CHEAPER FOOD

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 19828, 30 April 1927, Page 6

CHEAPER FOOD

PRODUCER AND CONSUMER BEDUCING MIDDLE CHABGES The operations of the New Zea*land Dairy Control Board and matters affecting the disposal of New Zealand primary produo® were dealt with by Mr H. E. Holland. M.P., Leader of the Official Labour Opposition at the Opera House laA evening. After referring to the events which led up to the introduction of the Control Bill of 1923, Mr Holland said the Labour Party supported the principle of dairy control because in their opin ion it would transfer the marketing of butter and cheese from the speculator to the producer. There had been a good deal of outcry against the board having pricefixing powers; but price-fixing prevailed in all modern transactions, and in this case it was not a question of whether or not prices should be fixed—it was solely a question of who should fix them, Tooley Street or the New Zea land producers through their own board For the time being Tooley Street hac won out, and it seemed to him they had won with the assistance of the New Zealand Government. Dealing with the position of Mr Stronach Paterson, Mr Holland said Mr Paterson undoubtedly voiced the sentiments of Tooley Street. He further asserted that all the communications so far made available to the public revealed that the New Zealand Govern- ’ ment were behind Mr Paterson in hia attitude of hostility to control lhe board, and its manager. The propagandists from the vested interests’ side had not been slow to circulate the statement that the Prime Minister of the Dominion was opposed to the board policy, and this was borne out by Mr Coates’ cable of October last. Furthermore, the Government’s reply refusing the board’s request for the retirement of Mr Paterson and, later still, Mr Coates’ unwillingness to accept Mr Paterson’s resignation when it was proffered, left no doubt in any one’s mind that what Mr Paterson was then doing was approved, notwithstanding that his line of conduct could only result to the detriment of the New Zealand producers by preventing the board from functioning effectively. With respect to the future, speaking officially for the Labour Party, Mr Hol land suggested that arrangements should be made betwen the New Zealand *Dairy Produce Export Control Board and the Co-operative Distributing organisation of Britain for the more satisfactory marketing of New Zealand produce, and, further, that negotiations should be opened up with the Government for the establishment of a food purchasing council, through which the produce of New Zealand could be sold to the British consumer. He freely conceded that the organising of the board and the placing of contracts w’ould require to be most carefully handled, but some such departure was urgently necessary both in the interests of the Dominions and Britain herself. If, say, a five years’ contract wore made between the suggested British food purchasing council and the New Zealand Control Board for the supply of stated quantities of butter, cheese, etc., the result must be beneficial to both countries. Speaking of the Co-operative Distributing Organisation of Britain, Mt Holland said that that body had beer launched in the sixties until to day i' comprised 1420 societies and organic tions with a membershp of 5.000,000 There was a total annual trade of £296.000,000 and a net surplus of £23.250,000. The aim of the Organisation was to eliminate middle-man charges between the producer and the consort