BUTTER AND THE PRODUCER

Dominion, Volume 14, Issue 8, 5 October 1920, Page 2

BUTTER AND THE PRODUCER

* CORRESPONDENTS' OPINIONS . (To the Editor.) Sir—The other morning;, in my part of the world, was cold, windy, and wet -and when 1 awoke at 5 a.m. my mental vision saw tho world as it appears to the thousands of work-worn, anxious dairy, farmers throughout tho land, I 6nv Hobbs—Cockatoo Hobbs—wrench himself from that all enoumberinjf sleep, the horitage of a previous dav of labour —hard, wet, and soddened labour—and arise to face jiut 6uch another day. A day now commencing at 5 a.m.--out in the cold and wet, in the driving win and mud. Ye gods I tho mud! I saw him awake his family, goi forth, drive his thirty oews into tho bleak and dawnlit milking elied, and while ho noted their hollow emptiness (for food is scarce) call to his holpmato wife and children to join him and commenco the labours of the day—now, before daybreak, and before even their fast was broken, And bo,, amidst such to tho nccompanimont "of driving rain, the coughs ana sniffles'of the children, the pro.'osts of the oc-we, ill-fed and cold .(for feeel is short, very short indeed!) Farmer Hobbs. as I say, commenced the labours of the day and commenced them oheerfully. For "were not better days in sight? After years and years of grindin? poverty and loss, of migration from one farm to another in search, .of'an impossible profit, oi;.,fair wage for his work. Had not things turned? Aye! to some purpose! Butter-fat was up to 2s. 6d, per lb. Ye gods! A profit bum. and certain at last I A decent wage; a bit to spare for a holiday, perhaps, and, above all, a few extra, tons of manure to eecure bettor grass and winter feed. And so th« dawn, dreary and'; dark, breaks on a miracukusly cheerful Hobbs und family. Poor, bard-working, inarticulate Hobbs!. He does not get the daily' paper; the "Weekly Budget" is all that he finds time for—so not until next week will he knovr aught of the Women's National Gouncil, which the other morning, not at 5 a.m., but after an excellent breakfast—say, at 10 a.m. (9 a.m. would be inconveniently early) met together with a few mighty, brains, in the shape of. smug M.P.'s and- pillars of the "Labour" world, to see that Mr. and' Mrs. Hobbs and the small Hobbs' : s did riot, ge'i away with their • ill-gotten profits! ■ Naught he knew of.Miss N. E. Coad, Mr. P. Fraser, M.P., Dr. A. K. Newman, and other . great publicists— senators who bad met together -.to see that Michael Murphy and Hans Heinrich should pay no more for butter— although they spend'' more money in a month in hours of idleness than would pay for all that they bought-in a year of that .-same eommcdity. . Or that Miss Lulu Van Zie, shatterer of b'unvan hearts, should not be deprived in the purchase of those few extra pence' so useful in the purchase of. eilk stockings. • Nothing of all this dees Hobbs know, nor will he for. some time, and when ho does, God help him! For he is very inarticulate—that is, to any purpose. The curses he will utter will not help him and in his despair he will wonder: is he ,mod, or is the rest of the world mad? And I wonder, too. •_ ' • The farmer of any genus is all that the country has. In him and him alone lies the hope and'future of the country. Without him, where would, the smug M.P.'s and all the rest of them be? Where in God's name would Wellington be? And tho gorgeous watersider- who handles butter (when he feels so' disposed) at 3s. per hour, that the farmers produced at Gd. perhour—where would they'all, and their emoluments, be? Not in New Zealand, I wot! : Hcwevor, no one begrudges them their luck, and that their lives are cast in pleasant places. Hut, in the name of common sense, why are thev trying, by all and every means conceivable to their apparently limited intelligence, to kill the geese that lay their golden eggs? No one expects them to liave a. particle of decent foelmg for the over-worked and under-paid farmer, but they soil their own. nests! Surely .their intelligence covers the limited vision required to encompass their owit interests. - I am told that our Prime Minister, is a statesman and a: lover of his country, apart from office. The opportunity to prove it is at hand. He has the power, for there exists no party wo oppose him -the only party that did exist is dead. It said so itself at Petone the other day, when it offered its skeleton in friendly grip to Labour. Let us hope •Labour is too proud or froo sensible to reach' for the defunct digits > So Mr. Mnssey is all-powerful, and Ukely_ to remain so for a long'time,. if ho but guide the ship of State to its one and solitary objective—the- encouragement and development of the fanning industtfor; exptrt trade.- Let liim boldly-state: , "The Heaven? may fall, -but-touch not the farmer. He .is the beginning and end-all of this land,, nnd in Ins welfare lies the welfare of the whole community from -the mighty merchant to the still mightier watersider. By him, the farmer, will I stand or fall and. never fear AwayTi'th all this legislation, the-out-come of petty politics! 'Let us egi'slate for the good of the land, for the mail who labours' and who produces and who is inarticulate. In 'whose welfare lies the welfare of the whole community, parasites and all-aye, even of the Women s National Council (whatever that production of abnormal modern femininity may ba!). I crave parden if I write too feelingly! But 'believe me, 'Sir,''thousands of men, and among them, let me remind the Eeturned Soldiers' Association, are manv returned soldier? who nre .flunking 'feelingly to-daj&on this subjoct-I am, etc., ... w .'' G.L.O.

MR. STRAND'S ATTITUDE THE OTHER SIDE OP THE QUESTION Sir,—As a reader of your paper, since the first (lay.of Us inception; I crave a little epaoe in answer to Mr. Strand s numerous letters and homilies appearing lately through the columns of the Press. First, I take it. Sir, that Mr. Strand lias received Is, 9d. per. gallon for his niilk delivered at Wellington BaUway Station, leas 5 per cent, discount. And li©> bfirig very charitably disposed, has seen fit not to increase what must be apparent to every butter producer and. his own follow-farmera sending fresh .milk to the city, what I term a very remunerative price indeed. To Bhovr., you that the price has .been a jjood one from Mr. Strand's point; of view, we will compare prices with other suppliers sending milk lo the city. From October 13,- 1919, to January 1, 1920, lid. per.gallon was received landed at the depot;. January 1 to February 28, Is. landed; March. 1 to April 30 Is. 2d. landed; May and Juno Is. ; Jtilv and August Is. 6Jd.; September and Oct'ober of this season Is. 4<l. landed. This covers a 12 months period. Assuming that it takes 100 gallons a day to supply the hospital, and 'hey btue pnid Mr. Strand the flat rate of Is. 9d. per gallon, on the showing of the hret period: ho has had an advantage-of llkl. per gallon, the second 9d., tho'third <d., the fourth 5(1., the fifth 2!d. September /'iid October, when the milk is based on the high price of,'butter-fat, he i° still receiving sd. more. Oi course, all this subject to o per cent, discount, but I presume the weight of Mr. Strand s galJon is 10 1-Ilrd lb. .as against lOf to the suppliers cf the City Council. I think, Sir all through this milk and butter controversy Mr. Strand has been labouring under a delusion, for I believe that the hospital authorities, m the face of an advance in butter, cheese, and milk, naturally thought a further increas* miel.V bo swung on to. an already high nrice for it is obvious on the. Is. 3d. miote' Mr. Strand lias been reviving, and s still going to receive; without any further rise, a be-ter price thnn cncti butter at 2Sis. per cwt. or cheese at it? 9!(] uer lb. —I am, etc., is. i t <i. per JAMES MAHBRi Chairman of Mangnron, Dairy Farmers Ltd. Sir —I am greatly obliged to you for Hip information contained in your footnote to my letter of the 27th, published in vour paper this' morning. It 13 to the public of this ouy that they should know the position as it now stands, seeimr that Mr- Strand has used the newspaper columns very freoly in his. efforts K show that the producers of buttci should bo satisfied with last season s prices. Will- you please publish the following figures New Zealand butter producers recoived last season an average return of I9.<d. per lb. of butter-fat—Bd. per gallon of milk. '

This year, on-- the higher price of butter sold at 2s. (id., f.0.b., they should receive 12d. per gallsn of inil«-'. Mr.' Strand' received-Is. 9d., less 5 per cent., equal to 20d. per gallon of milk, or, in other words, he is getting two nnd a half times as much ns the 'average butter supplier received last season, and over CO per cent, more than they will -receive » tho prices of butter are increased, t Now, Sir, I ask Mr. Strand what right ■1 has lie to assert thnt .producers should 3 be satisfied, with Inst year's prices,, when 8 he himscif receives Is. per gallon more. * It cannot be disputed that public feeling is becoming unduly inilamed over the *> question of future butter prices, and durr ing the.past few weeks no one has cons trlbutcd more than Mr. Strand to this uiifortunnto condition of the public mind. ■t Yet if the dairy farmers.generally were 11 to get tho sauie return as Mr. Strand * does, butter would havo to. be retailed e at 4s. 2d. As it is, I consider ft very '■ Berious wrong lias been dene to ths d public of this city—they havo been gross- !) ly .misled, and the producer has been n held up as a greedy, callous individual, ' a intent upon getting the uttermost fartlid ing for the efforts of his labour. Ihe ■ disseminator of these misrepresentations o calmly appropriates his 4s. 2d. per lb; of e butter-fat, -and at the same time poses as o public benefactor in showing up the >i' avarice of his lesgv fortunate fcllow-pro-t 1 - 'ducers. Sir, it' is time, someone divested i- Mr. Strand of his unmerited halo. . I » hope some abler pen than mine .will-assist 11 in tli©- process and expose his tactics as l- to n' : . ■S Sir,-In these days.of surprises- and 0 uncertainty one reads of many things 0 written by people who evidently- plunge into writing or print before studying ;i their subject; but this cannot be. said of !> your correspondent Mr. W. Strand, dairy farmer, of Lower Hutt." I always credit- '• od that gentleman with having-a fair amount iof common-sense. and - a rather 5 keen perception ot facts,- and am therer - fore the more -puzzled to discover a rea--10 son for' his now amazing utterances. Be- :? fore proceeding further, surely >Mr. 11 Strand is aware of tho danger, the' eie tit mo danger at the present- time,- of 9 giving suclr- statements publicly,- wlieD r dangertas men und leaders of labour, are casting around with keen eyes to pounce ') upon, any fresh (allegedly) injustice tx> '• the working classes. But, Sir,-seeking 8 for some reason for Mr. Strand's right- !"• aWut-faca attitude wit hregard to the : S dairying industry, my mind, as an old , n Hutt Valley dairyman, goes back to the 'old days when 'fanners. supplying Wei- ■■ lington city got tut' the merest; pit- ~ t fine*!, for their ruilk_ and then after a 50 long struggle (in which our friend Mr. S. joijied) the farmers succeeded,.... by " co-operative methods'; and, standing to- ?. gether, in securing what' the Labour poople would . tenn-Tfl living wage, and 1 now after "11 those, years the_ tanner ;s (tho dairy farmer), has corno- into his. '■ own; at last he tees a prospect or fce- '® curing a price which will repay him , and his for the years, of bitter toil ,and , drudgery inseparable from . "cow-life": \ and,, hey presto! up rises tho .figure; of n the erstwhile champion, of the Welling- ■[. ton milk suppliers to protest and avow n -that they, are getting,too 'much. Ye J . gods! when the writer, after years of o' nigtit. autt'.day service in both • wholesale and retail branches of the.Wellingf ton milk services left the district, with '« health of both himself and wife sorely impaired, our friend Mr. Strand told \he writer,, that ho considered they bad p not worked, they had- made- slaves of -tnemselyes, and yet we had done ■no 'more than what scores of; families--in Gimiiir circumstances were, and are still . doing.: Yes, Mr. Strand,, every, cent: the j dairyman gets to-day lie is justly entitled to.' Mr. Strand must remember ' his lot .in past years was cast in far easier, lines than-the most: it was .not given ,to many others to be able to run ' .six or eight otlicr. farms, some of them I the .very pick of the Lower Hutt land all ~i ,-n hired labour, whilst lie merely rode _ arouud supervising other people's labl, our! - Mr, Strand has been a'busy man ir I .admit,-- but has his connection with . .the dairy .trude been of a practical -na-.ture,.ha-s he day in and night out had t to rise at 2.30-or. 3 a.m. in all weathers, , ,b<?th he.and his.wile, amUnto..the.byres, j .'thi'ouglt the freezuig., .-.miick and .slush. . yea',' in and. year out—no holidays?- No o Sir, 1 don't tlmik he has or ho would not have mado tJie statements he has. q As an old Hutt milk supplier, I con- |_ gratulate .heartily and sincerely all the men and women who to-day after ail n ihese years are reaping somewhere near e the value of their labours, and my ad--0 vice to them,, .Mr. Hditor, is to stick'to .it;',they deservo-every penny of it, just aa' tho hard-working men and women tip--6 country digem every, farthing of the y present price for butter and- cheese, and |. they, intend to slick to it.. Sir, you are r t iwli a',varc—everyone is—of the hard battle the farmers have had of recent years jt with the ever-rising prices of all' they (1 required lo work their lands. No power--0 ful unio:i r protected lot theirs—no, Sir. r f When one-reads such misleading • sfate- [( rnents as those made by Mr. W. Strand > it absolutely passes one's understanding r how such'a man could place himself in 6ucli a., false position... Look at what t- is going on toKlay in Laljour - ranks— ■ a what is threatening this fair country, n Sir? Anarchy and Bolshevism, • naked 10 and unashamed! and men of Mr! Strand's ie calibre , and standing, Sir, should rej. joice iu the farmer.-- getting a. fair deal 'a at . last and close up our Tanks, and not > by.suoh statements as his.help to bolster y up the. damnable misstatements that i- Labour leaders lind otliers are making Is - - to-day-. about ; fanners and their d profits. An export, tax they Say, Sir; ■e oh, yes, by all means, it would-just be the.beginning of the end of tliis.coiin--1 try's prosperity,-built up as it is on an export trade: ana oversea valu'es for our products No,- Sir, thank God,' Bill Massey still reigns and wo feel safe because we know that in this thing at „ least lie will" Iwm-us-in our statement, , our plain, straightforward slogan—no exe noi-t tax/ no interference, play' the game, e Hands off.—l am, etc.;' "' "• s OLD HUTTITE. g 3. : Sir,—Will, you please allow me a little 8 more space.i(n your columns to reply, to k Mr Strand's letter of October 1 ? Ido i,. not wish to be personal.' My reason 'for '- writing to your paper, Sir, is because' the t jlilk Committee of the Hospital Bflnrd it at their last meeting, while praising Mr. n Strand for ' his generosity, dubbed all e other dairy farmers as profiteers: • I e would- like to say, firstly, that, being a e supplier -of the City Council, through r. their factory hero, where -we are paid e for -eight months out of the year at bufrit tcr-fat rates, and' for the • remaining o months.at gallon rates, I am'interested >- both in town milk prices and butter-fat 0 prices. Mr. Strand, in his letter, ad--1 niits that lie at present receiving four- • pence per gallon above the suppliers-of d the-City Council, and l}d.-above them I on the coming yearly average. .. For tho ;. past-year the direct • suppliers' prices y ranged from Is. 2d. to ,Is. GUI. ■ Mr. e Strand, I take it. received Is. Sd. right I through. Now-) Sir, let us compare Mr. t Strand's butter-fat prices with ours, who [. are. supplying factories. With milk containing 4 per cent, butter-fat, it will take r 2Mb. of milk, or gallons, to produce n one pound of butter-fat; 21 gallons at [1 Is. 7d. per gallon, equals 3s. ll'u- Now, s that my reclcoiiiiig is eorrcct, I Mr Strand is receiving equivalent to S?. ll|d. for life butter-fat, yet those of 6 us who are expecting something likejs. • fid. per lb., are accused of profiteering, r In conclusion,.! would like to ask Mr. .. Strand this question; If the dairying in- ♦ dustry were put under an ciglit-hour-per dav system, with all the employees working under union rules, what woitld liapL pen?—l am, etc., ' I A. JAMIESON. V.S.—I should very much like to go ,i Wo the broader issues, of this buttery fat question, but space limits forbid. t Sir.—Your statement regarding the i pri':2 received by Mr: Strand for his mil'c is a most valuable contribution, c and places Mr. Strand in quite a new light With his superior farm, superior cows and men, surely he can produce . milk ns cheaply a* the less fortunate dairy • farmer in the back-blocks, who i cannot claim any of the advantages or , the comforts he mentions, yet, in his 1 opinion, they should lie content wilh tho numni-fiennt sum of 2s. per lb. for their [ butter-fat, while lie receives the equivalent of is. 2d. ! Tt is nil very well for Mr. Strand to . talk about'the'brotherhood of man. but the plain truth is-Mr. Strand is in a peculiar position'supplying the hospital, nnd is not competent to enter into a discuss'bn as. to what.price the dairy farm- 1 ers should get for their ' butter-fat.—J am, etc., SQUARE DEAL.