DAIRYING INDUSTRY

Taranaki Daily News, 29 November 1934, Page 7

DAIRYING INDUSTRY

PROBLEM OF MARKETING

PRODUCE EXPORT COMMISSION.

PRINCIPAL WORK TO BE DONE. (To the Editor). Sir,—lt is correctly stated that following, the findings of the Royal Commission established to consider dairy difficulties, the Government legislated for a form of control affecting all farming (bar wool), and provided no immediate assistance for’ dairymen. That is why its action has produced no enthusiasm, but very much’the reverse. Yet, if the people of this country would realise that the proper treatment of the export problem is one which affects them in their daily lives, there should be more practical support and less sectional opposition.

The importance of the export commission set up by the Act, from an export point of view, “as a very useful marketing authority,” was stressed, I think, only by Mr. W. Polson in the House, because the marketing recommendations, he said, commended themselves to common sense. He emphasised the necessity for breaking into new markets and pointed, out that the commission was essential to control exports and secure better trading arrangements. Now, by heaping together such different matters as production and marketing; subjugation of producers and freedom of experts with factories; state control of export policy and arbitrary work of produce boards, etc., all in one Act, and upon one body, the Government' certainly has created a sea of intricacy and questions, in which the critics are hopelessly floundering. For example, Mr, W. Grounds surprises us by saying that the Act enforces a restriction of exports, adding that the report is full of omissions, confusion and inconsistencies and that only the present dairy board is capable of doing wonderful work and is alone above suspicion and reproach. Mr. Savage discovers that the Act contains elements of autocratic powers (not socialism, by any chance?) and in the same breath requires a national banking system with absolute powers to guarantee prices. Clearly, there is too much-in the legislation to digest, and while the farmers are I carefully studying (as I honestly hope they do) the full and original text of the report, the leaders are snatching out favourite tit-bits from -the Great. Pie and are showing them in triumph to audiences. , ■ t •_ ■ .

Thus the attention is diverted from the main point, which is the long awaited “something to tqrn up.” This.“something’ has turned up at last, and Mr. Forbes considers it a thing forced upon us by, the Agricultural Marketing Act, 1933. of Great Britain, as well as by the necessity to adopt the principle of regulated marketing and finding new markets for our produce. Briefly and distinctly, our export cauldron came to a head and has now boiled over. Consequently there is no time to lose in solving problems confronting the country and the Government, which problems differ more than ever, and more than the average person imagines. But there is one problem that I believe is particularly momentous—over • coming public Indifference towards the expansion of New Zealand trade overseas. The Government must make it its business to stir up, assist the initiative,' and to grasp thoroughly not a mere outline of the possibilities, but to keep abreast of every last known detail of new markets. Trade agents, as representatives of. the Government, -must go abroad at once to report, to explore, to encourage traders, to negotiate treaties, shipping and tariffs adjustments. To-day the Government must take a hand in the problems of disposing surplus produce all over the world, because the boards, not unlike dignified snails in their own shells, are incapable of carrying on this task any further than they did. They must be co-ordinated so as to offer not one product but all our exportable goods as an inducement of fair trade with various consuming countries. Full and real responsibility from. now on must firmly rest with the Government and its men. We have only ourselves, as exporters, to blame that we hand over the strategic aontrol of our export business to a Minister of the Crown. We were proud to belong to that contented community, which most emphatically resents being brought to a straightout decision on any important subject We were determined neither to pull up against the demands of the moment nor to pull down with them. We were simply delighted to sit and to wait quietly. Thus we were not as yet discovered by the world (as Dr. Fern of England politely reveals), because we must learn salesmanship and how to persuade people overseas to use our products. Hence the State interference, as well as intervention: “tu l’a voulu, Georges Dandin.” —I am, etc., ALEXANDER S. TETZNER. Patumahoe, November 24.

TARANAKI AND TOURISTS.

(To the Editor.) Sir,—The question of the overseas tourist traffic is a very important one for Taranaki. The province has been, and is still being, sidetracked. Only an - infinitesimal portion ever finds its way through the Awakino Valley, and over Mount Messenger, or ever views Mount Egmont. The real cause is the terrible obsession that the Tourist Department' has developed for Rotorua and its Maoris. Personally, I have nothing against the Maoris, for whom I have a great admiration, but I greatly doubt their value as a tourist attraction. If any of us were to visit America would we desire to be rushed off to some sulphur-smelling region to see Red Indians diving' into pools or. performing dances that we know nothing about? The whole thing is being greatly overdone but .as long as. it continues all tourists will still'be rushed off to Rotorua, and this means' that unless they have unlimited time at their ’ disposal, there is no chance of their coming along our way. This is the problem that we are up against, and the sooner we realise it and make others realise it, the better for all concerned.—l am, etc., RESIDENT. Eltham, Nov.. 28.