FARMER V. STATE CONTROL

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 23101, 28 July 1938, Page 12

FARMER V. STATE CONTROL

So much is heard about dairy ! marketing under the guaranteed ! price scheme that the steady func- ! tioning of the Meat Board is apt to be overlooked. In this case no news is good news. The board carries on its business on behalf of ; the farmers it represents quietly but ! efficiently. The farmers elect the committee which chooses the board I and finance all operations by levies on their own produce. This demo- | cratic and representative system i offers a strong contrast to the comj mandeer and dictated price which I have been imposed on the dairy j industry by the Labour Government. The difference is that between free- | dom and servitude. Yet the board is accomplishing just as much for its constituents as the Marketing Department and doing it at a much lower cost. Total expenditure by the board in the year ended June 30 was £67,'137, against £IBO,OOO charged lo the dairy farmers last year by the department for administrative expenses. A further sum of £IO,OOO has to be added to the departmental bill for the Dairy Board's expenses, indicating that State control costs a great deal more than farmer control. Actually the old Dairy Board's expenses were comparable with the Meat Board's, amounting to £78,000 in 1035-36, the last year of full operation. Perusal of the Meat Board's annual report shows that it is rendering valuable service in several directions. Owing to the vagaries of the last season the realisation of its aim of regulating shipments in the interests of orderly and advantageous marketing proved more difficult than usual, but was successfully achieved. There is rio need at this late day lo emphasise what it has done lo raise standards of quality by the steady influence of its grading system, a system that is now being applied lo (lie rapidly expanding chilled beef and baconer trades. Advertising and the spread of shipments over British ports have also been efficiently arranged. In view of (he hoard's smooth working and the undoubted gains it has won for farmers at small cos!, they may well feel that self-government is lo be preferred to expensive State domination.