THE RISE IN BUTTER.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 120, 13 February 1908, Page 9

THE RISE IN BUTTER.

Sir,—ln your : remarks on the above subject :.in, your issue of the Bth instant, you .say .that /'Butteij. is hot ail articlo that can. stand. nn : -iftcreaso r of; 20s: • per cwt. in the spaeo of a week/witlioiit the risk of a re-action," but it is one of; the features of tho Homo butter market tliat: so. soon as there is "a flutter" it is by[ jumps and . slumps of 20s. that the market is "affected; . and it has been •so -for many vears; past. 1 ;• " * I pointed ■ this' 1 feature out to ■ our local farmers, oyer twenty years ago, when the dairy industry developing. It scemod to mo then, as it' does now, that cheese was a safer and more profitable articlo for tho reason that butter was liablo to jnmp 6ay £40 per ton in less than a fortnight, and oxcept aa to that kfloat our product'could not boncfit. Dairymen nearer' to England . could cease, cheese-making and scoop tho higher prices for butter,' while :the market would be down again before ours could reach tho market. Cheese is very, .different, for .it j generally/ rises and- falls 2s. cwt. at a timo, .and as it takes a month to,"make" it, European or Canadian dairymen cannot leave off' making butter,-when'ciiees.o ; ri3es, and catch a passing 'boom t6 ; our*/disadvantage, for we get, with others,- whateveris going. • The dairy companios in'this neighbourhood are all making cheeso, aiiid 'the net returns for the. milk- over.- two'; decades' of experience prows that they ; were wise in avoiding an articlo ' subject to. "flutters;" ■

It may, interest .'your readers; that my father got 1335. cwt'in London for a small shipment of butter some twenty 'years ago. Hp was looking for a cheap, compact package, and took'a number' of kerost'no cases to pieces putting them together again insido out. Then/ lie,'got tins niado tho'.sizo of .kerosene'' tins;, -and after sonic difficulty in filling them through small openings, "had ■ thqrn; soldered down. This -butter ,wns shipped in-the lazaret of the boiits, 'f|ihd 'on arrival was adversely commented ,upon in the matter of quality, while' tho packages wcro reported upon as being not-at. all suited to :tho.market, the Irish firkin.being recommended. That so good a price was got for an .unsound article in a- package that.„was condemned is explained by a, temporarr '. inflation. Years before that we exported .butter in the old cwt." kegs, and having to go in the hold it almost always got Home in bad condition. The. factor, wrote,of one shipmont thatjt had "oscillated," and would not sell m England at any price. What had happened.was, doubtless, .that the butter had' melted, and the rolling; of .the Vessel had' churned it-.,. There.- , being no market in England, it was shipped on to tho Continent, and, after many months,, tho returns came/ lou may guess the surprise when it was found that it had netted., Bd. .lb. f.o.b. 'Wellington.—l am, etc., . GEO. A.i KAIRBROTHER. ■. Carterton, February 11. -

WORKERS' DWELLINGS, ; Sn,—Laboui mombersand Labour men aro much.in.ovidbnep just now,' but I luvo not .yet heard of., any one of, them making'a sug•gestion.'as to 'possible • site's, for . workers' dwellings. Possibly that is bccauso lam not in tho swim. ■ . ; ' ! The recent fire which 'wiped out the Parliamentary Buildirigs;left, a splendid. site freo —a Site owned by, tho Government. Tho section now covered by Government House is also Government ■ property. Government House is.to bo built, hired, or appropriated, in some other place,; and'only ono of tio sites n UI Nr 0311 ,r-r° ■ u ''' lSo( j for Parliamentary puddings. '-The conclusion one must come to is obvious. Ono or othor of the sites must bo used lor public buildings, and what hotter use could tho other lie put to than utilising it for workers dwellings? No money would have to bo paid for the site, arid the places : are central. This present democratic Go-vernment-ought to jump at the opportunity.' 1 ?"'• ' A WOPiKEK. Wellington/ February 10, 1908.