TONS OF BUTTER.

Star (Christchurch), Volume LXVI, Issue 20479, 4 December 1934, Page 8

TONS OF BUTTER.

A New Factor in Elections. dairy board poll. (Special to the. “Star.”) WELLINGTON, This Day. New Zealanders have been prone to electoral experiments, and early in the new year there will be an election in which the voting factor is to be tons of butter. On the extnet of its contribution to the dairying output will depend the influence of each dairv factory in electing three members of the newly-constituted Dairy Board. There is to be an annual election in succeedin £ years, but only one of the members shortly to be elected will retire each year, and the order will be determined by lot. There is a fourth elected member appointed by the New Zealand Co-operative Dairy Company, which is constituted as a special ward. The rest of the Dominion is divided into three wards, as follows, each electing a member:— Northern Ward—The area of New Zealand lying northwards of the southern boundaries of the counties of Waitomo, Ohura, Kaitieke, Taupo and Wairoa. Middle Ward—The area of the '■ North Island not comprised in the previously-defined ward. Southern Ward—The South Island, together with Stewart and the Chatham Islands. Preparations for the elections are actively in hand, under the direction of the Chief Returning Officer, Mr G. G Hodgkins, who, in his capacity as Chief Returning Officer for the Parliamentary elections, has a wide experience of the procedure. One Ton, One Vote. The first task *is to complete the regulations for conduct of the elections, and to build up an electoral roll on the basis of factory tonnage, for the elections will be won by those candidates who are backed by the nomination of factories having the greatest aggregate of output. To overcome the difficulty that is presented by factories turning their milk into a variety of commodities other than butter, the returning officer, recognising one ton of butter output as one vote, will take two tons of cheese as the equivalent, and in the case of factories who include other milk products in their output, 20001 b of the butter-fat comprised in any other manufactured product will be recognised as one vote. Before this election can proceed, it is anticipated that the Government will select the three members who are appointed on its nomination, otherwise desirable men for this position might become candidates for election by the factories. Similarly, the Executive Commission of Agriculture will be appointed prior to the election. The existing Dairy Board is to be dissolved on a date to be fixed in an Order-in-Council in due course.