FARMERS' PROBLEMS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 22971, 24 February 1938, Page 17

FARMERS' PROBLEMS

Sir, —Your report of the annual ward conference of the New Zealand Dairy Board makes one wonder if the farmer will ever wake up to his rights in tho matter of dealing with his own products and how best to dispose of them. It now looks as if the Dairy Control Board is angling to offer an exchange of servitude to the farmer, from the Government servitude which he is suffering. You report the chairman of the board as saving, "The present season has seen the institution of control of sales of hutter on the local markets. To the actual handling of this problem very little exception can be_ taken." This is a significant observation from the chairman, Mr. A. J. Murdoch. It can onlv be read one way, and that is, that lie agrees with the Government's policy of local control. Surely if he can justify this, then he must justify export control, as a principle. Air. Murdoch has surely not forgotten the mandate he received from the electors in thi« ward, when he was first elected to the Dairy Control Board. Then he stood for complete freedom for the farmer to do his business in his own way. It was on this principle he received a substantial majority of votes and displaced an old and tried veteran (Mr. Grounds). Regarding Mr. Nash's comments at this same conference. You report him as saying "the system of single control . . . had eliminated speculation to a degree nobody thought possible before." Any impartial inquiry would have elieitecl the information that, since the introduction of single control, speculation in London had become more rife than ever. And to any trained business man, this result was bound to follow. The speculator now has greater security than over ho had before in handling New Zealand produce. Mr. Nash also said, "The Government was not wedded to the present procedure although he still thought it was the best for the industry." Is this a weakening in the scientific methods we were given to understand exports formulated before the inception of the scheme? As I see it there is but one salvation for the great dairy industry. Let the farmers stand on their own legs, cease running' to the Government or boards, whenever a temporary harsh wind blows across their financial path. The Dominion was founded by better mettle than this. yzsxiAS«