THE DAIRY INDUSTRY

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Volume 81, Issue 54, 26 November 1937, Page 16

THE DAIRY INDUSTRY

- Press Association.)

Representation of Cpmpanies ANNUAL BOARD CONFERENCE

(By Telegrapb-

(jJLcsJjUxCJN jbi, L/ast JNlgnt. Guarded comment was made by the ' chairman of the New Zealand Dairy Board, Mr A. J. Murdoch, at a ward conf erence; in Gisborne yest^.-day when dealing' with a remit from the Taikorea Dairy Company advocating that the' annual conference of the board should " be constituted so as to 'permit all dairy, companics to "be direetly represented 'by their nominee, with power to speak and vote. • . ' It was thought, the remit added, that by this course the board would retain its position as head of the industry and as a result improve its usefulness. Mr E. R;. Renner, "chairman of the Okitu Dairy Coinpauy, said that, under the ' pr'esent method of representation, minority companies were entirely disfranchised. ' "Many companies throughout the Dominion must be in this Unhappy position, having no means of putting before the confereuce matters on wliich. they ' may' happen to be at variance with the majority of companies in their waTd," he said. "It must frequently happen that a large company controls the voting in a- district and therefore secures the representation and carries all the weight at the Dominion conference. A much fairer way would be for each company to be represented even if voting at the Doininioii conference were on a tonnage basis. - « . Mr Murijoch pointed out a change ' ,in • the coiistitution such as that proposed. would tiot only mean heavy ex;pense to the Dairy Board, but would also result in an unwieldy confernece. ;He reminded delegates that there were betwoen 400 and 500 companies in the Dominion. ... . Observiiig. that the remit was apparently aimed at assisting the leadership of the industry, Mr J. H. Sunderland, $ecretary of the Kia Ora Company, recalled' that at one time the Dairy Board had been the acknowledged representative of the industry, but there ' seemed to be a difference of opihion to-.day. The object was to have an annual conference along tho lincs of the National' Dairy Association conference. The opinion that no conference built on the 'Jines of the National Dairy Association's conference could deal effectively with the . problems of the industry was expressed by Mr . T. C. Brash, secretary of the Dairy Board, although he did not wish to deprecate the work of the association.