HIGH QUALITY ESSENTIAL

Taranaki Daily News, 11 September 1934, Page 15 (Supplement)

HIGH QUALITY ESSENTIAL

FACING COMPETITOR’S CHALLENGE VIEWS OF MINISTER OF COMMERCE. “May I, in the first place, congratulate the Taranaki district upon the progress that has been made in a comparatively short period of years, and express the hope that with the resources which it possesses still further progress and development will be made in the near future. The pastoral and grazing capabilities of the Taranaki district have, indeed, produced for it a well-earned reputation, and the quality of its produce, particularly of the dairying industry, is well known throughout the length and breadth of New Zealand, as well as overseas. The progress and prosperity of the people and of the district will no doubt continue to be associated more especially with the pastoral industries for many years to come. “Good, however, as the quality of our produce is, we must nevertheless make every endeavour to improve it still further, for only by" supplying to our customers overseas, and particularly to our

main market—the United Kingdom—products of the very highest quality can we hope to meet successfully the severe competition which our butter and cheese especially are now meeting in overseas markets. If we can deliver to our purchasers in the United Kingdom butter and cheese of the highest quality, and consistently of that quality, in quantities sufficient to meet requirements spread more or less evenly throughout the years, then I feel that we shall be-able to make such arrangements in the future as will enable us to dispose of our exportable surplus year by year. “To bring this about it is essential that the raw product—the milk and the cream —should in the first place be of the highest quality. Steady -improvement of

our herds is essential, as well as improvement in the standard of efficiency of many farmers throughout the Dominion. The provision of adequate cold water supplies and of better plant and equipment, both on the farms and in the factories, must also necessarily be included in any scheme for the general raising of the standard of quality of the butter- and cheese. These and other related factors are at the present time militating against such improvement in quality, these factors being in turn affected in many cases by lack of finance in the hands of the farmers concerned.

“Even though the outlook for the dairy farmer at the present juncture is not as bright as could be wished, I am hopeful that a way out of the existing difficulties will be found. First and foremost in our considerations, however, must be the question of quality, and all our efforts must be directed to that end. “I trust that dairy farmers in the Taranaki district and throughout New Zealand will take heart and will bear in mind the importance of this question of quality to the dairying .industry and to this Dominion generally. While realising -hat the solution of the present difficulties is not altogether in their hands, because negotiation and agreement between New Zealand and the United Kingdom and other countries will doubtless be necessary to smooth away many of such difficulties, it must nevertheless be recognised that in the long run it is going to be the quality of our products that is going to preserve for us our place in overseas markets, and in this connection the dairy farmers and others associated directly with the industry have to some extent the future in their own hands. R. MASTERS. Minister of Industries and Commerce.