THE PRICE OF BUTTER

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 2895, 6 October 1916, Page 6

THE PRICE OF BUTTER

(To the Editor.)

Sir, —I do not know how your readers '.will view the article appearing in llf ire Dominion wherein it is stated that an effort is being made to again raiso tho price of butter, this time by twopenco per lb., but as a wage-earner it seems to me that this thing is going too far altogether. AVhy should the, price bo raised becauso of high prices / in London, caused by a temporary scarcity of supplies? Do you know, sir, that tho Ballanco Co-operative Dairy Co., Ltd., which is the largest dairying concern in this district, is at the present time completing a contract made only a few weeks ago wherein its butter output was sold at Is. 4Jd. per lb.? The butter included in this deal was two months' output, and, had the purchasers been in a position to offer tho company that price for tho season's output, instead of for only two months', thero is no doubt the directors of tho, company would have accepted. The London prico has cortainly rison since then, hut not to such an extent that Is. Bd. should ho demanded wholesale Proof of this is to bo found in tho fact that only a day or two ago the Ballanco Company held a "disposal meeting," whereat tho best of the buying firms wero represented, and tho bestprico for the season's output reached only Is. sd. per lb., an alternative offer of Is. Gd. being made for tho November output. Reference to the columns of the local paper will show that the directors of the company seemed disposed to accept the price offered, as it was announced that a decision would bo como to in a few days. ■ ■ ,

In tho faco of facts liko those,. the demands of tho deputation you refer to as being in Wellington with tho object of influencing tho Board, of Trade and tho Minister in tho direction of removing the embargo is as glaring a piece of effrontery as can well bo imagined, and it is to bo hoped this endeavour to exploit a long-suffering public will bo very promptly and finally dealt with by those to whom it is now referred by tho precious deputation. In other words, it is to be hoped that the Board of Trade will not allow these people (who say, forsooth, that "tho increase of 2d. per lb. is not only justifiable, hut necessary") to influenco them in the direction suggested. As a cold-blooded fact, the deputation represents, not the producers of butter, but tho dealers in it —in other words, the men who get a fat living out of both the producer and the consumer of the article. Already the Board of Trade is beginning to bo looked upon as a species of serio-comic frivolity (serio to the wageearner and comic to the exploiter), and it is to be hoped that the timo has come to end the tomfoolery. I know —everybody knows —that your sympathies lio with the farmers, simply hecause you understand them, and because this is so you are in a position ' to ; stand between the farmer and tho public which you serve, and see that , each party gets justice. Farmers are not extortioners, as can be seen by the manner in which the cheese producers met the Imperial Board of Trade in the matter of the output of cheese, and they are not wanting this 2d. per lb. on their butter, nor have they asked for it, as the facts I have related about the Ballance Company prove. Sir, it is up to yoh to use your powerful, ocn in this matter, and say a seasonable word in defenco of those to whom butter at 2s. per lb. is an impossibility, but who yet can get nothing else with which to spread, their children's "piece" and make it palatable. Will yon? Thanking you for valuable space.—l am. etc., Is. (3d. IS PLENTY. Pahiatua. October 4.