DAIRY CONTROL

Waikato Times, Volume 99, Issue 16481, 28 April 1925, Page 2

DAIRY CONTROL

CONFIDENCE IN BOARD. By Telegraph.—Pres3 Association. WELLINGTON, Tuesday. The Dominion Executive of the New Zealand Farmers’ Union has the fullest confidence, in th<* Dairy Control Board. This motion was carried at the executive meeting yesterday afternoon, following addresses which were delivered by the chairman of the Dairy Board (Mr W. Grounds) and a member of the hoard (Mr W. Goodfellow). Mr Grounds said that at the outset it had been made plain that there would be an investigation of the whole position, and they had seen the results of that investigation. In London they had conferred with the whole of the importers, and they had also had a number of private' discussions, during which every phase of the matter was' investigated. As a result of those investigations they wore convinced that the merchants would be prepared to put up credits against the produce in the same way as they did to-day, only through the board, and the board was satisfied that control could be secured. New Zealand, it was found, had gained a very high reputation, and it was felt that every effort should be made to maintain that reputation. It was necessary to open up new markets, because there were times when London was unable to cope with all the produce that was sent there. New Zealand was developing very progressively as far as its dairy produce was concerned. Centralised control was necessary if hew markets were to be established. Last year, when produce was in short supply, New Zealand received actually more than that received by Denmark, showing that there was a stabilised demand that necessitated absolute control. It was a case of control or no control, and the question was whether they should control the industry or whether outside interests should control the industry. No such thing as limited control was possible; if they were going to control at all they would have to have absolute control. What they had to decide was whether the industry desired control of marketing, and they had found that that desire existed. If factories could make f.o.b. sales, the whole control of the board would be undermined. The question had been raised as to whether produce could be held in cold store and thus establish a regularised display. When he was in London he had tasted butter which had been in coid store for five months, making it seven months old, and he had found that it was 1 in a perfect state. There had been some concern about pooling, but it had been proved beyond contradiction that it was for the advantage of the industry.

Some people had ben inclined to regard the Dairy Control Board as being apart altogether from the industry, but the members were themselves closely connected with the industry. They recognised the need for regularised payments. There had been much talk about the attitude of the leaders, Tooley Street, towards the hoard in regard to finance, but there would be no change in their attitude. Thero were many distributors of dairy produce in Great Britain who had not had the opportunity of distributing New Zealand produce, who were now anxious to distribute'. He bolieved that the Industry was looking to the board to carry on. Unfortunately, there was in some directions a spirit of animosity, even in the industry itself, but if they were to make any progress they would have to quell that spirit.

Mr Goodfellow said that the Control Board was not taking any risks, as the method which it was proposed to pursue had been in operation for some three and a-half years by nis company, the New Zealand Dairy Company. lie did not foresee any difficulty iu regard to securing finance from the banks. lie had no hesitation in saying that the banks would mako any advances that were required. In reply to a question by Mr W. J. Poison as to why the Dairy Control Board did not regulate shipments in the same w3y as the Meat Board, Mr Goodfellow said that meat and dairy produce were on an entirely different basis’. It was desirable to get dairy produce away as soon as possible, and if the stocks were to be held at all they should be held at London, where the market was situated. Replying to another question, Mr Goodfellow said that Danish butter was made for immediate consumption, not for keeping, New Zealand butter, on the other hand, was made to keep.

Mr Poison asked if it was necessary for producers to pool for payment. In reply, Mr Grounds said that they could not expect even payments all the year round, and in order to secure equal returns based upon the quality of the butter it was necessary that they should pool.