THE DAIRY INDUSTRY.

Shannon News, 22 May 1923, Page 3

THE DAIRY INDUSTRY.

CANDIDATES FOR NATIONAL DAIRY ASSOCIATION. At a meeting of the WellingtonWest .Colast Co-op. Dairy Association, held in the Y.M.C.A. rooms, Levin, yesterday, the candidates for the position of member for the Wellington District, on the N.Z. Dairy Association (Messrs J. D. Brown, 'S. Broadbelt, and H. E. Pacey) took the opportunity of addressing the assembled directors who- were present from the Te Horo, Shannon, Kuku, and Levin factories, in support of their candidature.

-Mr .1. D. Brown, the retiring director, said that occasionally, dairymen got tired of hearing the dairying in-dui.-M.ry spoken of as the “backbone of ibe country," hut it was re’aily so. The dairying industry Was now bringing in annually about, £ 16,000,000, and if worked in the most efficient manner possible would in the near future bring in still more. He considered it wa s the duty of the Government to assist Ihe industry as much as possible. New Zealand was primarily, and in fact, almost entirely, relying lor its prosperity on its primary products .and of these the dairy industry ran-k----'ed first. Referring to the question of Farm Dairy Instructors which had ( been discussed at the 'Directors’ meeting, lie considered that the Government should assist, in this respect. Everything that tended to raise the (pinlily of the product was of direct benefit to the community as a whole, and furthermore there was nothing speculative about such assistance the Government’s giain would he cetlain in increased re-turns. Such an instructor could be of immense value in a district. At present the average butter-fat. return was 170fbS; there was uo reason why it should not be raised q, :’()()'.Is. piiai ideally doubling the Value of tue .reiurii. in manuiacuumg New Zealand h-*u g>M to the stage wnere Uiey had probacy the best equippe-t iactoricb in the world, and the in os l efficient factory midiiagei ; ail that was necessary now wa-s a little supervision outnue me lactoiy, to insure only a first-grade ailicie being pioduceu. Shipping, he thought, liud been fairly yaUsiactory, but flic re was something wrong about me 1 ,1 U" cess oi maiKeung. it was hard tor men at tins side to say n was nor done right. H e thought the industry Had readied a sruge where it v.ftnecessary to go into the .whole question ol marketing, shipping, and control. lie was in favour ol' the CoiiUol Bill going through Parliament. It would be foolish m expect the Ddl to right all the faults oi the present system, but it iwould he a istart in me right direction, and could be gradually improved. Anything that Wad been done in the past had tailed mostly through the tanners not sticking together, and in the Control Bill the iarmer was still the week link. The National Dairy Association wao doing good work, ami Was earnestly working lor the good of ihe industry as a whole. In regard to- reducing freights, they, had many conferences with the shipping companies on this head, but could not do much with them. If anything ciarne of die Meat Control Bill, they would then he in a position to speak to the Shipping Companies and dictate theii own term-. Mr S. Rroadbelt spoke highly o what die Dairy Association Wad done in the past, but said that for the last lew years it had been lacking in gmger, so that, new required to get it going again, be was in lr,v ' our of bringing pressure to bear on the Government to provide dairy instructors. Another thing he -.belie', cd ■was necessary was that bettei inm mlation should be supplied to companies regarding tbe;sta-te of the market at Home. The information given to tile newspapers was not rel-iaole and companies should be in a position 1o get full and reliable reports. He was a supporter of the Dairy Conirol Bill. He did not take up the attitude that, the Control Board should bold up supplies until fancy prices could be obtained, but Ihought they should be in (a pm-lit ion, where necessary, to store butter where the market was over-supplied and so distribute applies over the whole season. W ith regard to shipping, a fortnightly service wap necessary and would 1 -alp very consideitahly with marketing lal Home. He thoughrihe dairying industry was strong enough to keen a fleet of ships going, and considered ihe provision of such a fleet would he a good proposition.

Mr Pacey thanked the Association for the opportunity of addressing the members. He was standing as the nominee of the Cheltenham Dairy Co. and asked that in the first Placemembers would consider bin nomination on ils merits and not allow prejudice to influence their judgments. He agreed that the National Dairy Association had done a loi of good in the past, but while it bad served a useful purpose it had lack of vision and lack of leadership, and it wag because of thi s that he desired to

.see a change of administration. He considered that the National Dairy Association had tailed to do what it might have done about the slump in ' pork. A vigorous policy of exportation, wlififfi had ahiefady been proved practicable would have solved the difficulty. The Association had been formed to take combined action where necessary in regard to shipping, and legislation affecting dairying. For a long lime it had worked along these lines and had done very satisfactory work, but lately it had become commercialised and thought only of making money. In this respect it might be of value to small companies, but if the Association was going into trading they would become traders pure and simple, wilh the risks of traders, bad years, etc., which would lend to have a disintegrating influence. If they were content to 'act as indent agents, only cutting out the expenses of travellers and warehouse charges, etc., he considered it would better and prevent a recurrence of the heavy losses which had done muc n towards crippling the Association last year. Speaking on the subject of dairy inspection, he 'said that this wa.s a proved advantage and the thing that surprised him was that, the meeting had not thought of referring the mater to the N.Z.D.A. for support. That was its function, to assist companies In matters of this sort, and it was a distinct reflection to the usefulness of that body, when it had not even been thought of as capable of helping. If it did not take up matters of this sort it. w'Hs failing in the very duty for which it. was inaugurated. There were certain districts in the country which were receiving assistance, and when this was so, why should this district not. be on an equal footing. II the Government was helping the industry, that help should he spiead over tire while country evenly. Regarding the .information supplied to companies by the N.Z.D.A., he considered that this was by no means sufficiently comprehensive. He had written to his own -company's representative'. asking if they could not „. lse mm information about tin* amoum ox baiter on ttie markc, supplies arriving, and when it was expected, likely requirements and so on. ...... was 100 uuuiioation that was ol uemii'age to companies. Defore the war, regular supplies were as'surcu ..urn £ ,e»eiiai uil'leieiit sources, and a laTlly regular supply was maintained throughout the ye'ar. .Several causes haii completely altered this: ihe coi‘lapse of ttie European exchange, the rebellion in Ireland, etc., had oil helped to reduce European supplies, and whilst the great increase ol butter pro auction in the Southern Hemisphere had helped to equalise the situation, it had materially altered .the regularity or tlie supply. What was necessary wa* to know how these supplies were coming on to the market, The idea ol' a line of shipping he characterised as u'topian. Owing to the dead weight of dairy produce it would he necessary Ur send a boat Home halt lull, whilst there-would he the question of return freights to he considered. One of tlie chief causes ol' delay in shipping was (hat now' boats loaded at too many different ports round the coast, picking up a little at one and a little-more at another. Before 'the war there were only lour ports of loading; now 'there "'ere I<He considered it would pay to pay a little more lor U’anshippmg and get a more regular service. Me criticised administration mul said the Whole office and financial depart mentis needed overhauling, £ n ‘ ju<r several illustraYfons, which he explained were small things but winch undermined confidence. Further theie had been a lot of talk by the N.Z.D.A in regard to the Danish system ol marketing but nothing had been done in this respect. H had been sanl tint if thev could get their own floors and warehouses in London everything would he all 'right. The Australians, however, had tried this without an> conspicuous success, iho Danish system was two-fold. Under their •-> * tent of grading 'anything that did not come up to first-grade was refused a licence m export. The second part o th» scheme w'a,s a committee formed ,l producers, 'merchants and financial agents which sits once a week and leviews the whole situation of the butter market, deciding what should Pc the pi ice he tlie coming week. This did not say that more than the price should not he received, hut H indicated values clearly. WUal wa? necessary in New Zealand was a system of letting factories know each month what butter was worth. Unreason for standing wa's to R'> tc make TThprovemen'ts in these respects (Applause).

Ai I.3ft iin adjournment was made (or Hindi, after which n lengthy list of question's was submitted to the candidates. The Dairy Control Bill then (iinie up for discussion, it being decided that as there was not sufficient time to deal with the Bill as thoroughly ns members would desire, and as the matter was of great importance, a special nieeting should ,be called, probably on June 10th, Jo consider the

question, so that members could have a. policy formulated before attending the National Dairy Conference, which is to be held at Palmerston North during Show week.