in reviewing the growth of the operations of the society, said it now claimed to supply about 20,000,000 people in Great Britain. The object of the visit to New Zealand was to get Into contact with farmers with a view to purchasing mutton arid lamb and to study the conditions. He believed it was time for reciprocal trade between producer and consumer. Referring to butter, Mr. Wilkins urged New Zealand producers to maintain the highest quality on all occasions, as the Danes did. Mr. Charter said the society each year held exhibitions in centres throughout England, prominently displaying New Zealand butter and cheese. It was necessary for New Zealand to keep a high standard of produce with orderly production and orderly distribution. Referring to Danish butter, the speaker said the Danes used the most scientific methods, gained through many years experience, and in addition were only 36 hours from the English market.

In reply to a quest ion, Mr. Charters said the society handled a very small quantity of Russian butter, always preferring to keep to Empire products.