BUTTER MARKET OUTLOOK.

Taranaki Daily News, 20 August 1926, Page 6

BUTTER MARKET OUTLOOK.

‘‘One does not like to be a prophet of evil, but I am afraid that the outlook for New Zealand butter is not rosy.” Such were the words uttered by Mr. W. J. Poison (who recently toured Britain and other countries in connection with' toe agricultural credits scheme) towards the, close of an interview at Wellington. The main subject discussed was the possible effect of the operation of the Dairy Control Board, more particularly with regard to the fixing of prices. Although the chairman of the board (Mr. Grounds) has emphasised that the board’s policy is not price fixation, Mr. Polson found, as the result of expending a great deal of trouble to investigate the matter among the Tooley Street factors, the merchants in every part of the country and the wholesale grocers, there exists an astonishingly strong feeling against New Zealand dairy produce because of the belief that ’the Dairy Control Board is determined to fix prices. It is well.known that the intense hostility to protective tariffs that is always in evidence on the part of the masses of the Old Country is deeply-rooted, more especially when the prices of foodstuffs are affected adversely. There can be no question of the view taken by Mr. Polson that the British public will never accept price fixation, and that if such a thing came into being the House of Commons would legislate to prevent it. Moreover, it is equally certain that too life of any Government which, attempted to permit price fixation—other than in war-time —would be numbered by hours. It is easy to comprehend how the people in the Motherland associate compulsory control with the process of raising prices. They have learned by experience that when trusts or combines control any commodity the main object is to. obtain larger profits, and it seems as if Mr. Grounds and his colleagues on the board will have an extremely difficult task to obliterate the present belief that the control board’s policy is not one of price fixation. With the growth of competition from our competitors in the dairy produce market, our producers need the friendly services and co-operation of those in London who, in the past, have proved worthy of trust and confidence. Suspicion having been aroused at Home as to the trend of the board’s operations, it goes ■without saying ’’mt the closest watch will bo kept on the policy of the board. They are in a position to make or mar the future of New Zealand’s dairy produce trade, a responsibility which will require consummate diplomacy, eeaseless vigilance and the avoidance of a number of pitfalls that may spell disaster.