DAIRY INDUSTRY PROBLEMS

Taranaki Daily News, 3 September 1934, Page 7

DAIRY INDUSTRY PROBLEMS

IMMEDIATE ASSISTANCE NEEDED. EXPANSION AND DEVELOPMENT. In his address at Feilding on Friday Mr. W. J. Polson, M.P., discussed the situation of the dairy industry and reviewed lines of action the Government must necessarily take. He advocated co-operation with the British producer and the placing of the industry on a soundly-controlled business basis.

“There are three aspects along which inquiry might well be ; directed,” said Mr. Polson. “Firstly, what measures must be taken for internal relief so immediately necessary to a large number of dairy farmers; secondly, what external expansion, if any, is possible; and thirdly, what form must the future development of the primary industry take? “The most urgent of these problems from the point of view of the small farmer is the first. He cannot carry on. Is a subsidy practicable? If so, can the industry hope to repay it?. And if a subsidy is agreed upon, what restrictions must accompany it to prevent its defeating its own object? Also, what are the national repercussions to a proposal of this kind?

“The second question of external expansion,” said Mr. Polson, “depended upon the reactioh of other countries, but with the Government assistance in money and treaty negotiations they might open markets, particularly in the West Indies and Central America, where the demand for tinned butter and cheese was considerable. It was doubtful if much could be done- in the Eastern markets until the demand was cultivated. Australia, and to some extent New Zealand, supplied practically all the butter which went into the Eastern market, which amounted to a little over 6000 tons a year.” A more fruitful field of action would probably be an investigation of new ideas. New Zealand already had the vacuum process and the use of gas for the storage of meat and apples. Mr. Goodfellow had suggested pounding plants in England and the delivery of good New Zealand butter under its own brand all the year round. Yet another field for inquiry would be stabilisation proposals on similar lines to those carried out in Australia.