HOW COMPULSION WORKS

Hokitika Guardian, 1 May 1928, Page 4

HOW COMPULSION WORKS

COST TO PRODUCER

AX EXAMPLE. (Taxpayer.) Some little time ago a number of fruit-growers ill tbe Nelson district were offered 8s a case i'.o.b. at Nelson or Wellington, for 10,000 eases of third grade apples. They were well pleased at the prospect of obtaining so good a price for fruit of this grade—equal to 7.s 2d a case net in Nelson or (is Od a case net in Wellington—and forthwith sought the authority of the Fruit Control Hoard to close with the offer. The Hoard, however, refused to countenance the sale. It insisted upon the growers gambling with their fruit tinder the conditions prescribed by itself, instead of allowing them to accept a payable price and assist in developing a market for this class of fruit. Lhdidieity given to this extraordinary proceeding in the newspapers led to representations being made to the Minister of Agriculture on the subject and that gentleman opened bis heart to the extent of guaranteeing is a case on the Home market. This means that if the third grade apples realise as much as 8s a (use in London, which seems highly improbable at the moment, tbe grower shipping from Nelson will receive 2d a case net for bis fruit. 7s Kid having been absorbed by costs ; while the grower shipping from Wellington will have to add (id to the price of 8s to cover the additional charge from his port. Had the Fruit Control Hoard < oii.-ciited to tlie sale of the 10,000 . a-,rs al 8s a rase the growers coneerns d would have received some 0i1,500. \s it i-.. they will he lucky if they net as naii'li ns CiO.'l oil the local mall et. SI tipping to London, in the lace ol a depressed market; is out i>l the quessi ii. •• GODDESS OF CHANCE." Lb,- tales; ri-puM tiom Home would justify no oilier e,inclusion. “There

He mi signs of any improvement, m lie apple market." one message iihis.

“.■Hid importers are roiling decidedly anxious regarding the future, especially in view ol the prospective heavy arrivals.” “The reasons tor the unsati'iaetory price.-.” a leading jinn of

I oudou brokers is represented as saying,'’ an- firstly, the public has heI Hue less satisfied will) tbe applies.

. . and secondly buyers have obtained information of heavy quantities ei Australian apples that Imve arrived and are on their way, and are most diffident about taking more than immediate requirements.” Other traders are credited with asserting “ that the pufh;lication in the newspapers of official statements of enormous supplies coming from Australia and Now Zealand are greatly detrimental to the producers’ interests.” This stale ol nilairs was expected by business men, who make a study of the markets with which they arc concerned; but the Fruit Control Board, which is hedged around with enervating Acts of Parliament and Onlers-in-Coiincil, seems cither to have given never a thought to the question of supply and demand or to have deliberately .sacrificed to the fetish of absolute c-ontrol the interests of a large section of the producers. A properly constituted firm •would have realised that the Nelson growers had an opportunity to dispose of a considerable proportion of their icrnp at a satisfactory price and would Lave provided such facilities as it could -V;ir flic completion of the deal. Aus-tiu-Mia. with its wider experience and inore ready conception, loses no opportunities to make forward sales at satis-

factory prices. New Zealand’s Fruit Control Board blindly follows the “ Goddess of Chance ” and the producers suffer accordingly. WHAT CAN BE DONE.

It is too late now to repair the loss the fruit-growers have suffered. Export buyers to-day are not offering Ss a case for third grade apples and the market shows no sign of an early recovery. it is still open to the growers, however, to reconsider the question of (ompulsory control. The Meat Control Board, though it possesses just the same authority in ibis respect as does tbe Fruit Control Board, lias not thought lit to enforce tbe compulsory clauses of its constitution, and lias rendered invaluable service to tbe meat industry without occasioning any serious friction. The first Dairy Control Board, without taking sufficient time to master all the intricacies of its trust, assumed absolute control at tin very beginning of its career, only to occasnui dissensions of one kind and

am.tb.or which at the end of a couple of years were actually imperilling the future of the industry. Finally tin factory suppliers took the matter hit their own hands and compulsion was jettisoned to the great advantage ol the producers immediately concerned.

and to tbe community at large. The Fruit Control Board, on account of its less extensive operations, lias not attracted so much attention as have the boards of the larger industries, and its methods have not been closely scrutinized by the public. The experience of the Nelson apple growers naturally has brought it into greater prominence, and its members well may consider, before a worse thing happens to them whether it would not be wise on thoii part to follow tin example ol the twi great bodies- that i(‘cognise the right

of the individual to do as lie please 4 with the legitimate fruits of bis owt