THE DAIRY FUTURE.

Thames Star, Volume LXIV, Issue 17834, 8 March 1930, Page 5

THE DAIRY FUTURE.

ERA OF FALLING PRICES.

Dominion’s Only Safeguard.

CONTROL OF DISTRIBUTION.

EMPIRE FREER TRADE.

(II.) Continuing, the speaker referred to certain propaganda already appearing in the New Zealand country press to discredit the efforts of Amalgamated Dairies in the eyes of the producers. This, in his opinion, was only the forerunner of an extensive campaign, which would develop as the season advanced and he had no .doubt but that similar tactics would be adopted in Australia by interests which were not sympathetic to the welfare of the dairying industry. Referring to the future, Mr. Goodfellow stated that the industry had experienced a period of rapidly rising prices over eight years from 1914 to 1922, and since, eight years of declining values, the latter largely as a result of the return to the gold standard. If economists were correct in their forecasts, a further decline must be anticipated 'during the next ten years. This problem of falling prices in the past had been more than countered by an increase in production as the result of fertilising and herdtesting. It is estimated that the Auckland Province mould produce at the present rate of production a further 50,000 tons of butter in ten years’ time, provided prices remained at a payable" figure. The problem from a marketing point of view was where were we to find a profitable market for this ever increasing quantity of butter? It was true New Zealand was shipping approximately 15,000 tons of butter this season to Eastern Canada, hut that market could only be. regarded as a temporary one and ’might disappear at short notice if the U.S.A. Government suddenly increased the tariff on Ihe. large quantity of milk and cream imported from Canada. If this occurred, the Canadian Government would be compelled to shut out Australian and New Zealand butter, as the milk and cream in question would he sufficient, if converted into butter, to supply the total local requirements. Other markets remaining open ».o us mere not capable of development'to ary extent and the industry therefore lad to depend almost entirely cn the United Kingdom toj purchase the major potion of its exports of elitese and butter. Outlook Not Very Encouraging. The outlook, said Air. Gooufellow, was certainly not too . encouraging, .but the position could be eased considerably if Amalgamated Dairies marketed sixty per cent, of the butter and cheese of the Dominion and if at the . same time a determined effort were made, .to develop for our produce, in the United Kingdom other than London, Most of the dairy companies failed to appreciate the fact that 92 per cent.. of New Zealand and Australian butter and cheese imported into the United Kingdom was shipped to London, m'hereas as a matter of fact London only supplied approximately half the population of the United Kingdom. If . this were done, it m'ould be possible for New Zealand o n a weak market to obtain a price for its butter much more nearly approacliing Danish values. The same argument applied to Canadian and New Zealand cheese. . The only permanent remedy was, in bis opinion, the gradual development of freer trade within the .Empire. If the Old Country would agree to tax foodstuffs, there was no doub£ in his mind hut that the producers of both Australia and New Zealand would support a demand for a substantial reduction in the duty of all British manufactured goods. The result of such a policy would, in • the first place, be to discourage foreign importations of dairy produce into the United Kingdom and thus provide a wider market for Empire goods. It would also have the effect of greatly stimulating the sale of British manufactured goods in the Dominions, which would result in more employment in England and a greater consumption of Empire produce. • (Applause.) Mr. Goodfellow was commended on the excellence of his address by all the speakers of the dairy delegation, who agreed that something should be done to secure joint control of the marketing of their produce.