MARKETING OUR PRODUCE.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 120, 29 August 1910, Page 8

MARKETING OUR PRODUCE.

CONCENTRATION OF BUSINESS. ■Mr. Mills, of Messrs. Mills and Sparrow, of London, is at present in Taranaki, and on Saturday he was interviewed iby a Daily News representative on the system of marketing our butter and cheese in England, in connection with the improvement of which Mr. Mills has made this visit from the other side of the globe. Our visitor explained during the course of a very interesting conversation that he had been for twentyeight years past handling butter, cheese and bacon at Home, so that he could fairly claim to have a knowledge of Iris subject. "On looking at the results of the marketing of New Zealand butter and cheese for the past season, it is clearly evident," lie said, "that the products of the Dominion are not occupying that relative position in the market that they should do, or even that they occupy as good as a position as they did two or three years ago. This is caused by the produce having been distributed through so many different channels and through 'having no controlling influence at work to lever up the standard value, so that the goodd have been allowed, through want of control, to decline from the position they previously held, and which they should hold, Upon these markets. My opinion is that, through the National Dairy Association and its allied factories, considerable influence can be brought to bear and the present position materially improved. THE CHANGE-ABOUT POLICY.

"In the past it has been the custom with the bulk of Xew Zealand factories to change their agents almost year by year, and also to change their* methods of marketing, sometimes selling and at other times consigning, and it has been clearly demonstrated by Mr.- Ellison, the Home representative, that this changing about policy, and the resultant doing away with the goodwill which should attach to a factory's product, are the main causes of the present position. Mr. Ellison, in a paper read at the annual meeting of the National Dairy Association at Palmerston North, speaking in reference to this point, said, 'The question of cure has its root 9 in New Zealand, and if the foundations of a satisfactory and lasting system is to be inaugurated there must be a drawing together of factories and a focussing of effort.' It is a fact in relation to New Zealand butter that for the winter months at Home—from October to March—the difference between New Zealand and Danish 'butter, in the past three years, has steadily increased, the figures 'being—' , 1907-8, 3/10 per cwt. less than Danish. 1008-9, 6/- per cwt. 1909-10, 10/- rer cwt. Whilst in ei.ee.■;■ :or the winter months, December to March, the difference has been: 1907-8, 2/5 less than Canadian. 1908-9, 1/10. 1909-10, 2/8. "When it is borne in mind that the shipments from New Zealand last season of 'butter were over 10,000 tons, and of eheese nearly 24,000 tons, it can be seen what these differences amount to. The National Dairy Association has now appointed, on the recommendation of the Home representative, agents who are to work together so that an attempt can be made to regulate prices, and tlie movement is receiving verv considerable support from its allied factories, and there is no doubt that next -season will see the commencement of a bettev state of things, and that dairy factories in New Zealand will appreciate that their] efforts will ultimately mean a considerable improvement in the standard value of New Zealand butter and cheese on the Home markets. £3OOO IN ADVERTISING.

The Home representative particularly alluded to advertising as one" of the methods to be adopted in order to popularise New Zealand products. Mr. Ellison reported in his paper: 'There are millions of people in the British Isles who would laugh at you if you told them that large quantities of butter came from New Zealand,' and the leading agents who have been appointed by the National Dairy Association have agreed to spend £3OOO on advertising New Zealand butter and cheese if regular supplies from factories are forthcoming. lam pleased to say that in the short time I have been in New Zealand I have found the scheme has the hearty support, and the practical support, too, of every factory I have interviewed, ana a large number have already decided to market through the Association. AN ADDRESS ON THE QUESTION

•Mr. Mills attended the annual meeting of the Taranaki Producers' Freezing Works Company on Saturday at the invitation of Mr. A, Morton, chairman ot directors, who is also a director of the National Dairy Association. He reiterated the statements reported above, and | emphasised that the position was becoming worse, although the quality of our butter last was better than ever before. It wt'v3 hoped that by concentrating the business a more resolute front could be shown and better value obtained. Passing on, he said that from enquiries made he had found that most attention had been given at this end to, the obtaining of threepence a hundredweight more than the rival factory, or threepence a hundredweight reduction in freight, and the great big gap of £lO a ton between Danish and New Zealand butter had been lost sight of. OUR PRINCIPAL COMPETITOR. In replying to a question from Mr. Herlihy, Mr. Mills said that Denmark was undoubtedly New Zealand's principal competitor. The 'Danes sent from 1500 to 2000 tons of butter into the United Kingdom each week, and their butter was of a very regular quality, the difference in value between the top and bottom grades being only 2s per cwt. Their butter came on the market for 52 weeks in the year, and, being a prime I article that the people could rely on getting, Denmark naturally took the lead in the market at 'Home. Denmark, too, was more favorably situated than New Zealand in regard to the English market, and they could get their butter on the table of the consumer in England within seven daya of its leaving the dairy or factory. So that Danish butter had the advantage of being fresher than New Zealand butter when it arrived Home, and it also had the advantage of more regular marketing, They would realise what these advantages meant when he told them that £4 a ton was a liberal allowance for the difference between the Danish and New Zealand products, and the actual difference in price was £lO a ton, which meant that New Zealand butter was fetching at least £6 a ton below its standard value.

THE DANISH SYSTEM. Mr. Rowlands asked: What is the nature of the organisation which handles Danish butter? Is it not the conservatism of the English consumer, always asking for the Danish butter, that keeps New Zealand butter down? And is it not a fact that New Zealand butter is not always sold as New Zealand butter?

(Mr. Mills cautiously made a note of

the questions 'before replying. He emphasised that it was this organisation that allowed Danish butter to draw away from New Zealand. There was a committee which met in Copenhagen every Thursday. It was composed of three farmers, three merchants or agents, and a chairman, who was usually a banker, in order that the chairman should be independent. They considered the reports , from England and Scotland, and fixed the market price for the following week. New Zealand had no organisation, no one to set a price, but had about 20 or 25 people, who each gave an individual opinion, one against the other. THE CONSERVATIVE BRITON.

As to the conservatism of the English consumer, he recognised that the Englishman \va9' the most conservative man on the fact of the earth, and "it wa* very difficult to get him to change from one butter to another. That was one reason why the system of marketing New Zealand 'butter and cheese was afl wrong. This year the factory shipped to A, who would fight hard to break down prejudice, introduce the butter to a large number of his customers, and make a name for the brand. Next year some other fellow would come along and offer to handle the butter 3d a cwt. cheaper, or to give 3d a cwt. more for it, and the A's eight months' work waa lost to him.

With regard to the sale of New Zealand butter as Danish, wry little of that, he thought, went on. In the first place, Danish was in hundredweight casks, and New Zealand in 56 lb. boxes, and as the butter was placed on the counter there was little chance of the customer making a mistake. Danish was more asked for, and it was pushed. No one was pushing the New Zealand article at all. Mr. Ellison liad reported, "New Zealand is unknown in England," which was hard, no doubt, but partly right.

JUST A BEGINNING. Mr. Sampson asked if the new marketing scheme would compare favorably with the Danish,, and Mr. Mills replied that it was but a beginning, and it waa too much to expect that in one -season we could wipe out the errors of the» past and inaugurate such a scheme a* the Danes had ibeen perfecting for years past. It was intended to handle only 500 .tons of butter and 5000 tons of cheese in the scheme this year.

Mr. A. Brown remarked that in th« last cable from 1 the New Zealand High Commissioner, Danish butter was shown to be worth only 2s more than NewZealand, to which Mr. Mills replied that that was a big argument in favor of improving the market. If it was worth only 2s less to-day, why should it be worth 10s less at the season when our butters were made from the best pas* tures. '

TJpon the motion of Mr. J. B. Con- .._„, a very hearty vote of thanks was accorded Mr. Mills for his interesting contribution to the afternoon's proceedings,