[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] •
Sin,--My attention has been called to a letter in your issue of May 7th from a farmer in New Zealand, and also to your Postscript to the .effect that the New Zealand readers can Count on your support. A large number, if not the majority, Of New Zealand farmers are antagonistic to the fixing of the quantity to be sold and the price thereof, by the New Zealand Government Board, desiring a free hadd as to when they may sell their produce and at what price. The New Zealand dairy produce trade was built up on this method.
New Zealand is only one of the several British countries Producing butter and cheese, and it is absurd for the New Zealand Board to fix their prices far above what other producers are willing to take for similar quality. Do you not think you would have been wiser to have inquired about the matter before promising your support ? There are two sides to every question.—I am, Sir, &c., HENRY BYRNES, Chairman, Bristol Provision Trade Association. 56 Queen Square, Bristol. [We remain unshaken in our belief that under existing con- ditions the middleman makes- too large a profit. We desire to see the producer and consumer brought into closer contact ; that without doubt was the original motive which prompted the formation of the Ncw Zealand Dairy Producers' Board. " Tooley Street " regarded with disfavour the combination of New Zealand farmers whose object was to place their dairy produce on the British market under a unified control, and they did what they could to put difficulties in its way. " Tooley Street " no doubt preferred the old system of free speculation— the very thing which the New Zealand farmers hoped to eliminate. Their chief object was to stabilize prices and ensure a steady flow of their products to the consumer. At the time when the conflict between " Tooley Street " and the New Zealand farmers was recently at its climax the price of New Zealand butter was much lower than that of Danish. How does our correspondent explain that state of affairs ? In writing of " Tooley Street " we arc using the term applied i-a New Zealand to the majority of the agents who handle New Zealand butter on the British market.—En. Spectator.]
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