The Christchurch Star PUBLISHED BY New Zealand Newspapers Ltd. Gloucester Street and Cathedral Square CHRISTCHURCH NEW ZEALAND. FRIDAY, APRIL 20, 1934. THE GOVERNMENT TAKES CHARGE.

Star (Christchurch), Volume LXVI, Issue 20285, 20 April 1934, Page 6

The Christchurch Star PUBLISHED BY New Zealand Newspapers Ltd. Gloucester Street and Cathedral Square CHRISTCHURCH NEW ZEALAND. FRIDAY, APRIL 20, 1934. THE GOVERNMENT TAKES CHARGE.

A FIGHT is brewing between the Imperial anti the Dominion Governments with the end of the Ottawa Agreement in sight, and the action of the New Zealand Government in “ accepting responsibility ” for the control of the dairy industry is dictated by the determination that issues vastly greater than those affecting the dairy industry alone shall not be prejudiced by blundering sectional interests. The Dairy' Board apparently concurs in the decision, and the public will find added reassurance in that fact. Mr Forbes describes the whole problem as a crisis that calls for planned action. That action is just an extension of the rationalisation of industry, which is being forced on by economic considerations in every country-. The crisis, indeed, is twofold in nature. It is primarily concerned with quotas and tariffs, and this is so obviously a matter for Government negotiation that the Government can claim every justification for its present move in view of the instability of opinion behind the dairy industry. Secondarily, the problem is concerned with the rehabilitation of the industry but that, in turn, has a direct bearing on any negotiation regarding quotas. New Zealand’s position will be greatly strengthened, especially in regard to the strange preference the British public have for foreign butter, if it can demonstrate the high quality of the Dominion product. At the present moment, as the writer of a letter to the “ Star ” to-day points out, it is Danish butter and not New Zealand butter that is giving the British home market its greatest anxieties, but it is useless to quarrel with that preference if New Zealand’s marketing methods are at fault, because British overseas producers can have preference to foreign only- if the qualityof the product is right. It is because of this that the Government has decided to appoint a Roy-al Commission to deal with every phase of the industry. That is where the real Nationalisation of the industry is involved, for at the moment the control of marketing is related merely to national bargaining. It will be noted that the Government also will have an investigation made in Britain into the causes that have led to the great discrepancy- between the prices of New Zealand and foreign dairy- produce. That information ought to be available already- if the Dairy- Board had been doing its job, but more important still is the proposal to subsidise new avenues of trade abroad, and to ship dairy- produce to any part of the world that offers opportunities for its sale. SECONDARY INDUSTRIES. ' | 'HE DECISION about butter should be heartening to secondary- industries. It has been alleged by the Auckland Farmers’ Union that this coup is a “ betrayal ” of farmers’ interests, under which, with quotas conceded, the Government could dismiss the demand for lower tariffs. Undoubtedly the tendency will be in that direction, and the fact that Mr S. M. Bruce, the representative of a more highly protectionist State than New Zealand, is to be in conference on the subject, should give heart to New Zealand manufacturers. There is really no betrayal of farming interests involved. Forward-looking farmers, like Mr Colin M’lntosh, who put the Canterbury Farmers’ Union right on this subject on Wednesday, realise that the ultimate prosperity of New Zealand is strongly bound up with secondary industries. Only by- their development, it may be added, can New Zealand’s national aspirations be realised.