CHEESE FOR HOME MARKET

Taranaki Daily News, 13 June 1930, Page 11

CHEESE FOR HOME MARKET

LORD BLEDISLOE’S ADVICE

ADVANTAGES OF UNIFORMITY. ■

‘STUDY THE BRITISH HOUSEWIFE.’

“As an old eheesemaker who owns and runs a cheese factory on his own . estate,” said the Governor-General, Lord Blcdisloe, ait the civic reception in New Plymouth last evening, “I want to say that I have lately read the most interesting and courageous report of Mr. P. 0. Veale dealing with the problem of openness in cheese. As far as 1 can see there are two things that will have to be borne in mind, not only by cheesemakers but by all the primary producers, bearing in inind the fact that you in New Zealand have one market only and that is Britain.” ..The first was that New Zealand -producers could hold the British market only i.f their product was of high quality and uniform in description, continued Lord Bledisloe.-. Uniformity, he emphasised, was even more import- . ant than quality. It was-dn uniformity of quality that the Danes had been such formidable competitors on the Home market.

The second thing to remember was that a serious offence in one shipment was calculated to mar the reputation of all the goods from the Dominion. The New Zealand producers had to remember that they were supplying their goods to. tho British housewife. The British housewife did not differentiate between cheese from Taranaki, the West Coast or Canterbury. All she knew was that it came from New Zealand, and if it was not up to standard she was going to condemn the whole of the cheese bf New Zealand. “This is a fact of which we .have always to be .conscious,” said Lord Blcdisloe. “It is a ease where the deficiencies of the few may mar the reputation and prosperity of the many. • “Lady Bledisloe and I are deeply concerned in your welfare. During the next five years we . shall ; regain, ourselves more as New Zealanders than as Britons. We want:.to enter into your interests, your recreational, economic, social and even your spiritual interests.

“Much can be done in these times by the chemist, the biologist and the microscopist to solve these agricultural problems.' Let us make New Zealand cheese the most dependable on the British market, a cheese which will always be given preference. to Canadian, Dutch and Danish. I have not yet had the pleasure bf meeting Mr, Veale, but when I do I am going to confide in him some few ideas I have on the openness of New Zealand cheese. . .

“In the meantime, I wish to ask/you not to be pessimistic. Do not be afraid to over-produce and always market the best. Mr. Connett referred to the responsibility of sidelines 1 !*) the main industry, such as pig-raising. I sympathise with him. Do not let us have all our eggs in one basket. Then, if a depression falls over one industry we can balance on another.” ■