Taranaki Herald. MONDAY, MAY 22, 1905. PRODUCE DISTRIBUTION.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LIII, Issue 12862, 22 May 1905, Page 4

Taranaki Herald. MONDAY, MAY 22, 1905. PRODUCE DISTRIBUTION.

New Zealand producers are annually losing large j.ums of mency through the imperfect distribution and marketing of their produce. They arc at the disadvantage of being] , further away from, their ! market than any of their- rival*, and/ the handicap is still further I increased by the lack of method in the disposition of their produce. In an. article in the New Zealand Herald Mr G. H. Buckeridge points out how serious is the loss sustained by this lack., of method. Arguing from the promise that New Zealandi butter is ,as good; as Danish.; lie says that the dairyfarmers are losing she shillings per cwt.— the difference between the London price of the two butters 1 — through their failure to distribute their produce systematically. The Danes, he says, have their produce under direct control, and regulate i the output on the English, market, keeping it regularly supplied* , during fifty-two weeks of the year, and they also regulate the price at which it is sold. We, on the other hand, exercise no control over the marketing of our butter in England ; we throw nearly the whole on the market during / about twenty-six weeks, instead of distributing it equally throughout the year, and we are compelled to accept the , prices current at the time oi arrival in London, according as the market is bare or glutted, and the demand is brisk or dull. Assuming that Mr Harkness, secretary of the National, Dairy Association, is correct in estimating that the exports Jof butter this year will reach. 20,000 tons, Mr Buckeridge shows that if the extra six shillings per cwt. was obtained the producers J would reeeiya j£i2o,ooo more v than otherwise. What, he asks, is, the usej of our producing butter that is acknowledged to .be -as. good as Danish lif, through want of proper management, we allow it to be sold at so much less prices ? The same thing, is true, only to a very much more accentuated degree, with regard to our frozen meat trade. New Zealand'meat is claimed to be super-

ior to that of the River Plate— worth a penny per Ib. injore, experts say*— yet the market reports of three 1 weeks ago quoted} River Plate mutton at four-pence and five-eighths, while Canterbury was only) fetching- fourpence-halfpenny, and North Island fourpence. I^ast year 275,000,000 1b weight of meat was exported from New Zealaud, and, assigning that it ought to fetch a penny per. lfy more than River Plate, Mr Buckeridge sets down the loss to our producers at .£1,432,000. Thus on. meat and butter he estimates that this colony is losing a million and a half sterling per annum because the produce is not sold to the best advantage. Perhaps he has sfated an extreme case, yet there is a great deal in what Mr Buckeridge says. It is a well-known fact) that New Zealand mutton is sold, in (England! as home-grown, at from fifty to a hundred per cent, higher prices than the producer receives. This proves its value, and should convince the producer that there is something wrong with, his methods, fie is entitled to receive the full value of his exports, less, of course, } a fair percentage for commission if a middleman is employed. It appears, however, that the middleman is not doing justice to his principal. He is not getting the full value for the produce, and it is for the principal at this end to try and find a more satisfactory " method of distributing- his produce. Gtfr Seddon has seriously proposed establishing retail shops in England for the disposal of New Zealand meat, and although it is, in our opinion, hardly a matter for the State to take up, the idea is worth consideration by those interested in the business. ATith' regard to the butter trade, Mr Harkness a long time ago advocated that the dairymen of the cclony, through;., their- Associations, should have a direct representative in London. An opportune contribution , to I the discussion of the question appeared in the New Zealand 'Times, curiously; enough on t:;e same 'day that Mr Buckeridge's article vas published in our northern contemporary. -This is a letter from, a Mr 1 W. A. ' Bayst, of London, a retired butcher, who has in thirteen years' .■ colonial , experience,

obtained a knowledge of the difficulties in the way of New Zealand producers obtaining . satisfactory returns lon. their labour. He is convinced that there is immense scope for enterprise in this matter, and, enthusiasm! for thci colonies having been aroused, , the time . is opportune for a pronounced Change in ; placing, colonial products discriminatory before the public, wher.«bv daily supplies of the legitimate" article could be obtained from sources giving , tp ' the ptir■hascr the consciousness of no deception, and the satisfaction; that every purchase was a contribution towards the trade of the Empire. Tlis idea, though he doesmot amplify it in his letter, appears to be the establishment . . of * colonial food emporiums'. >at some convcifient' centre. There arc vi-ry great difficulties iv the i way, but nob insurmountable, we should \ think. Speakinar more particularly of the dairy produce, trade, it might be pos^-ii^e for the two Associations, North and ■ South Island, j which control the shipping of a great quantity of . butter j and cheese, to combine to secure cold store accommodation in London-say in connection with the new wharves about to be constructed on the Thames bank* — whence ! the supplies might be distributed as required. If it were possible for all the dairy produce ercpotted from (New; . Zealand to be sent / to such "a store, and there sold to wholesale and retail buyers,! under , tho \ control andf direction o!j the dairy farmers' own representative, what a saving might he effected ! Such a system, would not meet with the approval ofi the • middlemen — colonial and! E*iglis>hM>ut it would bring producer and. consumer in closer contact. , Producers berej must sometimes be struck with the great expense attending the disposal of their . output, awing to the iact that so many middlemen have to make their living out. of the butter and cheese. It is ■ worth while" considering whether a pl an cannot be devised to reduce this expense and to distribute the produce more systematically.