DAIRY BOARD ABOLITION

Taranaki Daily News, 17 August 1933, Page 7

DAIRY BOARD ABOLITION

“OUTLIVED ITS USEFULNESS”

KAPONGA SUPPLIERS’ VIEWS.

“GET BACK TO TOOLEY STREET.”

A resolution in favour of the abolition of the Dairy Produce Control Board was carried on the voices at the annual meeting of shareholders of the Kaponga Dairy Company on Tuesday night. The subject was introduced by Mr. W. La veil, who objected to the increased levy and said: “I would like to test the feeling of the meeting as to doing away with the control board. I think the sooner it is done away with the better. We should get back to Tooley Street, even if we have to crawl there. The control board has outlived its usefulness and the sooner it is ousted the better it will be for our pockets.” The chairman (Mr. A. V. Tait) said that would be a retrograde step. The 'board was in the saddle, and they could not put it out. If they did the industry would be without a head. However, he was not in favour of the extra levy. The chairman pointed out that in many ways the board had done good, particularly with regard to savings in freight and insurance. Some people believed these reductions would have come automatically, but they were a long time coming, he said, and only when the industry got all the produce in one hand was it able to achieve the result. Mr. Hooper seconded the motion.' He said he thought they could do without the expense of a board. He would like doing without it to be given a trial. He did not think it had done any good in the past, nor was it doing any good at present. Mr. Hey asked who would carry on if the (board went out. Would the N.D.A. carry out the functions of the board? In reply to a suggestion that a protest be made against the increased levy, the chairman said the levy had been supported at the dairy conference at Hamilton by a three-to-one majority. Mr. J. P. Gibson: Without the control board we are just a mob. It would be just the same as doing without directors for our company and each supplier trying to sell his own output. You could not make such a good deal. A voice: You used to do so once. Mr. Gibson referred to the reduction in insurance effected by the Dairy Board. People did not attain such reductions on their houses because they dealt individually instead of collectively, he said. In reply to a suggestion that a smaller number could do the work, Mr. Gibson pointed out that each member of the board represented a large territory already and it was necessary that there should be adequate representation of the interests of the various districts.

Mr. R. E. Williams contended that insurance costs could be greatly reduced if the dairy companies had an all-New Zealand insurance pool. He asked how much produce had been lost over a period between New Zealand and Britain. He believed it did not amount to £30,000, and yet millions had been paid for insurance.

The chairman said that some ships carried £250,000 worth of produce, and , if this was lost it would be a big loss “at one hit.”

Mr. Williams referred to a large shipping company which carried its own risks and said it could lose two of its vessels without suffering a loss. The chairman added that the control board had considered it could not afford to take the risk. The subject had been in view, but at this juncture it could not embark on any such undertaking.