The New Zealand Times. MONDAY, APRIL 19, 1926. WHAT WILL THEY SAY IN ENGLAND?

New Zealand Times, Volume LIII, Issue 12424, 19 April 1926, Page 6

The New Zealand Times. MONDAY, APRIL 19, 1926. WHAT WILL THEY SAY IN ENGLAND?

Presently, no doubt, we shall be informed of the results of the Government’s inquiry into the question of absolute control. It is some weeks now since the Prime Minister promised such an investigation, and the evidence most relevant is not far to seek. The “Times” has provided Mr Coates and the Minister for Agriculture with plenty of reasons why dairy absolutism should not become operative. Apart altogether from the underlying principle of the Grounds policy, there is the question of the effect, on the minds of the British consumer to be considered.

The board’s concern first and last is the producer. The consumer apparently has no right so far as the board is concerned. But Mr Coates may need to be reminded that already several of the big English dailies are showing signs of disquiet at the prospect of compulsory marketing coming into force. The “Manchester Guardian,’ a power in the United Kingdom, is one newspaper which has raised its voice in protest. The “Daily Mail” can be trusted to follow suit: it and the “Daily Chronicle” have fought the battle of the consumer in the agitation for cheaper meat ana bread, and fought it successfully. Compulsory marketing is arousing a similar hostility because it means nothing more nor less than a system of arbitrary pricefixing on the London market.

Let us imagine for a moment what will take place under control. The London manager, Mr Wright, who is in receipt of the handsome salary of 163000 per annum, will supervise the whole of the marketing scheme. He will keep in dose touch with all the agents, and direct them from day to day as to how much butter they shall sell, and at what price. The instructions as to price will have to be definite. It will be useless for him to say, “To-day I want you to get not less than 175 s per cwt., but try and get more.” As soon as the price is named, it becomes the fixed selling price, and no agent would dare to ask his customers to pay a higher price. If he did, he would very soon lose all his customers, who would drift off to other agents who were selling at his announced price of iyss per cwt. Not only does the compulsory marketing scheme resolve itself into a definite system of price-fixing, but it also stands to reason that Mr Wright is paid £3OOO to get the very best results for the New Zealand producers, which can only be obtained by screwing out of the consumers the last penny they will pay for New Zealand butter and cheese. The question then arises as to what the British public, the British Press, and the British Government will think of this price-fixing system. Last year there was a tremendous commotion at Home simply because the New Zealand Meat Board regulated 1 shipments and arrivals of New Zealand frozen lamb on the Home market. To expect the British public to submit quietly to a definite system of price-fixing by the Control Board’s London manager is a very forlorn hope; indeed, the mere mention of the idea at Home may bring a hornet’s nest round the ears of the New Zealand Government.