"MAD POLICY"

Evening Post, Volume CXII, Issue 126, 24 November 1926, Page 10

"MAD POLICY"

DICTATION OF PRICES

"THiS INf ANT Of DAIRY CONTROL

STRAIGHT TALK BY LBADER OF COMMERCE.

A trenchant criticism of the policy of the Dairy Control Board wig made by the president of the Associated Chambers of Commerce (Mr. A. H. Mackrell) when addressing f. the annual conference to-day. "The marketing of our produce is presenting problems not insurmountable, but difficult," said Mr. Mackrell. "This year hag witnessed the birth of an infant in our midst armed with authority and powers which it is wielding in such a way as to well-nigh wreck the household. I refer to the Dairy Control Board, set up with absolute power to seize and market in any way it thinks fit the exported dairy produce of the Dominion. This infant when conceived by its parents was much less harmful than it has proved to be since its birth and the discovery of the huge powers it is allowed without question to exercise. It is surely teaching it* parents, its grand and great-grandparents, how to do . things, and is quickly providing for itself a lash which will not only bring about its own destruction but a family disruption from which it will take a long time to recover. "Britain, a manufacturing country, living by the importation and production of raw material* which it manufactures into finished articles and exports to all parts of tho world, is largely dependent upon imported foodstuffs to feed its huge manufacturing population. Its whole national well-being is dependent upon an adequate supply of foodstuffs at 'a reasonable price, for it must compete in the open markets of ■ the world with its products, and cannot pass on any increased cost of liv- J ing that is forced upon it "It is urged by the advocates of control that prices are only to be regulated and not forced up. Be this as it may, the fact remains that if New Zealand succeeds in controlling the price of foodstuffs sent to Britain, other countries will attempt to do likewise, and soon the Homeland will find itself throttled and stranged by the dictation of prices at which it is to buy its food. From Britain's point of view, the fixing of prices is economically wrong, and threatens its very life blood. The past few months of controlled prices of New Zealand's dairy products have been sufficient to show the attitude of the British consumer, and the disaster that awaits ue if we still insist upon pursuing this road policy of dictating the prices of our foodstuffs to Britain.