DRASTIC PLAN.

Star (Christchurch), Volume LXVI, Issue 20285, 20 April 1934, Page 7

DRASTIC PLAN.

GOVERNMENT AND DAIRY INDUSTRY. Why Action Was Taken. BOARD'S POWERS MAY BE AFFECTED. (Special to the “Star.”) WELLINGTON, April 20. The Royal Commission on the dairying industry is expected to comprise three members, including a businessman as chairman, with two others connected with dairying. The Government's action in setting up the corn-, mission is believed to be a prelude to very drastic changes in the organisation of the whole industry and its method of control. In taking full responsibility for future action, members of Cabinet, it is reported, adopted this policy owing to the complete inability of the Dairy Board to demonstrate that its recommendations would have the full support of producers. It is no secret that some of the most important points in the board’s recent statement to the Government were adopted by the board only by a majority of one vote. The commission has to consider the board’s powers and constitution, and it is expected that associated with this aspect will be the services rendered to the industry by the inspecting and grading staffs of the Department of Agriculture, because there is a possibility of the whole organisation being re-modelled. The Dairy Board’s powers are admittedly insufficient to cover any internal stabilisation scheme. Therefore, Parliament is expected to have the board’s constitution and functions, as well as its electoral methods, under review next session. Xo reference is made in the Government’s statement to the proposal for a delegation to England. The reason is that it is not a matter for immediate action, though ultimately necessary. The Home Government has made it clear that no separate agreements are possible with individual Dominions; therefore, if New Zealand wishes to raise questions relating to trade conditions which should prevail after the termination of the Ottawa agreement, it must be in conjunction with other self-governing Dominions. Joint Action Probable. The coming visit of Mr Stanley Bruce, the Commonwealth High Commissioner, has an important bearing on this phase. Mr Bruce leaves Australia for New Zealand next Thursday, and is expected to discuss with Ministers the probability of joint action by New Zealand, Canada and Australia in respect to dairy imports into Britain when the Ottawa agreement ends. Cabinet obviously views with concern the change in sentiment created in Great Britain. The Pr-roe Minster, in an address to the Wellington Chamber of Commerce, commenting on the president’s appeal that private enterprise should be unfettered by Government** 1 interference, made pointed reference to the changed conditions of world trade. Every country, he said, was closing up trade avenues and seeing to every bit of goods v.viich came m. and it was imoossible for New Zealand to ignore this. The low prices of New Zealand dairy produce on th* m--' " -.ere due to over-supply. British farmers,” Mr Forbes continued, “are complaining bitterly that we are sending in huge quantities, and they are telling their Government definitely and very strongly that the Government is letting them down and allowing their market to be destroyed by the over-importation of produce from the Dominions. That is a very difficult position indeed. We want to preserve the goodwill that has always existed between New Zealand and Britain and do not want to put ourselves off-side in the minds of the British people.” (Mr Forbes’s statement is reported on Page 4.)

’BOLD AND COURAGEOUS’ Mr Poison. M.P., Supports Government. Per Association. STRATFORD, April 20. Addressing a large meeting of farmers at Whangamomona, Mr W. J. Poison, M.P., Dominion president of the Farmers’ Union, endorsed the Government's decision to appoint a Royal Commission to examine the whole economics of the dairy industry internally and externally, whLh the Farmers’ Union, including all sections of the organisation, had unanimously asked for. Mr Poison said he agreed with the Government that the problem to-day raised issues beyond the jurisdiction of the Dairy Board. The quota involved a wide question, both Imperial and public, and it seemed to him that, just as it was necessary sometimes to sacrifice a limb to save a tree, some unpleasant regulation of our major industry might be forced upon us, not merely in the interests of the farmers of Britain, but in the interests of tha nation. It was unpleasant to think of it, but the fact must be faced that Great Britain was no longer invulnerable. Her command of the seas, even to-day, was not sufficient to maintain a policy of isolation, and alliances were necessary. Speaking without specific knowledge, Mr Poison said that the major policies of the British Empire might necessitate international agreements which would involve serious alteration in Dominion plans of production. The proposed order of reference of the Royal Commission covered the whole field, and he thought that the Government's policy was bold and courageous. Asked to explain the attitude of the Auckland Farmers’ Union as referred to in a telegram yesterday, Mr Poison said that he could not understand it. as the Auckland delegates on the Dominion Executive had endorsed the demand for a Royal Commission, and, including the president of the Auckland branch, had taken part in a deputation to the Government asking for a Royal Commission.