DAIRY CONTROL BOARD

Southland Times, Issue 19098, 16 November 1923, Page 5

DAIRY CONTROL BOARD

ELECTION OF MEMBERS STATEMENT BY MR POLSON ENTHUSIASTIC SUPPORT OF CONTROL ESSENTIAL (Per United Press Association.) WANGANUI, November 15. The Dominion President of the Farmers’ Union (Mr W. J. Polson) expresses surprise at the alarm shown over the election of the Dairy Control Board. He says the ticket has been selected from the most prominent men who have been supporting control. Many able men whose interests are opposed to control are more or less precluded from occupying seats on the board, which, if it is to tackle the large question successfully, must he comprised of enthusiastic men, determined to carry out the wishes of the producers. On the other hand, it is equally necessary that the fanatical extremist should have no place on the board. It is possible to increase New Zealand’s dairy production fivefold without exhausting the resources of the country. Extreme care must be taken to see that whatever board is elected it can be relied on to study the whole question very thoroughly before making any move. If the board Succeeds rn its assault on the shipping ring, is able to save a little in the handling charges, and does something to assist in exploring new markets, both in Great Britain and abroad, it will justify its existence. Some assurance from the selected candidates along these lines would be welcomed. MR PARKER’S APPEAL. WELLINGTON, November 15. In connection with the Dairy Control Board the following is issued by Mr W. Grounds: “My attention has been drawn to a protest from Mr Parker, president of the Dairy Farmers’ Union, against undue haste in connection with the election of the Dairy Control Board. I wish to point out that Mr Parker and another representative of the Dairy Fanners’ Union attended by invitation a meeting of the Dairy Control Committee held in Wellington cn October 31, at which a iteket was nominated. The date for the election for the board was known at that meeting, and neither of .these gentlemen raised any objection to the

date fixed by the Government. Their objection to the ticket rested purely on the fact that the committee would not agree to the Dairy Farmers’ Union placing two namls on that ticket with the right of review.. MR FISHER’S CANDIDATURE. To the Editor. Sir, —As we were responsible for submitting the name of Mr John Fisher for the consideration of the Dairy Control Bill Supporters’ Committee as a candidate for the Control Board, we take this opportunity of placing before the Southland dairy producers the reasons which actuated us in making this selection for the representation of Southland. We had to take a very wide view of the position a sthe office to be filled did not allow of any parochial considerations influencing our judgment Whoever was selected had to be sufficiently well known outside of his own province to insure a reasonable fighting chance of his being successful at the poll. We claim to have a fair working practical knowledge of dairy farming; we are dairymen ourselves and know something of the aims and aspirations which appeal to the dairy farmers as a class. We were appointed in 1922, at an exceptionally large conference of Southland Dairy Factory Directors held in Invercargill to represent Southland at a Dominion Conference in Wellington called to stimulate interest in promoting legislation which would give the dairy farmer some more direct control of his own produce. At that conference, one of the biggest and most representative of ifs kind held in the Dominion up to that time, we were elected as Southland members for the representation of the South Island on the Dairy Produce Control Council and have continuously been members of that body throughout. We have repeatedly met the delegates from other parts of the Dominion and have had a good many opportunities of learning their opinions. We have been closely in touch with every movement in the interval promoted to assist the passage of a bill that would reasonably comply with the protection and control we desired and which meetings both in the North and South Island had emphatically decided dairymen wanted. We have come in contact throughout the period with the men who have worked the hardest and with the most consistency to assist us in getting what the dairymen wanted. With the knowledge thus gained, and in conjunction with the members of the Control Council favourable to the Bill we believed it our duty to join in the selection of a ticket for the whole Dominion comprised of men we knew to be loyal and who were in sympathy with the principles of the Bill, and who if appointed would make every effort to give the Bill a fair run and endeavour to carry to a successful issue the principles underlying it. Mr Fisher was the framer and mover of the resolution at Invercargill when we were appointed, that set out the objects desired in any legislation promoted. That resolution was subsequently submitted to and adopted by the Dominion Conference and was conveyed to the Prime Minister. It will be seen the Southland nominee has therefore been in the business from the jump-off. We have been acquainted with Mr Fisher for many years and know the keen interest he has taken in all matters pertaining to the welfare of the industry and in no single instance have we known him as a seeker of office for personal gain. His organising ability has been shown in a practical way quite recently in the promotion of the Dairy Federation and its successful establishment. When negotiations over the Bluff Cool Stomps had reached a dead-end and Southland dairymen were confronted with an expenditure of £25,000 to £30,000 for new cool stores it was his practical common sense that suggested a way out of the impasse and that furnished the committee with the necessary information regarding thd working of the stores under the Harbour Board, which reopened the whole question and led to the very satisfactory settlement between the two bodies, a result which is to the benefit of the whole province. When it became necessary to organise a campaign in Southland to promote (he passage of the Bill, at the request of Mr Grounds, chairman of the Control Council, and at our wish, Mr Fisher, without hesitancy undertook the work and was in no small measure materially helpful in bringing about the successful issue of the referendum in so far as Southland influenced that result. When a contemplated ticket was under consideration in Wellington we found that those who had been the most active promoters throughout had already favourably considered Mr Fisher for nomination. The delegates from the other parts of the South Island favoured his candidature. We were unanimous ourselves in his favour and we found the Farmers’ Union executive concurred. At our request he agreed to stand, and our recommendation was subsequently unanimously approved by the Conference. We believe that it is essential, that whoever is appointed should be a member who believes in the cause he seeks to espouse, i hat he should not be an eleventh-hour convert, or anyone who has systematically opposed the measure. With*ihe evidence we have gathered and in view of the facts we have placed before your readers we ask all dairymen who wish to see the legislation they have obtained given a fair and unbiased trial, to accord Mr Fisher their support at the forthcoming election for the Dairy Control board. We are, etc., THOS. R. EADES. ‘ JOHN DUNLOP, 1 J. S. GRIEVE.