ROUNDLY CONDEMNED

New Zealand Times, Volume LIII, Issue 12507, 24 July 1926, Page 5

ROUNDLY CONDEMNED

ttl. FARMERS’ ASSOCIATION PRESIDENT ON CONTROL PROPOSAL “GREAT DEAL OF HARM DONE” “BRITISH PUBLIC WILL NEVER ACCEPT PRICE-FIXATION” “I am satisfied tkat the British public never will Accept prico* fixation, and that if such a thing came into being the House of Com* mom would legislate to prevent it.”

In these words, Mr W. J. Poison, Dominion president of the New Zealand Farmers’ Union, concluded an interview on dairy control which he gave to the ‘‘Times” last evening. “The British merchants and wholesale men are conservative, as the bulk of the British public is known to be,” said Mr Poison. “They abhor anything that has the appearance of violent change, and they have made up their minds that the New Zealand Dairy Control Board, in seeking to control our dairy produce, is determined to dictate prices to them. I found this a very general impression at Home on my trip through Great Britain. I took a great deal of trouble to investigate the matter, not onlj r from the Tooley Street end, but also among the merchants in every part of the country, and also the wholesale grocers. And I found an astonishingly strong feeling growing against New Zealand dairy produce because of the belief that the Dairy Control Board was determined to fix prices. I endeavoured to point out to these people that control meant absolute control if it meant anything at all, but that I did not understand it to mean price fixation, and that I did not believe that the board would attempt price fixation. “I am satisfied from what I saw that the attempt would be suicidal, and that the first duty of the hoard is to make it absolutely clear that such is not their intention. “LACK OF DIPLOMACY” “I know that Mr Grounds has already said that the policy of the board is not price fixation, but this is not the impression which has been created nt Home, and I am afraid that there has been a lack of diplomacy somewhere. “At all events a great deal of harm Has been done. I am myself aware of important orders for butter which in the ordinary course of events would have been filled by New Zealand butter but which have gone elsewhere. Merchants have given me figures to show what we have lost by the displacement of our produce bv our competitors, because of a feeling which, while not amounting to a boycott, does amount to a distinct hostility towards New Zealand butter. “It is fair to say that the fear of dictation is not the only ground for this. Certain firms and companies have been holding our butter in the

hope of higher prices until in many cases it has become stale. Colonel Esson and I saw New Zealand butter which through long storage and inferior packing in chgap boxes, and no doubt for other causes, was almost unrecognisable. It had a rind of discoloured butter-fat through which one had to dig to get to the real article, and the outer portion had all sorts of flavours which oertainly did not recall fresh New Zealand butter. SOONER THE BETTER *‘One of the troubles is unsatisfactory storage. We were told of one large amount of New Zealand butter which had been held in store, and was in nothing more or less than an ordinary shed. It had deteriorated rapidly, and no doubt there is a good deal of this sort of thing. Still; comSytition is steadily increasing. The altio States, new and old, tutored by Denmark, are sending out growing quantities of excellent butter. The export of Argentine is increasing rapidly. Australia is producing an excellent article in bigger quantities, and quite a considerable amount of Siberian batter is beginning to find its way back on the British market. We found Australian butter selling readily at prices equal to New Zealand’s nominal sales. We found the Australian article rapidly increasing in popularity, and a desire on the part of the Australians to push their produce. The fact is that just now the British market is practically glutted with butter—and on top of this the fact that Britain and Ireland are haring one of the best dairying seasons for many years. BAD OUTLOOK One does not like to be a prophet of evil, but I am afraid that the outloos for New Zealand butter is not rosy. I would suggest that the policy of the Dairy Control Board should be directly towards creating better storage and marketing facilities in the meantime, rather than make any attempt towards price fixation. I think that one requires to go home and study the question at the other end to realise the enormous difficulties which the board is called upon to face. I quite confess that I had no idea of the complexity of the problem until I studied it for myself. “Control as administered by the Meat Board, though in the opinion of many people not going far enough, has to my mind achieved many very beneficial results I think myself that ‘Festina lente* is the best policy.”