Poverty Bay Herald PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING GISBORNE, SATURDAY, APRIL 21, 1934. THE DAIRYING CRISIS

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXI, Issue 18378, 21 April 1934, Page 4

Poverty Bay Herald PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING GISBORNE, SATURDAY, APRIL 21, 1934. THE DAIRYING CRISIS

The action taken by the Government in an attempt to rehabilitate the dairying industry is to bo welcomed for its decisiveness and courageousness, if for nothing else. It had become increasingly clear in recent weeks that it was quite impossible for the Dairy Control Board to bring the negotiations to a successful conclusion, and that failing intervention by the Government the situation would become more complicated, and, consequently, more difficult of solution. The proposals adopted by the Cabinet are divided into two main categories. In the first place it is recognised that the crisis has assumed such serious proportions that the attempt to deal with it effectively cannot be left to uncertain and divided control. For this reason it has decided to itself aficept the responsibility which hitherto has rested upon the Control Board. Secondly, every aspect of the industry itself is to be subjected to an exhaustive investigation by a Royal Commission as requested by the recent Dairy Conference. The displacement of the Dairy Board was not altogether unexpected, and there will be few who regret that such a step has been taken, drastic though it may appear. It i» clear, not only that the members of the board are divided amongst themselves and that they have not the unanimous support of the industry, but also that the handling of the present problems is beyond their power and their ability. It was one thing for a body to be set up to organise tho industry within the. Dominion, to regulato supplies, and to improve quality; but it is something entirely different for it to even attempt to enter into negotiations with another Government. Tho controversy to-day is between the Home and the Dominion Governments —if it does not. extend further and include a question of policy affecting all parts of the Empire—and for that reason the discussions must assume an official status that is not imparted with tho Dairy Board as one of the parties. Before the present issues are satisfactorily disposed of there is obviously going to 1)0 some hard bargaining on both sides. The board is not in a position to bargain, and, even if it were, it is to be feared that the vision of its members is too circumscribed to make a successful outcome possible. Important and far-reaching questions of Government policy are involved on both sides, and only by a careful study of every aspect can an agreement bo reached which will strengthen, rather than weaken, tho friendly relations which it is vital should be preserved. If, for example, a quota must ultimately be accepted, the Government is in a position to insist upon some reasonable quid pro

quo, whereas the Control Board would be impotent, even if it did recede from its former attitude of attempting to dictate to the British Government, In other words, the board is virtually a nonentity in British eyes, while the Government of New Zealand has an equality of status, and, backed by the other Dominions, is well able to make itself heard. That is the first aspect of the crisis, and, so far as the Government is concerned, it should be the last, for it would be a grave mistake if the present move should be accepted as a precursor of general interference by the .State in the marketing of produce. Once definite principles between the two countries have been established, the object should be to allow the dairy industry to function as far as possible along ordinary commercial lines. Experiments! in other directions have been a dismal failure, and it would lie disastrous to consider a repetition of them. Regarding the decision to appoint a Royal Commission, there is little occasion for comment. Despite the many years it has been functioning the Dairy Board has been unable to deal with the internal difficulties of the industry, and this being so it is clearly advisable that there should be an independent investigation, preferably by capable and experienced business men who will be able to study the problem from a wider angle than those actively engaged in the industry, and, therefore, inclined to be influenced by their own particular interests. Between the activities' of the commission and the Government, however, there is a wide gap within which is included one of the most important aspects of the whole question —the successful marketing of produce overseas. Certainly the Government proposes to have an investigation made in Great Britain into the cause of the disparity between the prices of New Zealand dairy produce and those of competing countries, but it would be well advised to go still further and initiate a comprehensive inquiry into every phase of market conditions and the several factors which influence them. For various reasons, New Zealand produce in Britain does not command the attention to which its quality entitled it; there is antagonism to it in the trade and apathy towards it on the part of consumers. How far this is due to natural disabilities and how far to faulty methods in the past should be ascertained by an independent tribunal, and any possiblo remedies applied without delay. Subsequently, if a policy of control is to be adopted, the marketing of the produce should bo left in the hands of competent business men to be conducted on lines similar to those which would be adopted by any ordinary manufacturing concern operating on a vast scale. The first essential in this connection is that every conceivable effort should be made to restore the goodwill of the consumer towards the Dominion and its produce, for without it any trading effort must fail. This will entail still further inquiry, and it may yet be found that, before relations between. the Dominions and the Mother Country are placed on a satisfactory footing it will be necessary for the outlying parts of the Empire to conduct a comprehensive campaign with the object of educating the British public to a fuller realisation of the importance of trading within the Empire and living up to the Ottawa piineiple that while British producers should have first consideration in their own markets, the producers of the Dominions must be granted preference over foreigners.