OPUNAKE TIMES Speaks for the District. FRIDAY, AUGUST 12, 1932. MARKETING BOARD'S REPORT

Opunake Times, 12 August 1932, Page 2

OPUNAKE TIMES Speaks for the District. FRIDAY, AUGUST 12, 1932. MARKETING BOARD'S REPORT

The change which has . taken place in the buying habits of the Biilisk public and the growth of th<3 demand for Empire goods are clearly brought out in the annual report of the Empire Marketing Board, which has just been received from England. For twenty-five Empire products new records in quantities of imports have been established, and for more than half of these the record now surpassed was made in the previous year. Tbere is an upward tendency at work in spite of the diminished buying power of the public. New Zealand produce has set up three new records. More New Zealand frozen lamb, bufter and pears were imported into the United Kingdom than ever before. All these commodities made previous records in 1930, but these were easily surpassed in 1931. The frozen lamb shipments for instance went up by over 1,000,000 carcases. Imports of New Zealand cheese in 1931 have hitherto been exceeded only in 1929 and 1930. Other Empire commodities which have set up new records in 1931 include wheat and wheat flour, frozen pork, butter and eggs from Australia. In the field of marketing intelligence the Board publish striking figures to show the success of the policy of canvassing retailers individually. For six months personal calls were made on every wholesaler and retailer of butter in the principal Lancashire /towns. As a result of these visits the proportion of those selling Empire butter rose from 56 to 73 per cent. The retail market surveys of the demand for butter have shown that in certain districts the consumption of New Zealand butter has more than doubled in the last two years. The report describes a new side of the Board's work, that of market promotion. The importance of this work was specially emphasised at the Imperial Conference in 1930, and the Board has met with much succes in approaching local authorities and other large scale buyers, so that some 1250 institutions have revised their forms of tender in the interests of Empire producers. As in previous years the bulk of the Board's income has been devoted to scientific research. Some 70 out of the 'IOO pages of the report describe "the immensely varied fields of research which (he Board's funds have helped to irrigate. The Imperial Conference of 1930 urged the value of joint programmes of scientific work which should be agreed upon between the various Empire countries so that effort and expense might be concentrated and economised. Acting upon this suggestion the Board has initiated an interchange of views on what problems of economic importance to the Empire most urgently need the further application of scientific'-research. The main body of the report.is concerned with the progress made by the various scientific and agricultural institutions which the Board is supporting. The field is as wide as the Empire itself.