THE MEAT BOARD ELECTION

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22021, 2 August 1933, Page 4

THE MEAT BOARD ELECTION

TO THE EDITOR. Sir, —The farmers of New Zealand are at the present moment being' asked to nominate members of the Electoral Committee of the Meat Board. "When these Electoral Committee members have been elected they proceed to elect the members of the'Meat Board. The net result of this peculiar system is that the members of the Meat Board are there tor life. The farming community has only an indirect voice in the nomination of them, and not many take any interest in a Meat Board election, with the result that the same old members are returned to the Electoral Committee time after time, and these same old members invariably elect the same personnel to the Meat Board. . There is a Dominion-wide deep-seated dissatisfaction with the Meat Board among farmers who have taken any interest in its activities. The criticism is strong and vigorous in all the grazing and fattening districts of the Dominion. In this respect the North and South Islands are quite unanimous that a change is necessary. The present Meat Board has got into a groove, and is incapable of. any action outside its own groove. We all freely admit that it has done valuable work in the past, but that is no reason for its resting on its oars, and there is a settled conviction those members of the farming community who have been taking a keen interest in this subject that the introduction of fresh blood on the Meat Board would undoubtedly be of marked benefit to the whole Dominion. It is in the farmers' interests to support the Farmers' Union candidate for the seat on the Electoral Committee, as it is high time that they were represented bv some energetic and practical men who will insist on a change in the personnel of the Meat Board itself as the surest and best means of widening the board's scope and activities. .... At a time of acute financial crisis like this every avenue likely to\ be of any benefit to farming interests should be carefully and promptly explored, ihere can be no doubt at all of the greatly increased activity and corresponding benefits that will be enjoyed by the _ whole Dominion if a few active, energetic, and thoroughly practical men are elected to seats on the board. The very fact that the same strong dissatisfaction 13 shown in many districts so widely scattered 111 both North and South Islands—a dissatisfaction that is spontaneously shown and not engineered in any way—shows that a change is urgently needed. The action of the refrigerating "oraI panies in cutting down the value of lamb by Id per lb when the lamb was oyer 361 b weight was an exploitation of the farming community. The lamb ot JBib weight is a better and choicer animal than the unfinished lamb of 331 b. yet the lamb buyers have given Id per lb less for the better finished lamb, and the cable reports show, no cut in values for 3Glb to 421 b lamb, and no cut for the 421 bto 501 b lamb. I maintain that the drastic cuts in value for the heavier lambs are uncalled for. I contend, Sir, that if the Meat Board had been wide awake it would have protested vigorously against this deliberate exploitation of the farming community. As it is the board has done nothing at all in this respec. I insist/Sir, that changes are urgently needed in the Meat Board, and these changes must start with the Electoral Committee.-I am, etc., fi CnApMAN Waitaki, July 30.