The Dominion FRIDAY, OCTOBER 21, 1921. THE MARKETING PROBLEM

Dominion, Volume 15, Issue 23, 21 October 1921, Page 4

The Dominion FRIDAY, OCTOBER 21, 1921. THE MARKETING PROBLEM

The debate in the House of Representatives yesterday on the subject of produce marketing in the United Kingdom was little more than a recital of familiar facts and a statement of problems which have long engaged the attention of producers in this country, and for which they are at present seeking a practical solution in the promotion of a scheme of co-opera-tive marketing. Questions of shipping transport and marketing have always been of vital) concern to producers, and it is, of course, obvious that in the hard times now being experienced by the man on the land these questions are more than ever important. It is selfevident, too, that as matters stand the New Zealand producer who exports produce to Britain is not getting fair treatment or receiving anything like a fair return. About wool there is not much to be said at the moment from this standpoint, but in regard to meat the president of the Farmers Union (Mr. Polson) stated at the last meeting of the. Dominion Executive of that organisation that while New Zealand mutton was selling at an average price of 6d. per lb. wholesale all round, the English retail price was about Is. 6d. The retailer, he said, makes twopence per lb., so that middlemen, who handle the meat only after it reaches the United! Kingdom, collect on an average 10d. per lb. The proportions as between the middleman and the retailer may be open to question, but the plain fact remains that the farmer gets sixpence, out of which he has to pay freezing, handling, and shipping charges amounting to about fourpence, while the people at the other end get one shilling for handling and selling. It is plain in these circumstances that the New Zealand producer is being exploited. In recent times, dairy produce from this country has been fetching good prices on the British market, though prices arc now declining, but. there is serious ground for complaint in the fact that little New Zealand butter is allowed to reach the Home consumer in the state in which it leaves this country. New Zealand butter is per-' haps the best in the world —-it is certainly at least equal in quality to any butter produced elsewhere — but instead of offering it to the consumer as a first-grade article, wholesale traders in the United Kingdom have adopted a practice of blending it with butter of an inferior grade. An essential aim of any scheme of co-operative marketing must be to ensure that butter and other items of New Zealand produce arc sold to the consumer under their own name and in unimpaired condition, so that they may command the place and price on the market to which they arc entitled bv reason of their quality.

It goes without saying that the farmers of the Dominion ought to be encouraged in every way to develop such a system of marketing as will enable them to secure failtreatment and adequate returns for their produce on the British market. Under thle scheme the Farmers’ Union is at present promoting it is proposed to sell a variety of products through depfits direct to retailers. It is a big scheme, and careful planning and sound foresight arc called for if it is to be successfully carried into effect. For a time at least any enterprise on these lines will have to bear the brunt of formidable competition. The interests which control . the marketing of produce in the United Kingdom are powerful and will not easily be displaced from any part of their present vantageground. Primarily success must depend upon the scheme receiving loyal and unanimous support from the farmers whom it is intended to benefit. Account, however, has to be taken of other factors, one of the most important of which is the attitude of the British Government. Producers of the overseas Empire who send their produce, to the United Kingdom are in every way entitled to tho countenance, and, if need be, the support, of the British Government in securing fair marketing conditions, but up to the pi esent these rights have not Been fully safeguarded. Even during the, period of the Imperial commandeer, foreign countries sending produce to Britain received more favourable treatment than her own Dominions. While the Empire was engaged in war such conditions gave no ground for complaint, but producers in the Dominions arc certainly entitled to ask now that the British Government should give them any reasonable assistance in its power to secure a direct and unimpeded approach to the British consumer. Manifestly, as matters stand, thieve is scope for a reorganisation of produce marketing which would benefit not only producers in the Dominions, but consumers in the United Kingdom. The British Government will neglect both a national and an Imperial duty if it allows combines dominated by foreign interests to obstruct change and progress on these lines.