DAIRY CONTROL

Hokitika Guardian, 27 July 1926, Page 4

DAIRY CONTROL

HOSTILITY IN BRITAIN. WELLINGTON, July 23. “I am satisfied that the British public never will accept .price fixation and that if such a thing came into being, the House of Commons would legislate to prevent it.” In these words, Mr W. .1. Poison. Dominion president of the New Zealand Farmers’ Union, concluded an interview on Dairy Control this evening. ■« British merchants and wholesalemen are as conservative as the bulk of the British public is known to bo,” said M polscin. “They abhor anything that has the appearance of violent change and they have made up their minds that the New Zealand Dairy Control Board, in seeking to control our dairy produce, is determined to dictate prices to them. 1 found this a very general impression at Home on my trip through Great Britain. I took a great deal of trouble to investigate the matter, not only from the Tooley Street end, but also among merchants in every part of the country and also wholesale grocers and found an astonishingly strong feeling growing against New Zealand dairy produce because of the belief that the Dairy Control Board was determined to fix prices. .1. en- ' deavoured to point out to these people that control meant absolute control, if j it meant anything at all, but that I I did not understand it to mean price fixation and that-I did not believe that the Board would attempt pricqfixation. I am satisfied, from what I saw, that the attempt would he suicidal, and that the first duty of the Board is to make it absolutely clear that such is not their intention. I know that Mr Grounds has already said that the policy of the Board is not price fixation, but this is not the impression which has been created at Home, anil I am afraid that there has been lack of diplomacy somewhere. At all events, a great deal of harm has been done. “ I am myself aware of important orders for butter which, in the ordinary course of events would have been filled by New Zealand butter, hut which have gone elsewhere. Merchants have given me figures to show just what we have lost by displacement of onr produce by our competitors, be- ; cause of the feeling, which, while not - amounting to a boycott, does amount 1 to distinct hostility towards New Zea- 'I lam! butter. Just now the British 1 market is practically glutted with but- i ter. and on top of this Britain and Ireland are having one of the best dairy- I ing season for many years. One does j not like to he a prophet of evil, but I r am afraid that the outlook for New t Zealand butter is not rosy. I would 1 suggest that the policy'of the Dairy f Control Board should he directly '] towards creating better storage and o marketing facilities in the meantime d rather than make any attempt towards p price fixation. T think that one re- t puires to go Home and study the ques- i tion at the other end to realise the s mormons difficulties which the Board t Is called upon IB face. I quite confess L that I had no idea of the complexity h if the problem until I studied it for t-1 nyself,” s<