BUTTER-FAT LEVY

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3065, 28 April 1917, Page 10

BUTTER-FAT LEVY

REQUEST FOR REMISSION

DEPUTATION TO THE MINISTER

Another demand for the remission or the ; butter-fat levy was made by a deputation of' representatives of dairy factories in the North Island, which waited yesterday on the Minister of Commerce (the Hon. W. D. S. Macl)onald). The arguments against the imposition of the levy were put forward at some length by members of tho deputation. They contended first of all that tho levy was in effect a class tax, and one which pressed very hardly on a number of tho hardest worked, the most thrifty, and the most frugal of tho population.' Many of them were men who were not earning as much as £300 a year, which was the exemption limit for income tax, and they woro being compelled to pay this burdensome levy to allow men who were earning more money than they wero themselves to have cheap butter. Oneof the speakers advanced tho argument that as tho price of New Zealand produco must be regulated in peace, time by the rates ruling for it in London, the principlo ouglit to hold now. The Minister met this argument by way of interjection with tho statement that the present London prices were not the market prices at all, but emergency war prices. Generally his reply was that ho could not, at any rate for the present, givo the farmers the relief they sought.

When the Levy Was Imposed. Tho Minister, in reply, said that he recognised the importance of the matter on which the deputation had approached him. Indeed tho Government had always realised the importance of the, question and had given the matter very careful consideration before embarking upon tho present scheme. At that time, in the height of the butter season, butter was selling at Is. Bd. per lb. retail, and at that period of tho season in other years the price had never exceeded Is. 3d. per pound. Tho price of Is. Bd. caused very little concern, but it was evident that with tho price rising on tho London market the price for local _ sale must rise above that. A meeting of wholesale merchants and retailers had been held in Wellington to consider the raising of the retail price to Is. lid. or 2s. a pound. It was quite clear that if butter was to be 2s. a pound, in the flush of the dairy season, it was going to rise to higher prices in other times of tho year. If speculators had been allowed to run riot here tho price, before the end' of the summer, would haye been not less than 2s. 6d. per pound. This was tbo prospect when the Government,decided to.take somo action.- Up till that tinio the procedure had been to prohibit tho export of butter as soon as the price rose ahove_ Is. _7d. a pound, but there were serious pbjec; tions to this method of regulating tho price, and exporters had been complaining about it for some time. There was then, as there is now, in greater degree, a. shortage of insulated, snace for butter, and under this procedure there were possibilities of opportunities for, the shipment of butter being lost. Tbo Government, therefore, thought .it wise to adopt this'other method in order to be sure that all available shipping space should be utilised. The maximum price fixed was a. fair one, he thought; at any rate it was about 4Jd. per pound more than had ever been obtainable'for butter, at the same period of the year. If the Government had not at that time taken some such steps, tho result of the conditions would have been that all • tho butter of the country woxild have beon exported, and as tho only possible way of securing supplies of butter for local' consumption, tho Government would have had to buy larae stocks of butter for sale to the New Zealand people.

Not a Light Matter. l He repeated that the Government did not enter upon this scheme lightly, for it was no pleasure for him or for other Ministers to curtail farmers' prices or to harass them in' any way. But what a great many people in this country did not realise was that in almost every country in tho world it had been found necessary to impose heavy restrictions on the prices of food commodities.' . In England the available food was under a controller, and the amount that a person might consume of ordinary foods like meat, bread, or sugar was limited. Here in this country we were absolutely free, and people were getting higher prices for their produce than they bad ever had before, in their lives. And yet bitter complaints were made about the butter-fat levy and other taxes, and every individual spoke as if he wore being singled out for special burdens. Tho simple fact was that no man ir this country oxcent those who bad l"«t relatives hnd suffered at all by this war. By comparison with the' people of other countries, the people of, Zealand were living in paradise. '.-"With. prices as they were, he could not see that the farmer had any ground for complaint. He knew that sometimes the farmer had a very hard row to hoe, but his hardships were incidental to his business, and no Government could attempt to legislate for special cases. One speaker had pleaded tho oaso of some settlers who are so heavily embarrassed that they need every penny of the high price for _ butter-fat to be able to carry on. His reply to this, was that if there were men who had purchased property on the basis of the prevailing prices they might .just as well go to the wall now as after tho war, because it was certain that the present level of prices could not be maintained. He did not think people should be encouraged in the idea that the present prices are to continue.

Dislocation of Shipping. The Government had been blamed for a great many things connected with the export or the purchase of produce from this country, when the fact was that the Government's only concern with those things was as the agent of the Imperial Government. It was true that tho butter producers had not been able to get all tho shipping space they could use, but these were very,uncertain times, and in view of the heavy losses in the world's shipping owing to the war, tho marvel was that wo had any shipping space at all. It was not possible to foretell what would bo the position in the future, in these days when it w;as highly uncertain when a ship was dispatched . whether she would reach'her destination. Lately two of our best steamers liad been lost, and the Imperial Government had taken some of our ships for other trades to hasten the carriage of food to Britain. While things wore in this state it was not possiblo for the Government, to make permanent arrangements. Circumstances changed quieklr. and arrangements which seemed fair ono dav were unfair_ later. Tho Government had dealt with many other products besides butter and cheese, and the farmers who had sold their wool, and their meat to tho Imperial Government had accepted prices which seemed fair at the moment, but which were now very' much below market value. On the present English prices a man would get about double the amount for fine woolthat he would got here under the renuisition prices. Ho appealed to the fanners not to regard those war' expedients as permanent statute law or as policy measures..

and not to create disunion among the people while the war was in its present critical stage. After the war all these matters could ho readjusted. Ho was prepared to admit that all classes of farmers were carrying on under great disadvantages. Their workers had gone to the war, and they had to make the best of such makeshift* labour as was available. Many men who had retired from active work on farms were- now working again.

Wait Until June. With regard to the particular request of tho deputation that the butterfat levy should he removed, he could make no promiso' at present, hut he was "pretty that the account would bo closed at the ond of June. Parliament would then meet, and it would be for Parliament to decide what should he done ahout the further regulation of the prices of commodities in this country, and whother tho but-ter-fat lovy ought to bo continued. But they could all make up their minds itliat Parliament would this year tap every source from which revenue could he drawn, hy taxation. Undoubtedly thoro woro anomalies in tho Finance Act and other Acts which could ho put right, but the one cardinal fact was that the government must have money. Tho taxes would inevitably he heavy, hut he hoped they wonld he imposed fairly. And he sincerely hoped it wonld, ho poßsihlo to close the butter-fat levy account atvtho end of June. Mr. Powdrell: For good and all? Mr/ MacDonnJd: We Rope so, hut I am not going to make any promise about that.