FACTORY OVERLAPPING

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXII, Issue 18758, 15 July 1935, Page 8

FACTORY OVERLAPPING

THE ZONING PROBLEM PLAN FOR GISBORNE DIRECTORS TO MEET Directors of dairy factories in the Gisborne district have, agreed to meet with a view to formulating some satisfactory plan lo prevent overlapping ul interests. This was decided on to-day at the will'd ronferonco addressed by the chairman of the Dairy Board, Mr. A. J. Murdoch, M.P., who stated that if some voluntary agreement was not reached the Government might he forced to intervene and lay down a scheme tor adoption by tho factories. Tie said overlapping of factories was being investigated. Some dairy companies had "agreed not to trespass beyond certain boundaries, and in cases it was working well; in others it was not. The board’s duty was to liiul some working plan to avoid overlapping, which was costly, and as far Us possible, the board wished the companies to come together to make their own arrangements regarding zoning. Some such arrangement must come. Costs must be reduced and the cream must get into the factory at the earliest, possible moment and so give the management, every chance ol_ turning out a first class article. Only to-day. he lmd received an invitation - to meet Waikato factories .and give a view to working out a zoning scheme there. lie knew there were many difficulties in the way, but those hurdles must be got. over. He suggested that factories in the Gisborne and East Coast districts should confer that day with a view to securing sotno workable plan. Otherwise, some outside body would have to come in and force a plan on them. Tie would prefer, however, that the factories should come to an amicable arrangement with each other. FAT;NT INSTRUCTION Farm dairy instruction .was being discussed. It had been suggested that the dairy industry should be ready to pay most of tin' cost. His view was that the board, representing the industry, was prepared to do its share so far as its funds permitted. The Dairy Board’s offer was £IO,OOO annually towards a Dominion dairy farm instruction scheme, lie contended that the hoard should pay only from tiie funds which it had, not what, ii might get. and £IO.OOO was the limit, which the board could see its way clear to contribute. He would prefer to see the scheme tried out. over a. specified area for a time to see how it worked. HERD TESTING The Held Testing Federation desired help from tho board, Mr._Murdocli added, About- 1926, the. board had provided JB6CCO for testing. The testing fedoralion now wished the Dairy Board to take over (lie whole scheme, and submitted a scheme to the board, which agreed with all proposals except who would pay the piper. The board suggested-that the federation should interview the Minister of Agriculture, and tlie hoard was prepared to undertake tile testing providing the Government was prepared to assist with the finances for a period, lie believed that this would be brought So a satisfactory conclusion. PASTEUJRISEI) CREAM The sale of pasteurised cream had been brought up by tho Tauranga Dairy Company, who desired to sell a portion for local consumption. It had been held for some time that pasteurised cream should not. be sold to tho public, but. Mr. Murdoch confessed that he did not know why. 'Pbe dairy industry wished lo secure every avenue possible as an outlet- for cream. Ife knew of no valid reason why pasteurised cream should not be sold to (lie public. The Government had been approached, and he had received a letter stating that the matter was one for the Minister of Agriculture. DAIRY RESEARCH New Zealand was asked to contribute £II,OOO towards dairy research, and the hoard had arranged to contribute. £6OOO and the. Government. £SOOO, anil that arrangement would continue for at least two years. A voice: Does the. Farmers’ Union contribute anything? Mr. Murdoch: I’don’t think they have anything. Regarding milter boxes, he said that the box wo send overseas must be a box which will satisfy those who buy our blitter and also which would suit, our own requirements. Some boxes had not. given satisfaction. The board had done the best it could to secure all available information, and it had found that the peel saranac was not a satisfactory box. The industry must get the best possible box at the cheapest possible rate. Replying to a question, Mr. Murdoch said that often the peel saranac boxes were too light. Professor Riddet had given valuable information on the matter, and if the makers of these boxes would comply wit’ll certain suggestions they might be used with advantage at a reduced cost. The great- growth of the industry warranted judicious and continuous advertising. One splash in the newspaper was insufficient ; it had to he done continuously, taking one section of the country at a time with concentrated effort. The new hoard had not disturbed the. advertising campaign adopted by the old board. A voice: Twenty thousand pounds is a lot Of money. Mr. Murdoch replied that when one considered the big industry behind it and the millions of pounds’ worth of produce to be sold, £2O,CCO was not a great amount. He proposed that when the London manager visited New Zealand be could be interrogated on the matter of advertising, and then the board could decide its future policy.

In conclusion, Mr. Murdoch asked dairy farmers to help the board all they could by making any recommendations they had for the improvement of tho industry to their directors, who would forward those suggestions to the board. Even if tin- board did not concur immediately, all suggestions submitted would be of value, for tho board wished lo get everything possible out of the industry for the man who produced the goods. . (Applause.) Replying to a question regarding marketing defects, Mr. Murdoch said he did not know whether they had Hie perfect selling machine or not, but week ov week the board secured information from London giving particulars of sales of butler amt destinations. If was

hoped fo secure from the London manager when In: visited New Zealand much infnnna I ion I lie board could not get h\ correspondence. Mr Murdoch eontinned liy maintaining flint New Zealand prod net: .should not he sold merely as Empire butter. It was the board’s desire for New Zealand Imtler to main tain ils identity apart from the “Em nive'' label. “We want to get away from this Empire business,” lie said. Whey butter was sold neither as Empire nor New Zealand butter. At present. New Zealand could not keep its identity with its best butler because of tbe term "Empire.” which brought in all Dominions At. this stage, Mr. E. R. Renner, chairman of directors of the Okitu Company, said he wished to welcome Mr Murdoch, and reminded the visitor that the word “Poverty” was a misnomer, and that Captain Cook must have had

an eye to the present, position of the farmers. Mr. Murdoch: But von have bad a prosperous time in the meantime. Regarding marketing, Mr Murdoch said that lie himself preferred f.o.b. selling, by which the factory' received an immediate price and turned it over to tin l suppliers, blit lie considered that eaeli factory should dim free to sell as it pleased. Mr Sunderland said that dairy companies would welcome the statement that there would be no interference with factories in handling their own prod uee.