PRICE OF EGGS.

Otaki Mail, 10 March 1922, Page 4

PRICE OF EGGS.

DISCUSSED BY CONFERENCE. ' At yesterday's session of the Confer- , euce at Palmerston a discussion touk 1 place on the question of fixing eggprices. I Mr A. G. Mumby (Wellington) stated i he had never seen a statement in print as to why the price of eggs nad been so high. The Government fixed the price of wheat, which to poultrymen in Wellington cost 10/ a bushel, but the latter were blocked from im porting wheat from Australia at a cost of 7/6 per bushel. The Government also fixed the price ol pollard, which cost pouttrymen £l2 per ton, when they i could have imported it at £7 per ton from Australia. The producers were thus'noTresponsible ior the high price of eggs. Mr J. B. Merritt (Christghuich) stated that one reason why the association had not advocated the importation of cheaper foods was because at the Dunedin conference in 1920 the whole of the poultrymen of New Zealand supported the principle of purchasing their wheat from New Zealand farmers; hence their inability to do anything in the way of inducing the Government, to import cheaper loods. He added that this policy was stili being maintained and it was the intention of poultrymen to encourage wheatgrowing in the Dominion by every means in their power. Mr R. W. Hawke (Christchurch) twitted the Auckland conference with not approaching the Board ol Trade to fix the price of eggs, seeing that it , fixed the price of fowl feed.

Mr Mumby said that the Jaw of supply and demand regulated the price of eggs, and they were not going to overcome it unless they worked up a big export trade. Right up until a lew months ago poultrymen were getting a. fair price for their eggs.

Mr Merritt said a mistake had been made by the attitude of the Association in refusing to agree to the proposal that through the Board of Trade they should contract to supply New Zealand bakers with 500,000 dozen eggs at a fixed price, which probably would have been 1 8 per dozen. The result was that the price slumped and poultrykeepers supplied eggs to bakers at 1/3 per dozen. Thousands of pounds were thus losl to the industry. Mr Harris (Dunedin) considered the Otago Egg Circle had acted wisely m fixing the price of eggs at 1/6 dozen. Mr T. Bruce (Palmerston) defended the action of the conference in refusing to agree to the fixation of prices by the Board of Trade. Another delegate pointed out tiiat fixation of prices to bakers would have gone a long way towards coping with the Asiatic egg pulp menace.

I Replying to various delegates Hie I president 'Mr Scott) said that Hiey ! should go straight-out for the prohibi- ! tion of egg-pulp and not compromise , with the bakers. The reverse which j they had suffered through Hie bottom falling out oi the market would in the long run be for the good of the industry, in thai it was forcing pouttrymen to organise and co-operate on a much , larger scale than hitherto.