MORE PUBLICITY NEEDED

Taranaki Daily News, 1 June 1934, Page 7

MORE PUBLICITY NEEDED

DOMINION DAIRY PRODUCE PLANNED ADVERTISING URGED. WORK OF THE HIGH COMMISSIONER VACUUM PACKING ADVANTAGES. The vital need of adequate, planned publicity fo New Zealand dairy produce in Great Britain was emphasised by Dr. A. J. Harrop in an interview with a Daily News reporter at New Plymouth yesterday. Dr. Harrop is the representative of the New Zealand University at London. While commending the work of tne New Zealand Meat Producers’ Board and the New Zealand Dairy Produce Board in the direction of advertising, Dr. Harrop said the funds at their disposal were not nearly sufficient for a properly planned campaign. He suggested it would pay New Zealand to spend a large sum annually on making its produce known. By contrast, he pointed out that the whole publicity allocation of the New Zealand High Commissioner’s office in London was only £2OOO. It would suffice to take a page of the Daily Mail for a day and a-half; no more. There was, he said, a certain prestige attaching to advertising through the trades boards. First and foremost, New Zealand farmers wanted an extension of sales in Britain and it was good to know that Sir James Parr, under the direction of the New Zealand Government,. had recently instituted an inquiry in this connection. It was to be hoped that a better marketing system would be the result. Dr. Harrop said his visit to New Zealand was for a variety of purposes, that of considering dairy problems being only one of them. Just before leaving England he had received a sample of vacuum-packed New Zealand butter, and in it he felt sure was something like a solution of the problem. It would remove the product from competition with margarine, as at present, to competition with Danish butter. Vacuum packing would definitely solve spreadability, while the recently evolved pat containers were all that could be desired. If the article could be put on the market as well as New Zealand honey all would be well. Branding was a vital question. It was fatal to brand the butter as “Empire,” as had been done with the early shipments.. “New Process Finest” would be preferable because it would stimulate interest and curiosity in the new vacuum product. The New Zealand community in England should be persuaded to foster the use of the article. The quality was generally all right, continued Dr. Harrop. Most of the butter he had tasted in the Dominion during his visit was inferior to that which he obtained in England. Dr. Harrop had something to say about the need for a greater degree of cooperation in New Zealand. He suggested that much of the overlapping between factories, the mixing of good and bad cream and the lying round of cans on railway stations, could be eliminated by the employment of an expert organiser. It was illogical to say, because the dairy farmers were getting only a little for their butter, that no money should be spent on experts. To let the quality of the produce deteriorate would be fatal to other New Zealand products besides butter. In addition, they would all lose prestige on the English market, as was the case when cheese lost ground a few years ago. Speaking of his visit to the Cawthron Institute, Dr. Harrop expressed the opinion that research work, possibly worth thousands of pounds to New Zealand farmers, was being carried on but the farmers were not taking as much interest in it as they might. Research in the Dominion might be co-ordinated to advantage.