DAIRY PRODUCE CONTROL.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 19019, 15 November 1923, Page 6

DAIRY PRODUCE CONTROL.

ELECTION OF A BOARD. MR POLSON’S VIEWS. (From Ode Own Correspondent.) WANGANUI, November 14. At the request of farmers and the Farmers’ Union Executive, Mr W. J. Poison (dominion president of the Farmers’ Union) made an intei'esting statement to-day concerning the Dairy Control Board. “Why there is so much alarm at the election of the Dairy Control Board is difficult to explain,” said Mr “Poison, “unless on the ground that ihe New Zealand public has little confidence in the ability of the dairymen to elect sound men. A ticket has been selected from the most prominent of the men who have been supporting control. It is not suggested that the ticket satisfies even those who were chiefly responsible for selecting it. Many able men have interes's opposed to control and are more or loss precluded from occupying seats on the hoard which, if it is to tackle this huge question successfully, must be composed of enthusiastic men determined to carry out the wishes of the producers. On the other hand it is equally necessary that the fanatical extremist must have no place on (ho board. Its members must be enthusiastic in (heir support of dairy control, but they must be conservative in carrying out the aims they have in view. The dairy industry is New Zealand's mainstay. Beside what it is destined to become to this dominion the other primary industries will sink into comparative insignificance. It is possible to increase New Zealand’s dairy produce five-fold without exhausting the resources of the country. There must, therefore, be the most extreme care taken to see that ||}iatever board is elected it can be relied foil to study the whole question very thoroughly before it makes any move at all. If the board succeeds in an assault on ;he shipping ring, if it is able t 6 save a little in the handling charges, and if it j does something to assist in exploiting nfcw markets both in Great Britain and abroad it will have done enough to justify its existence. “ Many producers would like some assurances from the selected candidates along other lines because in many instances the candidates are unknow-n to them, and they are not w-holly free from uneasiness. All dairymen are not equally familiar with the problems which confront the industry, but every dairyman is anxious that whatever steps are taken they shall be sound, and that whatever is done shall be for the benefit, of the industry. What is good for the dairy farmer must be good for the community. because wealth cannot be shared until it is created.” Mr Poison says that the rmblic may rest satisfied that the dairy farmers, whose existence depends upon the industry, will carefully select the men they wish to place upon any board to govern it. In this connection he regrets the tendency to split the dominion into w-ards, and to select certain men because such selection will give representation to particular districts. Such a system is hound to exclude good men and to elect mediocre men in some instances. The producers’ main anxiety is to elect the best men, irrespective ,of where they reside. The election of a ticket was intended to give a lead to many producers in this respect, but it was certainly, not intended to °xclude other men with -equal claims to recognition from the poll. Possibly in some instances the best man has been lost sight cf. If so. it is unfortunate, but Mr Poison 'magines that the producers will recognise the claims of any outstanding man whether he is on the ticket or not.

THE CANTERBURY CANDIDATE. (Pee United Press Association.) CHRISTCHURCH, November 14. A meeting of dairy factory suppliers today selected Mr Sydney Smiths (secretary of the Central Dairy Co., Ltd.) as the candidate to represent Canterbury on the Dairy Control Board.