DAIRY PRICE GUARANTEE

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22350, 22 February 1936, Page 12

DAIRY PRICE GUARANTEE

Dairy farmers will probably examine with considerable interest the personnel, as published this morning, of the special committee appointed by the Government to investigate methods of applying the principle of guaranteed prices and adjusting payments. ,The scope of the investigation is also believed to include changes in marketing to fit in with the guarantee scheme. The first point that will be noted about this committee comprising seven members is that it does not include a single producer. It may be that the Government considers the committee to be fully informed as to the farmer's circumstances, but, even so, direct representation is usually supposed to have advantages. Similarly, the committee does not contain any member with a practical working knowledge of manufacturing in the dairy factories. This secondary stage in the industry is represented by two members drawn from the factory counting-houses. Doubtless they possess great skill in figures and accounting, but necessarily are not acquainted by daily practice with the actual making of butter and cheese from the butter-fat and milk sent in by suppliers. The majority of the committee.comprises public servants who have specialised in economics or agriculture, and the application of the one to the other. Hence distribution, the other great end of the industry, is as devoid of representation as production. The trader is left outside the committee's deliberations along with the farmer and the butter or cheese maker. These are serious omissions when dealing with a great and complex industry, whose prosperity is vital to every New Zealander. The principles of the economist combined with the exactness of the accountant and the scientist should be valuable in the investigation, but theory and figuring should not be employed to the exclusion of practice.