THE BUTTER MARKET.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1236, 19 September 1911, Page 8

THE BUTTER MARKET.

VIEWS OF A LOCAL MERCHANT. "The prico of batter locally will not go down any further. If there is any movement it will be in an upward direction." Such was the opinion given by a prominent butter merchant yesterday. There was much comment last winter, continued the merchant, about the high price of butter locally, and statements were freely circulated that a ring or combine was keeping the price up. Since the price had been reduced, however, no ono had been writing to the papers about tho low price that was being charged as compared with prices which wero being given by oversea, markets for this year's outputs. The sum of ll!d. has been, and is still being paid for the whole of factory outputs from September to March inclusive, and yet butter is being delivered at tho stores at Is. per lb. net, this including cost of patting, distribution, and had debts. To anyone who takes the tronblo to go into the matter impartially, and has had experience of the cost of labour, adde<l the merchant, it will bo readily apparent that it would pay far better to ship all the butter to the Old Country than to soil it on this market at present prices. The talk about a combine is quite ridiculous. It is stated, on the authority of a local merchant, that the make of butter to date this season has been much less than in tho early stages of last season. Tho causa is sairl to have been the unusually dry weather. The recent rains will bring .'things along rapidly, and will have a beneficial effect all round, aid patting thousands of pounds into the pockets of tho farmers.- At a rough esti-. mate, tho merchant in question gives the supply to date as 25 per cent, less than at the same date last year.'