DAIRY BOARD ELECTION.

Hawera Star, Volume LIII, 16 June 1933, Page 4

DAIRY BOARD ELECTION.

The success of Mr. W. C. Green, of Rahotu, in the election of a Ward Four representative on the Dairy Board will be gratifying to .most South Taranaki dairymen for the very good reason that his election means that the cheese section of the industry is assured of a representative devoted to. its interests. There is a great deal wrong with the constitution of the Board, but its most patent weakness, so far as the cheese industry is concerned, is its dearth of representatives of that very important section of the dairy industry. This is a fault which is given too little attention by cheese factory suppliers. It is safe to say that more conferences, speeches, newspaper interviews and recommendations to the Board and controversy generally centre around the cheese industry than around" butter. And yet we have it on the word of Board members themselves that .to-day there is only one member, Mr T. A. Winks whose dairying interests are solely concerned' with cheese, and he, unfortunately, sits, not as a representative of the industry, but as a representative of the Government. It was a regrettable day for the cheese industry when Mr. J. R. Corrigan lost his seat, for -since his elimination there has not been a producers’ representative on the Board who can be regarded as a “cheese man.” The election of Mr. Green, who has had a long association with the dairy industry in a cheese pro,- . dueing area, will assist to readjust the j

balance somewhat, though, .the position will never be righted until the constitution of the Board is refrained. If by the election of new members for Ward Four and Ward Seven the Dairy Board can be brought nearer to a realisation of the need for reforms in administration which will introduce a greater measure of co-ordination between all the units of the dairy industry much good will be achieved. If, on the other hand, the Board continues to shelter behind the statutory powers which limit its responsibility to the. shipping of the produce, leaving federations of farmers, the Dairy Division and the Dairy Research Institute all working at cross purposes, the industry will have to look to other means of rationalising its organisation.