MARKETING PRODUCE.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXVI, Issue 4808, 9 February 1925, Page 4

MARKETING PRODUCE.

CONTROL BOARD CRITICISED. MR. GOODFELLOW’S REPLY. Referring to recent Press reports, when questioned on the matter by a Waikato Times representative, Mr W. Goodfellow, managing director of the New Zealand Co-operative Dairy Co., said that a lot of nonsense was being talked by certain well-meaning people who had a very limited knowledge of the export position. For instance, the Control Board was being blamed for not regulating supplies of butter by withholding shipments to London. "In the first place, ,f said Mr Goodfellow, "the Board has not yet decided on its policy. A. delegation was sent abroad, and the report of the three members its now under consideration. Opposing forces are ut work, and the measure of control decided upon at next meeting (Februai’y 25) will depend very largely on .the demands of the dairy farmers themselves. “Criticism at this stage,’’ added Mr Goodfellow, “will do more harm than good. What is wanted is for the producers of New Zealnad to stand solidly behind the Board and insist upon absolute control. Any halfway measure will be worse than useless. F.o.b. sales must cease, and the London agency .must be given very wide powers regarding sales and distribution. North Taranaki, Palmerston, and Wairarapa are the weak spots, and it is from these districts that proprietary influence radiates. It must not be forgotten that the Control Board members are only human, and are influenced, like politicians, by the opinion of the people they represent. It the dairy farmers of New Zealand want the present unsatisfactory marketing methods radically improved they must demand complete and absolute control by the Board.” Referring to the shipping question, Mr Goodfellow said that as far as the New Zealand Co-operative Dairy Co. was concerned the directors did not consider it prudent'to hold up butter in New Zealand. The only safe place to hold dairy produce in quantities, in their opinion, was London, where it could be released for sale at short notice when required. What applied t;o the meat industry did not necessarily apply to butter and cheese. The dairy produce should be shipped as quickly as possible to the world’s markets. Thereafter sales could be regulated anil controlled. To hold back shipments without first establishing control in London might easily end in disaster. Obviously some definite policy must be decided on, in the first instance, before any united action could safely be taken.