INTERNAL MARKETING DIVISION

Southland Times, Issue 23780, 30 March 1939, Page 6

INTERNAL MARKETING DIVISION

CRITICISM OF METHODS BY EGG PRODUCER (United Press Association) WELLINGTON, March 29. A statement that the Internal Marketing Division’s business was being run precisely on the lines it was brought into being to stop was made by Mr T. Gill (Oamaru) at the annual conference of the New Zealand Poultry Producers’ Federation in Wellington today. Mr Gill is a member of the New Zealand Poultry Board. In the winter, when there was a big demand for pulp, he was notified by the division that a proportion of his eggs were stale, said Mr Gill. He was told by a merchant that at that time pulp was selling at 1/2 a pound. Eight or nine eggs were required for a pound of pulp and he had been paid lid a dozen. That meant that the department was making' about a 100 per cent, profit. The eggs might have been stale, but when the weather became warmer and there was no demand for pulp the notification of stale eggs suddenly ceased. The eggs were then sold on the market. It is a fair inference,” the speaker continued, “that the department’s business is being run on precisely those lines that it was brought into being to stop.”

Mr Gill added that he did not think it would be wise to make a resolution at present that might harass the Minister, but he was definitely opposed to asking the department to publish prices.

The remit was defeated, as was an amendment that Dominion distributors be asked to publish pay-outs weekly.