DAIRY PRODUCE.

Putaruru Press, Volume VII, Issue 269, 3 January 1929, Page 1

DAIRY PRODUCE.

MORE PUBLICITY ADVOCATED. “There is no doubt thatl, could we land our butter in English fresh, as it leaves the churn in New Zealand, no other butter manufactured could compare with it,” writes Mr J. E. Leeson, chairman of directors of the Morrinsville Dairy Company, who recently visited England. “After the tfliree or four months that elapse before it gets on the table iotf the consumer, although the flavour is quite sound and it is really good butter, it has lost its freshness and aroma connected with fresh butter and is therefore at a disadvantage when compared with the Danish, only three or four days out of the churn. “Handicapped as we are by distance,” Mr Leeson goes on, “one would imagine that every effort would be made to cover the 11,088 knots that lie between us and our market as quickly as possible. I found, when making a trip Home last April in a regular liner loaded up with butter, cheese, fruit, etc., that the speed of the vessel and that of the great bulk of the boats engaged in the New Zealand trade was 12 knots an hour, exactly the same as that of the eld Ka koura, which brought me out to New Zealand 40 years ago, and we are supposed to be a very progressive up-todate people! How long is the New Zealand producer going to put up with this state of affairs? Australia and the Argentine have their produce taken Home largely in 16 knot boats. "Wie pay heavily in subsidies tfc> have our mails sent a much mere indirect route via Vancouver in 16 knot boats. If vessels of the same speed were put on the direct Panama route we could have our butter and other perishable produce Home in 30 days, with a considerable saving in interest alone.

‘Many visitors to England who have returned tc New Zealand have said tfhey have had trouble to buy cur butter in the retail shops there. I never found any difficulty in purchasing our butter, and as I usually chose a time when the shop was not crowded, the shopman would take the troub’e to go down to the cellar to gel me the information as to what factory in New Zealand it came from. “But in only one instance did I see thie block turned out of the box labelled ‘New Zealand.’ The retailer •is net interested in advertising New Zealand but is very interested in advertising his own shop. He buys a good brand of New Zealand butter which he tlrusts will suit his customers and which he can depend upon, packs it in his own wrappers and sells it as Hc-me Colonial Best Butter,’ ‘Maypole Best,’ or ‘Burton’s Best,’ so that customers should come back to his particular shop again. People usually do what they think pays them best. If a large number of a retaiU er’s customers came asking for New Zealand butter he would doubtless ticket it New Zealand butter, but ap-

patently there is not that large demand. “The question naturally arises, hov. : can we increase that demand so that it would pay the retailer to exhibit and sell our butter as New Zealand, and thus inereaes the demand gener allly, the price depending upon increased demand and quality? lam convinced that this could be done and our ever increasing supplies absorbed without any great drop in price by the commonsense business method of advertising extensively, judiciously and persistently. Business is not to be done, increased and develop*; these times without advertising. “Last year the Dairy Control T?Ofrrfl STIPTIt -P9fl non nnnn o 1-i‘nr

■nd I regret to say it reduced it this 'ear to £15,000. The manager, M Jptyies, who is a very keen and levelheaded business man, has done wonnot nearly enough. We quite five times Mt:. ittSount for an effecflive camSouth African Governnentospends £20,000 a year in New fork alone advertising for tourists, nd it gets them. The British milk Jailers have set up a national milk council, which spends large publicum increasing the demand for amoi^^^ powder fell to 35s per American manu-

faeturers set up a strong organisation by a voluntary levy on every pound of powder manufactured to push the sale by advertising and ether ways, and are now putting men in bakehouses to teach bakers the best way of using it with flour. “The British Empire Marketing Board, by spending large amounts on advertising in every town, has created a strong sentiment in favour of Empire goods. These funds are found by the British Government, and we should net shirk our part in putt ng our own country’s goods before the public. “I am sure it would pay tlhe dairy factories of New Zealaiid handsomely ho double the present levy to our own organsation, the Control Board, in order that an amount something in keeping with the value of our output of dairy produce should be spent in pushing its sale in a businesslike manner.”