CORRESPONDENCE

Hokitika Guardian, 28 September 1926, Page 1

CORRESPONDENCE

HONEY CONTROL BOARD. (To the Editor.) j Sir, —Air Rentoul’s address to . bee- ! keepers of Christchurch as re-printed ! in the “ Guardian” on September 23rd i .makes intersting reading. The “ Lyttelton Times ” says that there was not a very large attendance at the meeting which goes to prove that flic maj- ! ority of beekeepers are very down--1 hearted at the prices obtained since j tlie Control Board came into force and ; are taking a don’t-care kind of atti- ; tude instead of finding-out the cause ■ .so that a remedy may be found to inI stil new life into the industry. I mentioned once before that I. did ; not believe that a dozen beekeepers knew that a levy of Id per lli was de- ; -ducted from account sales of every ' pound of honey exported from New j Zealand. Nor did they know that 5 • per cent commission was charged on | the gross returns instead of 2) per i cent. Mr Rontoul quotes ancient liisI torv about, me duplicating my export (• charges and making a profit of 291 |, per cent. This charge was refuted in : n previous letter. 1 Mr Rontoul denies that the Control Board made a levy of Id per lb for ; advertising charges; as a matter of i fact, the Board’s operations were con- | fined simply to shipping the honey to 1 its London agents, Messrs A. J. Mills and Co. I hold a letter from the latter firm dated London, Alarcli 25th, 1926. which says in reply to my demand of £2O 10’s 4d wrongly deducted ■ for advertising 42 cases of 'honey that “ this amount lias been debited in accordance with instructions received by l us from the Control Board.” Re commission—We regret it is not possible ; lor ns to reduce our into of commission below 5 per cent. Who is telling the truth ? This question will bo asked at a. meeting of beekeepers to be held in Greymouth on Saturday, October 9th, when Mr Rontoul has promised to attend. Every beekeeper should attend this meeting if lie is not satisfied with 3rid per lb for his honey or write and say so as Mr Rontoul says that Northcroft and 1 arc the only ones complaining about the prices under Control. If a. beekeeper lias to work twelve months and gets 33d per lb for his honey, pay for tins, cases, supplies and other expenses, landing liis honey into grade store, when Ala- Rentoul says it takes s}d per lb to pack honey in the Dominion and about the same at Home, then it is about time the Honey Control Board was abolished. I am, etc., JOHN -MURDOCH. Ross. September 27tli,