MARKETING OE MAIZE

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 4, Issue 185, 26 November 1941, Page 5

MARKETING OE MAIZE

DEPARTMENT CRITICISED

UNION'S DISCLOSURES EFFECT OF BARLEY IMPORTATION Strong criticism of the Internal Marketing Division handling of the maize business was offered by Bay of Plenty producers when they met officers of this Department at Whakatane recently. This criticism is backed up by the statements contained! in an (article in "The Straight Furrow," the new official journal of the New Zealand Farmers' Union, published last week. . As the Beacon did much to enfarmers of the Bay to grow ,/iaize a year ago we publish portions of the Farmers' Union article which may he enlightening 'to local ' farmers. The article read' as follows: — When we came to consider the operations of the Internal Marketing Division there can be no doubt Whatever that something is very seriously wrong. Instead of being—as It could have been—a useful regulating instrument,. it has appeared • for the most part as an out-size spanner that has been thrown into the works time and again. Its history is; a distressing one, and it is : by this time quite evident that the Division, as constituted at present, is si'mpty not competent to "do the Work it is supposed to perform. Pushing its wa3" between producer and consumer, the Division has blundered about officiously, treading heavily on the corns otf both. It has established a fair claim to the title of Public Nuisance No. 3. Consider, for example, the way in Which the Division has handled tho marketing of maize, barley and oth«r stock meals. Early this year the Government - conferred with the grain merchants, who advised against the importation of maize. The local growers had, with official encouragement, increased their acreage as part of the cam.paign to increase production. Apart ' from this, there were ample quantities of barley and stock meal on 1 hand. Undeterred by the advice of those • who were in the business, the Division went right ahead and brought •in a big shipment of maize from Africa. Some COCO sacks were landed in April and May. The merchants advised the fixing .of a reasonable' price to consumers— .a price that would compare with ■that of wheat —even if this involved •paying a subsidy to the local growers. If this were not done, they said, It would be difficult to dispose of the large supplies of maize on hand. Once again the Division knew better. A price level was set that gave wheat the margin of advantage. The present prices, for instance are: — Wheat, 6/9 per 601b; maize, per 561b. Naturally, the farmer continues to buy more wheat than maize As if this were not enough, the Division has now ordered a big shipment —about 16,000 sacks—of barley from Australia. This is simply not wanted at the moment. And it occupies about 1000 tons of shipping space that were much better devoted to stock meal and the various essential grocery lines we import from the Commonwealth. This barley will sell at about 5/6 per bag for ton lots on rail, thus putting maize still further out of the running. The Government is taking over the supplies of maize. But what is it going to do with them? Let the wee- , vils have a feed? - < Concurrent with all this, the importation of copra has been discontinued. Whether this represents an official attempt to damp- down pig production is not quite clear. If so, it conflicts sharply with the policy being followed with maize, barley nnd wheat. In view of the popularity of copra, one would imagine that •some more reasonable ratio between it and the grains would have been adopted, and that the whole thing would have been better planned. With less bureaucratic control, and more consultation with those who - use the products, a more practicable scheme would certainly have been evolved. One main trouble is, as we have said, that the Internal Marketing Division is incompetent to handle such matters successfully, with its present personnel and organisation. Another is that, so far from "orderly marketing" having been established, there are two Government departments taking pot shots at the . Importing and marketing of grain

and meal. Wheat (and, when available, bran and pollard) are brought in and distributed by the Wheat Committee. Barley and maize are imported by the Division. There is ho evidence to suggest that they ever confer as to their plans. The wheat price is fixed by the Committee, at a level that makes wheat a very good buying proposition. The Division, in fixing the price of maize, apparently takes no account of this. It acts quite independently, as if it were living on another planet.

Some co-ordination between the. activities of these agents of the State is clearly necessary if anything like genuine orderliness and economy are to be introduced into the handling of their business. At the present time, as far as grain importing is concerned, they are like two fat men trying to sit down on the same scat in the tram car.

If Mr Nash can spare any time from his job of whittling down the returns of primary producers, it might he suggested that he conduct an overhaul of the marketing arrangements we have been discussing; and that at the same time he try to inject a little competence into the Internal Marketing Division.