DRIED MILK.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 7, Issue 399, 9 August 1918, Page 4

DRIED MILK.

(To the Editor.)

Six,— There seems to be a little misunderstanding in some parts of the .district as to my attitude as Organising Secretary towards the different Dairy Companies and the Dried Milk proposition.

It has been said tfcat I am backing up the New Zealand Dairy Association, and going against the dried milkscheme. To this statement I wish to give an emphatic!; denial, as my attitude and that of the Executive have always been absolutely neutral. We have endeavoured to get all the information we could for the farmer, and thun let. him decide on whatever c/.nrse he thinks best To this end we invited both the New Zealand Dfiiiry Association and the Waikato (Co-operative Dairy Company to visit tfche district and to give a series of addresses to farmers on the drier] milk question. Both Companies replied, statins their willingness to do so, and A number of meetings have resulted. The New Zealand Dairy Association held a meeting at Pukekohe, but Mr. Goodfellow thought I hat a meeting at Patnmahoe and one at Tuakau would suit the purpose, as most dairymen could attend at either place. I was present at the meeting of the New Zealand Dairy Association at Pukekohe, when Mr. Kirkman stated thai the meeting was convened at the request of the Farmers' Union. This was quite correct, as were also the meetings held in other centres by Mr. Goodfellow. At this Pukekohe meeting ( publicly stated that we took up a neutral attitude, and were simply searching for information, but in view of the excitement that prevailed over the high prices quoted, and the apparent rush for factories, I gave the old-fashioned but sound advice, that " when everybody else is running, yon walk."

T have since been told, Mr. Editor, that by speaking in this strain, I was putting a damper on the dried milk proposition, and that my advice was not wanted. At the close of this meeting I was the only person who asked any questions, and those were put to solicit further information for those present. If I had taken up an attitude antagonistic to the speakers, I would then have been blamed for supporting the Waikato Co-operative Dairy Company. "And so life anooches on."—Yours, etc., S. OLDFIELD, Organising Secretary. Franklin SubProvincial District. N.Z. Farmers' Union.