DAIRY CONTROL BOARD

Shannon News, 19 December 1924, Page 4

DAIRY CONTROL BOARD

*■ A MEMBER’S OPINION. Interesting: comments were' made by Mr Goodfellow, member of* the Dairy Control Board and managing director of the' New Zealand Dairy Company, Hamilton, regarding any possible future action of the Control Board, or as to' the nature of any recommendations the returning overseas delegates aTe likely to bring down. The prime* aim of the Board in', sending the delegation to investigate marketing conditions, of course, explained Mr Goodfellow, was to determine whether the methods of marketing that at the present time obtained as a result of commercial evolution were fixed and unalterably the best possible! or whether the owners of the produce, the producers themselves, could find any way in co-opera-tion with the best of the recognised marketing agencies directly concerned, of effecting improvements which would be calculated to secure greater efficiency in practice, and yield a better nest return to the farmers °f country. That, in a nutshell, ■ was the problem underlying the mission's inquiry. Retention of Identity.

Asked what were the' main disabilities under which New Zealand ■ pro-. ducers had suffered in the past, Mr, Goodfellow replied: “First, we have lost the identity of our produce. It does not reach the consumer as New Zealand butter or New Zealand cheese, and this country thereby loses due credit for its quality, products, and the full cash return due to that quality. For this, of course, the system, rather than individuals, is blameable. It is a commonsense action on the part of the owner of any line of goods to see that it goes into consumption under its own name, a’nd with a standard quality, so that adefinite goodwill may be built up by successive satisfactory sales. Hitherto the producers have been unable to exercise any power in this direction. ,

Excessive ‘ Fluctuations. "In the second place,’’ said Mr Goodfellow, “the producers of this country have suffered because of excessive fluctuations of prices on the British market. These fluctuations primarily have been due to the law of

supply and demand, to alternate periods of over-supply and undei'-supply. This has been due principally to the system, or lack of system, that has prevailed in the past. The producers have had to take whatever shipping

facilities were available, and in * the absence of any attempt at regulation of shipment, the British market has been alternately glutted and starved. This has reacted detrimentally to the producers, because their price returns have suffered. When prices were low

trade interests naturally bought in heavily, stored, and reaped a considerable harvest when the market revived. No complaint could be made against this while conditions permitted it to obtain, but the ’rfet. result is that the producers suffered. The only remedy the producers can have is to better .regulate the handling of their own goods.