The Daily News SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 1932. LEADERSHIP REQUIRED.

Taranaki Daily News, 18 February 1933, Page 6

The Daily News

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 1932. LEADERSHIP REQUIRED.

OFFICES: NEW PLYMOUTH, Currie Street. STRATFORD, Broedway. HAWERA. High Street.

The proposal to abolish the Dairy Produce Board made at a meeting of Oakura settlers on Thursday was an indication and a warning. That the suggestion should have received almost unanimous support indicates that there is a feeling of uneasiness present among all ranks in the industry. The discussion was impersonal, and the warning it conveyed to the Dairy Control Board that the industry is not satisfied with its administration is all the more serious. Accepting, for the moment, the principle that there should be a central organisation to deal with the general interests of the dairy industry, the board is now challenged to give a detailed statement of its stewardship. It was founded in high hope and given very wide powers. The pity of it is that it used those powers to thrust upon the industry a policy upon which it was hopelessly divided, and one which raised the hostility of the London market. What the foolish experiments in the control and fixation of prices have cost the Dominion in hard cash will never be known, though it is certain that it has amounted to many millions sterling. Still more serious has been its effect upon the relationship between exporter and purchaser. The action of the board nearly seven years ago created a distrust among buyers which has never been lost, and which was aggravated two seasons ago by the further unwise “standardisation” experiment. The only justification for a central controlling body is that it will give the industry wise leadership. Can the Dairy Produce Board claim to have done this ? To its credit must be placed improved contracts for shipping, storage and insurance, though these no doubt would have been arranged in any case. It has also tightened up to some extent the supervision of produce in transit and at the cool stores in Great Britain. The question the settler is asking is whether these benefits have been worth their cost in cash, and the still greater indirect cost to the industry the board’s short-sighted policies have involved. It is little wonder the doubts exist, for neither from the board nor from the Department of Agriculture in its supervisory capacity is the industry receiving that leadership it needs to-day more than ever. While the cheese industry _ is menaced as never before high officials are bickering about methods of milk test instead of putting all their energies into improving the quality of our exports. When the Home market is so saturated that the authorities in Great Britain have asked for a restriction in supplies there is no indication of a well-organ-ised effort to extend the sales of New Zealand produce in the

United Kingdom, but there is, unfortunately, evidence and to spare that the Dominion’s exports are often highly unsatisfactory in quality and the methods of distribution indifferent. Is it any wonder the industry is slipping and that the rank and file engaged therein are becoming anxious ? The cry is for leadership, and it is one. that must receive heed or the industry will sink. It is unthinkable that such leadership cannot be discovered within the industry itself, but that it exists to-day is not nearly so certain. Great Britain has reminded New Zealand this week as never before that there is something more in selling commodities than dumping them into storage there. That is a lesson competitors learned many years ago.. Quality first and then wise distribution. and an ear ever open to catch the desires of the great consuming public have been their watchwords. New Zealand’s efforts in those directions have been a series of fits and starts with propaganda often wasted by' the supply of inferior cheese in a newlydeveloping market. The industry requires a leader in Great Britain who must know his work, be paid accordingly, and trusted to do what is best. . Results will not be achieved in a week, but by the results obtained should the leader be judged, always provided—and the condition is vital—that the recommendations he makes for. the producing end of the business are given full heed. It will need leadership in New Zealand, to bring that about, but unless high quality, and continuous high quality, is to be relied upon all the leadership in the world cannot bring the industry back to prosperity. In any case, the road back to a good understanding with the market will not be an easy one to travel. There is hope that it is possible, just as there is hope that the conferences upon war debts and international economics may bring about conditions which will enable trade to revive and employment to increase. If this eventuates the demand for New Zealand commodities of a high quality will soon increase also. It is not demand but the means of satisfying that demand which is lacking in Europe. To alter that condition is beyond the power of New Zealand. It is her duty to prepare for the new marketing conditions, if is her duty to see that the dairy industry is equipped at every turn for the competition which, in the best of circumstances, must lie ahead.