DAIRY BOARD HAS ANSWER TO CRITICISM OF MARKETING COMMISSION

Wanganui Chronicle, 4 May 1949, Page 4

DAIRY BOARD HAS ANSWER TO CRITICISM OF MARKETING COMMISSION

Recent criticism of the Dairy Pro. ducts Marketing Commission by soma sections of the farming community was answered by the chairman of the New Zealand Dairy Board, Mr. w. E. Hale, when he addressed a ward conference of the industry in Wanganui last night.

Before the setting up of the Commission, said Mr. Hale, the Government had full control of marketing and the fixing of tlie guaranteed price, but now the industry had a 50 per cent, say in each, which was a big step forward. He considered ihat it was far too early yet to condemn the Commission as some dairy farmers were doing.

He said he wanted the Commission to be given a fair trial for a few years, because he believed that it might prove a steppingstone to what the industry had always sought—complete control of its own affairs. "Before you become critical of the Commission,’’ said Mr. Hale, I want you to have a good look at what it replaced. I knew, becapse I had close dealings with the Government committee right through the war years, and I do not want to go back to where we were before." In those days, •alter tough negotiations between the industry and tlie Government representatives, agreement would be reached, but that agreement would be nullified because when the Government representatives reported back they could not get approval. It had to be remembered that so tong as the dairy industry required a State guarantee standing behind its costs of production, the Government would demand equal representation with the industry in the fixing of the price. The industry could only expect tc receive full control if it were prepared to forego the State guarantee.

Mr. Hale admitted that the dairy industry's Costs Committee had been a bit disappointed with the Commission's price last year, mainly so far as labour reward was concerned. At that stage the exchange rate had just been moved back to parity with sterling. The Costs Committee imagined that the Commission assumed—as they all had—that in view of the advantage given to workers through the alteration in exchange, wages would definitely be held. Unfortunately, however, that had not been done. The trouble, continued Mr. Hale, was that because of its past experiences, the industry was inclined to look on the Comission as an Arbitration Court. The intention in setting up the Commission was that it should be something very different. It was designed to be a partnership, with all its members looking fairly at the facts, and not taking sides. If the industry forced the position to a stage where it demanded detailed reasons from the Commission for its decisions, then inevitably the industry men on the Commission would become merely assessors for the industry. In that case, the Government representatives would become assessors for the Government, and the final decision would rest with the chairman “When that stage is reached,” concluded Mr. Hale, "the Commission's davs would be numbered, even if you could find a chairman willing to carry on —and that, I think, would be extremely difficult," <