CONTROL

Dominion, Volume 20, Issue 60, 4 December 1926, Page 27

CONTROL

“MENACE IF CARRIED TOO FAR” A BANKERS WARNING SUGGESTED MERGING OF BOARDS “The holding up of a perishable articl e involves a serious risk, and the New Zealand producer cannot afford such gambling on the market. What a speculator may do under given circumstances does not affect the principle; in general, the wisest course for a dairy company to pursue is to sell and keep on selling.” The above advice was tendered at the half-yearly meeting of shareholders of the Bank of New Zealand in Wellington yesterday by the chairman of directors (Sir George Elliot). “Without a doubt,” he said, “the industrial unrest in the United Kingdom accounts for the decided fall in the value of dairy products. Under the circumstances, the supply of butter and cheese has greatly exceeded the demand.

“An appreciable quantity of butter from a number of dairy factories was held up in the hope that the market would improve. This hope has, unfortunately, not been realised, with the result that deteriorating stocks are blocking the gangway of the new season’s output just arriving in London. “Since the formation of the Dairy Control Board, there has been far too much talk of ‘control,’ and this idea of ‘control’ is hindering, not helping, at the present moment. Once upon a time in Egypt, many centuries ago, ‘control’ was successful, but that ‘control’ was connected with wheat—a much less perishable article than butter or cheese, and, furiJiennore, circumstances were different. "Control’ has been tried many times and in many countries since those far-off days but with very little success.

“There is no doubt whatever that the members of the Dairy Control Board are animated by the very highest motives, and are honestly trying to irn-' prove the conditions of the trade. There is no doubt, also, that the board was set up by Parliament at th.e request of the maj’ority of dairy farmers themselves, but there is always a grave danger that the members elected to the board may not possess the training or knowledge necessary for the running of a great business undertaking, and before they realise that they do not know as much as they ought to know, the affair they are managing may get into exceedingly deep water. “From the inception of the Dairy Control Board it was obvious that ‘control’ if carried too far might become a menace to the greatest primary industry in the Dominion.

“As the chief problems of the Meat Control Board and the Dairy Control Board are identical, the merging of the tivo into one would result, not only in a great reduction in expenditure, but would make for greater efficiency, especially if the number of the members on the combined board were reduced considerably—say to a total of five—two representatives from each industry, with a chairman appointed by the Government. I am certain that one small well-selected board could manage the business now carried on by the two boards much more advantageously from every point of view.”