DAIRY CONFERENCE

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 2, Issue 259, 24 June 1932, Page 5

DAIRY CONFERENCE

(Press Assn.—

chairman's review IMPORTANCE OF OTTAWA " GATHERING TO NEW* ' * ZEALAND w OPENING NEW MARKETS

-By Telegraph — Copjrlght.)

PALMERSTON N., Thursday. The operations- of the Dairy Board were reviewed in an address by the board chairman, Mr. W-. Irons, at Ihe National Dairy Cbnference. ■' Refefring to th& Ottawa Conference Mr. Irons said -it 'was the board's •opin;- I ioh. that the - conference would h&' of the greatest impbrtance to New Zealand. The dairy industry had heen oppbsed *by cpmmereial interests and the City Press in its efforts to secure adequate representatio'n.' -Whether or not the quota would Be acceptable to Britain", this system had "crept into the Cofitinental countries. The board's idea was that New Zealalid's quota should be on a sliding sbale, the United Kingdom quota's for Contine'ntal" cbun tries to decrease in prbpoftion as New Zealaiid's production ihcreased. ; Rate' of Exchange D'saling with exchange, Mr. Irons said the ' board members- never advocated a rise in the rate. All they sought was that it be allowed to go free. A great injustice had been done to the primary exporter in not allowing him to get full value for his money, and it was high time that thene was organisation fo iprevent the control of tlie situation by the hanks. ■

An additional £8,00,0,000 would have heen secured by - the primary producers of New Zealand had the exchange market heen allowed to go free; He considered that now that the exchange was lifted the rate would rise, heing free of control. Markets iii the East Speakirig.of markets, Mr. Irons said efforts are being made to establish markets in the East.- A* representative i of a Japanese shipping line -had informed him that the institution of a direct cargo servica between New Zealand and the East is contemplated. Probably a trade deleg'ation of leading merchants Will visit New Zealand, following a meeting to he held at Shanghai in August. This year the 100,000 tons mark in butter exports had heen reached for the first time. Concluding Mr. Irons said the board had returned the dairy industry 850 per cent. on the whole levies paid. The total savings amounted to £2,500,000. The levies paid the bo since 1924 were £339,803 . Next Conference The conference decided that the next conference should be held at Hamil-" ton, the following year at a centre in Taranaki, and the year after in Manawatu. Empire preference was discussed wh-en it was decided to urge that a substantial reduction be made in the tariff imposed on British goods imported into New Zealand. The proposal was made that tariffs on British goods should be abolished altogether, and although this proposal received a strong measure of support, to give effect to it was considered by a majority of the conference to be econo-. mically impossible. Remit Negatived A remit submitted by the Tui Company, that a vote of the producers be taken on the question whether the producers are in favour of the retention or disbanding of the Dairy Board, was emphatically negatived on the voices. The practice of ohtaining orders on suppliers' cream cheques as a means of securing payment of debts was discussed at considerable length. The conference passed a remit requesting the Government to amand the Dairy Industry Act in the direction of empowering dairy companies to reimburse themselves by retaining 25 per cent. if necessary from the moneys paid out on account of orders for eroods.