MARKETING OF DAIRY PRODUCE.

Hokitika Guardian, 16 June 1925, Page 4

MARKETING OF DAIRY PRODUCE.

THE TRUTH ABOUT "SPECULATORS.”

■Mr Grounds either doesn t know what lie is talking about or he is wilfully mis-stating the facts," replied a Wellington exporter the other day when asked what he thought of the aspersion the Chairman of the Dairy Board has been easting upon those opposed to the “ Absolute Control " policy he has been urging throughout the country. It would lie charitable to assume he does not know, but it would not lie- llatttering to his intelligence, for the truth is

open for everyone to see. There need he no mystery at all about the dairy business, this authority went on to say. Supplies, shipments, market movements, prices and prospects were recorded day by day in llie newspapers and it was practically impossible for anyone to spring a surprise upon the producers. Mr Grounds (imtiiuted to talk, however, as if a whole army of " speculators," “ monopolists," and “ profiteers ” were arrayed against the dairy farmers and seizing the opportunity to roll them of their just dues. There was not a tittle

of evidence to justify such a suggesion ami yet the ( hairman of the Dairy Board seemed never to weary of reiterating the imputation. It was grossly unfair, to say nothing harsher, to emplov such tactics in the present cont rm et'sy. It was perfectly sale to say that during tlm last twenty-lice years, a period tovering the vast development of the dairy industry, the exporters til this end and the distributors al the other end had paid the very closest attention to the interests nl the producers. It had been in their own interests, of course, to do so. It was their job to maintain the quality of their service just its it was the job of the producers to maintain the quality of their butler and cheese. The people whom Hr Grounds for his own purpose. had styled “ specula tors," knew perleetlv well that they could not build up their own business by resorting to such discreditable methods as the Chairman of the Dairy Board had contributed to them. It was to the credit of both exporters ami distributors that they had readily accommodated themselves to the circumstances as they arose and could challenge the very closest investigation of their dealings with the producers and the consumers.

The exporter and the distributor were not speculators, in the offensive .sense Mr Grounds used the word, any j more than were the producers. They | did their business on a strictly com- j mercial basis, expecting a reasonable 1 return for their services. They neither 1 " bullied" nor "beared " the market. , The principles on which they worked , indeed were entirely opposed to those j operations. As an example of this there | was the elearage of the accumulated , stocks of butter in London after the , war. , The British Government decided to , get tid of these accumulations at a. , very low price. Distributors all over , the country bought at a low figure , ami at. once reduced their own selling 1 prices to a corresponding level. The , weekly consumption of butter, as the | records showed, increased by from JO , to GO per cent. The accumulations | quickly disappeared and during the ( process the sales of margarine decreased in practically the same ratio as the sales of butter increased. ’This [ was a striking, but not an exceptional ; instance of the working of the export- 1 ors’ and distributors’ methods. The t o Diehl I figures, accented by all Lite , authorities, showed that prices always < were subject to tile law of supply and j demand and that retail prices were 1 decreased or increased in fair proper- t lion to the wholesale price. \ " .Mr Grounds may delude a numher , of producers into Believing that he has ] a Better service to oiler them.” were 1 the ('including words of the critic, t " but those of t.s who have had years , of experience in the business have. 1 grave doubts of his ability to make 1 his promise good."