DAIRY CONTROL

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 23040, 18 May 1938, Page 18

DAIRY CONTROL

MINISTER CRITICISED LONDON COMMISSIONS EFFECT ON LOCAL AGENTS "The Hon. Walter Nash has saved £IOO,OOO by putting tho exporting merchants of New Zealand out of business," said Professor R. M. Algie, organiser of the Auckland Provincial Freedom Association, during an address to an audience of more than 1000 at Mount Eden last night, when referring to a recent statement of the Minister that tho Tooley Street butter merchants had agreed to lower their commission by i per cent. "Mr. Nash stated that his Government had been able to introduce a splendid system of marketing for those concerned with the dairy industry," said Professor Algie, "ajul he stated that tho Tooley Street merchants in London had agreed to lower their commission from 2J to 2 per cent. Tho inference no doubt was that because of the splendid character of the marketing scheme these British merchants were prepared to forego -J per cent of their commissiop.

"The truth of the matter of course, is that the Tooley Street merchants were in general represented by local agents in New Zealand, and it was customary for our local agents to receive * per cent by way of rebate from the Tooley Street merchants. So far as the commissions, therefore, are concerned, the position is that ' the Tooley Street merchants get as much as they did before 'our local agents, living and working in New Zealand, had their business taken away from them without one penny of compensation., "It may well be that although the Government was able to make a saving of i per cent at the expense of local New Zealand agents, nevertheless tho people of the country would like to know how much of that saving has been eaten up in costs of admimstratl(]Professor Algie also compared this year's surplus in tho Dairy Industry Account with the deficit last year and asked whether the farmers were legally entitled to any particular surplus since the taxpayers in general had to bear the burden of the deficit, although the farmers were morally entitled to a share in it. It remained for Mr. Nash and his colleagues to say whether tlie farmers should participate in a distribution this year of the surplus.