CONTROL OF INDUSTRY

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22397, 19 October 1934, Page 7

CONTROL OF INDUSTRY

'RECONSTRUCTION OF BOARD EXTENSION OF FUNCTIONS PERSONNEL OF EIGHT MEMBERS The commission considers it imperative that for the good of the industry, and in order that the administration may be reorganised to meet present and future problems involving all phases of production and marketing, the board be reconstituted in a manner likely to enable it more effectively to administer the industry. It is therefore recommended 'that the Dairy Produce Control Board be reconstituted and given wider powers, ■*’ embracing control of volume and quality of the production, processing and manufacture of dairy produce and control of local marketing as well as export marketing. To give effect to this, it is recommended that the present Dairy Produce Control Board be dissolved and replaced by a board of eight members, four elected by the industry (to be described as “elected members”), and four appointed by the Government (to be described as "appointed members”). It is proposed that, for electoral purposes, the Dominion be divided into four wards; Ward 1 to be the present wards 1,2 and 3, with the addition of the counties 6f Matakaoa, Waiapu, -Uawa, Waikohu, Cook and Wairoa; ward 2 to be the present wards 4, 5 and. 6, excluding the , above-mentioned counties; ward 3 to comprise the present wards 7, 8 and 9. We propose that the New Zealand Co-operative Dairy Company, Ltd., be excluded from the territorial basis of ward division, and be constituted a separate ward—Ward 4. < (a) To have control of the production of milk and cream and the processing and manufacture of dairy produce in order to ensure a high standard of quality and a suitable type of product for the markets in which the board is operating. It is proposed that all farm dairy instructors and dairy factory instructors should be recognised by the Government and given the status and authority of inspectors, but should be employed by and be responsible to the Dairy Produce Control Board, and that farm dairy instruction should be on the block system on a dominion-wide basis These officers would enforce the main tonance of standards, as laid down in the Act, on the farms and in ti\e factories, and would check the grading and testing of mj!k and cream and the grading at the factories of butter and cheese intended for local consumption. • (b) To haye control of the transport to and storage of dairy produce at grading ports The actual grading of dairy produce for export will still femain a function of the State, but it is recommended that the Department of Agriculture and the Dairy Produce Control Board confer from time to time on the fixing ,of standards of grading in ordei that instruction may be definitely related to grading. (c) To have control of the marketing within New Zealand of butter and cheese and to have as full powers in respect of butter and cheese marketed locally as are given to the board in respect of butter and cheese intended for export from New Zealand, and with power in particular—

(i,> To prohibit the sale on the local market of butter and cheese by owners of dairy factories and wholesale distributors, except under license granted by the board. (ii.) To require the owner of any dairy factory from time to time to supply for theelocal market such quantities of butter and cheese of such grades as the board may conisder necessary.

(iii.) To limit from time to time the area within which the butter and/or cheese manufactured in any dairy factory may be marketed. (iv.) To fix from time to time the minimum wholesale prices to be charged for butter and cheese by licensees and to fix discounts, commissions, and other concessions, and to prohibit any marketing practices that it may consider to be unfair or undesirable in the interests of the industry. (v.) To levy on owners of dairy factories in respect of butter and cheese marketed within New Zealand at such rates as the board, with the approval of the Governor-General in Council, may from time to time determine, and to add the amount of such levy to the amount of the levy made under the provisions of section 15 of the existing Act, and to retain such part of the proceeds of such levies as it may require for the purposes set_ out in paragraphs (a) to (e) of section 17 of the existing Act, and for any other purposes covered by this report, and to distribute the remainder to ail owners of dairy factories in accordance with their total output of butter and cheese respectively. The board may keep separate accounts for the North and South Islands respectively. (d) To effect economies to and improve the administration of the industry by—

(i.) Minimising overlapping in collection of milk and cream, (h) by zoning suppliers, (b) by defining collecting routes, (c) by arranging -for contracts for collection, or (d) by other means. (ii.) Making contracts with the New Zealand Government Railways Board and other transport authorities, companies, firms, and persons for the transport within New Zealand of butter, cheese, and other dairy produce. (iii.) Arranging for and effecting the amalgamation of dairy companies,, the purchase, sale or closing of uneconomic factories, and where necessary fixing the terms and conditions thereof; also providing for regulations to carry policy into effect.

(iv.) Requiring all' dairy companies to keep standardised books of account and,to prepare and submit standardised balance-sheets and statements of account and statistical statements and other information in such form as may from time to time b© directed by the Dairy Produce Control Board; also empowering the Dairy Produce Control Board to examine books and records. (e) To make grants for research work in respect of the production of milk and cream and lie processing, manufacture, storage, and transport of dairy produce. (f) To take such measures as it may consider desirable for improving the efficiency of labour in dairy factories and for the welfare of workers therein, including the provision of bursaries and/or scholarships for assisting the education of workers engaged in the dairying industry. < . (g) To subsidise owners of dairy factories, and/or to erect, purchase, or lease dairy factories and equipment, if such factories and equipment are required for instructional or experimental purposes. (h) To borrow and lend money for any of the purposes of the board. (i) To control the volume of production> manufacture, or processing of milk and cream and of any class of dairy produce and to require the owner of any dairy factory to manufacture or process such volume of any particular class of dairy produce as it may require. (j) To take all such measures as may appear to the Dairy Produce Control Board to be necessary or desirable for the eradication, control and prevention of diseases of dairy stock, other than the diseases scheduled in the Stock Act.

'■ (k) To terminate, on giying such notice as the Dairy Produce Control Board may deem reasonable, any contract for the sale of dairy produce intended for consumption in New Zealand. i

(l) To make special levies on dairy produce graded for export at any port and to disburse the amount of any such levy to the owners of the factories grading through that port in accordance with the grading points allotted to each parcel of dairy produce graded. (m) To have power to purchase and sell, either for the local market or for export, milk, cream and dairy produce, and to subsidise or compensate any person, firm or company in respect of any such produce as it may require to be made available for opening new markets, developing existing markets or regulating markets. (n) To recommend to the Government and to advise the Government on any regulations to be made under the Dairy Industry Act, the Dairy Produce Export Control Act and any other Act affecting dairy produce, subject to the powers of the suggested Council of Production and Trade.