DAIRY CONTROL BOARD.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 19783, 7 May 1926, Page 10

DAIRY CONTROL BOARD.

METHOD OF ELECTION. ONE PRODUCER, ONE VOTE. LETTER TO PRIME MINISTER. (F'Bom Odb Own Correspondent.) WANGANUI, May 6. Mr W. A. Veitch, M.P., has forwarded the following letter to the Prime Minister; — 1 have the honour to bring under your notice further important inii in connection with the method of electing the members of the Dairy Control Board. 1. All parties are agreed that the Dominion shall be divided into nine wards six for the North Islanu and three for the South Island: and that each ward shall elect one producers’ representative to the Dairy Control Board. The points to be settled by Parliament are: (a) \vuct cr tl individual producers or the lactory directors in each ward are to do the voting; and (h) whether the voting shall be on° the basis of one producer one vote, or on a tonnage basis, according to the quant of butter or cheese exported by each factory. „ ... 2. Many of the delegates to the Dairy Conference who voted in favour of the Control Board being elected by the lactory directors stated frankly that they were heartily in favour of the principle of each dairy producer having a vote, but for all practical purposes they thought it would be better j U e the election of tae board ' i the hands of the factory directors —in other words, by casting their vote in favour of the factory directors electing the board they disfranchised a large number of their suppliers who want a vote. 3. After carefully analysing the whole position I am satisfied that less than 30 per cent, of the dairy producers are in favour of the Dairy Control Board being elected by the factory directors. -LnKewiso, I am just as certain that over 70 per cent, of the dairy producers want the right of voting for their own representative on the Control Board. 4. The. idea of grading the value of each producer's vote according to the amount of butter or cheese exported by his factory is such a grossly unfair departure from the democratic principle of one man one vote that it would only lead to further dissension throughout the dairying industry. ihe Dairy Control Board proposes to bring com pulsion into force on August 1. to seize and to market the whole of the Dominion’s output of butter and cheese, whether a producer wants it or not. in doing so the board is treading on dangerous ground legally and morally, and incusentally it raises a very fine point in constitutional la™ But that is not the matter under discussion. The point 1 wish to■ ( br , l m g is that on a matter which so vitally con corns the welfare of the individual producer there is only one sound and democratic principle of electing the Control Board and that is on the basis of one producer one 5 I have already- pointed out to you that the unfair tonnage basis of voting at the recent dairy conference in Wellington created very serious dissension amongst tne delegates and failed to reflect the views of the dairy producers. Similarly a system of electing the Dairy Control Board on a tonnage basis would have precisely the same result. The Dairy Control Act was brought into operation on the basis of one Producer one vote and the same principle still holds good.