CORRESPONDENCE

Taranaki Daily News, 6 September 1922, Page 8

CORRESPONDENCE

MARKETING DAIRY PRODUCE. (To the Editor.) Sir, —To continue my observations on the improvement of the marketing of our dairy produce my proposal is to form New Zealand dairy factory districts as follows : Auckland, Taranaki, Wellington, etc.; these districts to be formed into groups on a tonnage basis; each group to establish packing houses in Great Britain, with the object of adding moisture to butter (to comply with the English Act), add salt if required to blend butter,, and for the manufacture of best quality margarine. The main objective of packing houses is to cater for the retail trade in 1 lb and % lb pats through our credited agents; Great Britain to be divided into areas on a population basis to allow each packing house to sell in its own area; the New Zealand Government, to establish a trade mark with “New Zealand” or letters “N.Z.” embodied; the trade mark to he used exclusively by New Zealand dairy groups on all our perishable products by permission of the New Zealand Government on condition that groups operate in their territory. The grouping of factories in this scheme should bring about, a great reduction on ship ning. as a boat could fill up at one port and discharge at one port. I also advocate that the packing houses should take our butter boxes to nieces, crate them and return to New Zealand, to redress timber, and redistribute to factories. I will now give an example by quoting Is 8d per lb f.o.b. and showing the margin I allow for shipping and English expenses by catering for a 2s market to the consumers: —Unsalted butter containing 8 per cent, moisture at Is 8d per lb f.o.b. per cwt., £8 17s 4d; returned butter boxes per cwt. of butter. 2s fid: total. £8 19s lOd. Sale of butter in England at 2s per lb, per cwt.. £ll 4s; with 15 per cent, of moisture added to each cwt. of butter. £1 8s: over-weight of butter. 1 per dent., 2s; total, £l2 14s, thus leaving a" margin for shipping and trading expenses in English (if required) of the sum of £3 17s Sd per cwt. The reason I advocate creating an export tax on dairy produce for advertising is to compel factories not joining groups to subsidise groups by the tax for creating the demand and improving the market. The commissioners of each group are to reside in England, to jointly establish an intelligence bureau, to fix retail prices from week to week, also to remedy any defects in their own districts. I also advocate putting our cheese through the same channel, to place “trade mark” on cheese, also to report to our factories on the condition of their cheese on arrival in England, which. I believe, can stand plenty of criticism. —I aim, etc., T. E. LARKING. Okato, August 31.