DISASTER TO DAIRY INDUSTRY.

Thames Star, Volume LVII, Issue 159224, 13 September 1923, Page 5

DISASTER TO DAIRY INDUSTRY.

''To the Editor.) Sir, ' / It is quite obvious that the little coterie whch engineered the Dairy Export Control Bill through Parliament do not wish to see the compulsory clauses of the measure brought into operation at once. They know perfectly well taat such a step would bring about an irresistible demand for the repeal of the Bill. But disaster to the dallying industry in the near future is none the less inevitable because the promoters of the measure fear to carry their scheme to its logical conclusion. n

Our dairying industry has developed amazingly under a. system, which, though doubtless not perfect in some respects has encouraged free individual ell ,-rt and healthy competition. Bur, now a party of rash experimenters, who have already lead the producers into many disastrotity.l vfc'nturesi, have conceived the idea that they are wizards of (ffnajnacer, experts and prfociigfes of , knowledge all rolled into one and capable of revolutionising the whole course of British, trade to the abiding advantage of the dairy farmer. Many of these gentle .neu have mo 'authority whatever v> act for the producers. They represent only themselves. Yet if no onn speaks out on the matter plainly some of them will be found occupying seats on the controlling body. Throughout the efforts to bring about this combine there have been persistent, attempts to discredit the honesty and business capacity of the Brtish firms that handle our produce. A campaign ol this kind has been going on for years and its promoters have redoubled their activities since they have 'received the countenance of people in high places who ought to have known better.

Many of these British firms have been established for very many years and their organisation and equipment are unrivalled and their connections are world wide. Their operations cover many lines of produce of which butter and cheese are but two, and of which New Zealand butter and cheese are but a portion, in some cases only a small portion. The basis of their system is honest trading on lines of healthy competition, and they abhor the suggestion of combines of any sort. The conduct of their business rests on the very Highest traditions lof British Commerce and they offer facilities for trade which are not excelled in any part of the world. They either purchase our produce 'outright or they handle it on consignment, in most cases preferring the latter course. They l are able, because of the varied nature and extent of their operations, to render the dairy farmer extensive and efficient services for a charge of only per cent commision. These services are much greater than the uninitiated imagine. They include all the generally recognised services of agents, the payment of many charges, the risk of bad debts and the most liberal financing free of ♦interest. With the advent of the Control Board, an additional and amateur middleman, these .charges will be at least doubled. The British firms Have served us well and honestly and have assisted to build up our industry rapidly and on sound lines, and now they are being told in effect that they are unscrupulous rogaes who have been robbing us for years, and that we have set up a great combine which will decide which of them shall be allowed to handle our produce, what quantities they shall be allowed to have, at what time, at what price and how it shall be sold.

It is conceivable that the matter will rest there? Can anyone imagine for one moment that these long' established trading firms which have been accustomed to manage their own affairs and which have large unrestricted business dealings with many other countries, will risk the destruction of their whole business by placing themselves at the mercy of a combine, which one day might become a socialistic instrument for the abolition of all private ownership ? The mere suggestion is ludicrous. These firms will assuredly turn the whole of ,’thcf'r enterprise, 'experience and and financial resourses to wards the development of other sources of supply Such sources are right at their hand waiting for their attention and capital. The Argentine already has appeared as a , formidable prospective rjva l 1 New Zealand, and Siberia is emersr ing from its days of darkness Their immense areas, the great . .•i.’j... t--. 11 their near-

ness to the Home markets and their facilities for constant supplies give , our competitors enormous advantages. Surely we are not going to combat then* by scrappfing the successful system we have built up by years of patient toil. If we do so \for a certainty the the firms that have stood by us, without delay will Withdraw their experienced representatives from this country and use them and many others with abundance of capital in developing the dairying industry of the Argentine or of some other country.

In addition to the immediate ill effects of the loss of the goodwill of th© distributors through the passing of the Control Bill, we shall be faced in a very short time with a serious permanent lowering of prices that inevitably will ' follow upon the marketing of heavy supplies at the season that hitherto has been our special opportunity. Our only hope of escape from disaster lies in an immediate a,nd emphatic repudiation of the Control measure by the actual producers who do not subscribe to the fantastic ideas of the professional chairman. Flortunateiy the producers have an opportunity to save the industry and, reresenting a great number of producers who are sincerly convinced that nothing but disaster can come of the controllers’ schemes, I strongly urge'- every producer to record h'is vote on the measure and to think well for himself before he does not. If control is onfce brought into force- there will be n 0 hope of escape from consequences. I,am, etc., G. Maxwell. Opunake, September 7.