POULTRY INDUSTRY.

Manawatu Herald, Volume L, Issue 3916, 9 March 1929, Page 4

POULTRY INDUSTRY.

NEED FOR HELP. UNFAIR .COMPETITION. ' In ,a deputation of poultrymen to the Minister of Agriculture recently, Mr. iH. Leger, Weraroa,. made the following statement: — “All those who know the facts will readily admit that the poultry industry in the North Island during the last ten years has had to carry on under most adverse and trying conditions. The effect of these conditions has been to make organisation of poultry men and their industry, on up-to-date lines, more diffijcult of accomplislilment. We have reached a stage when something has to be done to adjust the handicaps existing in the North Island on the .wheat question. Whatever little friction may arise between the north and south sections of the N.Z.P.A., in the process, may be put down as inevitable, and things will soon readjust themselves to normal. On all national issues we stand with the national organisation. But facts have brought the definite conviction that apart from Egg Boards, export, and such matters pf. national concern, each island lias its own problems to deal with, and must act accordingly. This deputation is the first attempt in that direction. The North Island poultryman is carrying a heavier load as a result of the tariff wall, erected for the protection of the wheatgrowers and traders of New Zealand than ( any other class of the community.. On the London egg inaiket Sydneycan undersell us, because its wheat is JO/- per sack cheaper than it is in Wellington, and the South Island can undersell the North Island because its wheat is 4/- per sack cheaper, and a large per cent, of a class o_f small poultrymen, who are precluded fiom such opportunities in the north, can buy direct from wheatgrowers much beloiw the cost in the N°Hh I s l ar )d. The cost of freight of eggs to the North Island‘from the South does not affect the situation, except to a very limited extent. ON THE SAME FOOTING.

“What is wanted is such a readjustment as will put the two Islands on the same footing as to feed. The present .conditions offer many opportunities for the egg-speculator, to use the South against the North —opportunities that are so abused to-day as to constitute a menace to the public. Cheap foreign eggs are blocked by a tariff; but eggs from the South enter the North Island without restriction, even as to quality, for some are stale, surplus eggs, sent to the North for the purpose of stabilising the Southern market, and are sold in Wlellington as fresh eggs. The ultimate effect is to unsta’bilise the local egg market in order to stabilise prices in the South Island. As .to egg export in times of glut, that is a policy which will be availed of as long as it is practicable. England pays twenty million pounds a year for imported eggs, and although in recent years her own production has increased SO per cent., .there is scope for great expansion in her present consumption. I am also aware of our advantage of being able to place our flush season eggs on the London market at the dearest season. While not wishing to discourage expoit, there are sjgns in evidence that export of New Zealand eggs to the London market is not going to b« the easy panacea it was expected to he. These are high-cost-of-pro-duction countries, and the greater the cost of .production, the greatei jthe handicap. Even Australia with its .cheap wheat cannot compete with the fast-increasing London importation of European eggs. Therefore, with ,our maximum cost of production, it would be a mistake to rely entirely on export to absorb our surplus. New .South Wales finds that it costs 8d per dozen to (market its eggs in London, independent of the Government subsidy. In Sydney, it is now realised that if local marketing methods were put on a modern .basis through organisation of producers, the registration of egg-suppliers, and the elimination of that vestigial survival of .a past age, the egg-speculator, such an expansion of local demand would result as to easily absorb all surplus. This seems to offer the best solution, and one which the country would ( be wise to carefully consider. “In order to facilitate such a solution, and in justice to the North Island poultry industry, we ask that, pending the abolition of Customs duties on wheat, the Government adopts a policy that will result in a parity of cost of poultry feed in both islands. The foim that this .policy should take, wifh subsidy, bonus or importation of Australian wheat for the North Island, by the Government, is immaterial, provided it is effective and permanent. Personally, I believe that the importation of wheat is the best solution of the difficulty.”