THE DAIRY POOL.

Taranaki Daily News, 18 May 1922, Page 2

THE DAIRY POOL.

(To the Editor.) Sir, —The scheme for the pooling of dairy produce has been presented to us—pressed upon us with all the ardor and dash of a political campaign, its advantages and glorious prospect,s fired our imagination till in the ecstacy of love at first sight, we all but surrendered our liberty. Now our native caution is asserting itself, and demands that we pause and consider in the light of past experience and present day facts whether we dairy fanners, the parties most personally and directly concerned, will be doing justice to ourselves, our families and fellow citizens, by consenting to hand over the sale and control of our produce to the directors and manager of the proposed pool. We remember that the last act in the period of war control and purchase was the purchase of our butter by the Government at 2s 6d per lb; how this price was refused on behalf of a number of factories by one of tbe most ardent supporters of the pool; how, after a period of exercise in patience and forbearance by the Premier In holding the offer open, the price was gladly accepted; bow, shortly after the opening of the season, 90 per cent, of cheese factories possessed of a dual -plant turned over to butter, so that, instead of the Government receiving a normal supply of N.Z. butter, they were flooded with an altogether abnormal amount. Common justice compels us to admit that the Government were In a sense had by this deal, losing a good deal of ’ money paid to N.Z. dairymen, and commonsense, if granted a hearing, proclaimed that this excess of butter in store must sooner Or later be sold, and assuredly have an adverse effect on the market. With full knowledge of all this Mr. Goodfellow goes home, taking American syndicates by the way, and there, in conjunction with Mr. Ellaon. witt' their hands on the pulse of the market, conducted a series of experiments in marketing and controlling markets. From the story told in New Plymouth one gathers that Is 11.22 d was accepted for butter, but the bottom fell out of the offer. An offer of Is lid refused, and flnallj' round about Is had to be accepted, resulting in the factories concerned being let in for £128,000. . This sum, we were told, was paid off in 2% months by reduc-

ing the pay-out to B»4d per lb butter-fat. These S’&d pay-outs are doubtless remembered without pleasure by the suppliers. Although these experiments ended in blank so far as material benefits were concerned, they were fruitful in another field. The Tooley Street merchants were found to be men of brains and ability, of ripe experience, men taking full advantage of long j’ears of training and association with their clients. This discovery is valuable. Two years ago, when the C.W.S. scheme was on the carpet, these men were represented as something very different. Now we are asked to set up a board to control and regulate to a certain extent the business of these capable and experienced men. Where will we find anyone qualified for the task? Naturally we look to the leaders of the local movement, but. we have knowledge of the work of these good fellows in London. We have similar recollections of N.D.A. excursions, so we can only conclude any body of directors we can set up would be pupils, not

teachers; followers, not leaders. We are promised a saving of £60,000, money we never handle. We are granted the privilege of paying a levy, money we do handle. We want to know how advances are to be made, and the monthly pay-out met. True, we are told these things can be arranged: comforting, but far from satisfying. Better be sure now, not sorry afterwards. One million capital paid bj’ ourselves to handle produce now handled by many millions of independent capital. The Government guarantee is still in the air, and it is quite possible the said Government have enough of such goods on hand. Should they take it on they will be involved to such an extent that of necessity thej' must exercise a controlling part in the pool, and the outcome will be a Government run business. Pleasing to anticipate, seeing we curse Governinent-run railways. ‘‘M.an>’ of the consigning firms are in favor of the scheme.” How much is this worth? Some few are no doubt of that class always on the look-out for an easy way to make money by any means. The great majority no doubt have ability, brains and foresight enough to see tbe pool will make practically no difference to their business, so that if it pleases the N.Z. producers, and they are willing to pay for it, why they may. Improvements are needed, have been made, and can be made to our existing method of marketing; and therein lies our safest course. To give up control of our own produce, to bind ourselves hand and foot to a compulsory scheme, to he debarred from selling or consigning as we choose and to whom we choose, is a proposition we decline to entertain. Rather let us, hy refusing to be married in haste, avoid the bitter, leisurelj’ repentance which would certainly follow.—l am, etc., GEO. GIBSON. Rahotu.