NEW PRICE OF BUTTER

Dominion, Volume 14, Issue 17, 15 October 1920, Page 6

NEW PRICE OF BUTTER

RETAIL GROCERS DISSATISFIED,

Retail grocers do not approve of the recommendations as Mx> price made by the Butter Committee. Mr. H. D. Bennett, president of tho Master Grocers Association, who was deputed to give evidence on behalf of the grocers before the committee, made a statement on the subjet last night. ; , "It is regretted, he said, that the Butter Committee has paid t no heed to the evidence submitted to it by representatives of the retail grocery trade, and that, having ignored it, the committee has made recommendations which are positively ridiculous in the oyes of commercial men. The proposal to allow twopence profit for cash sales at -S. 3d. is equal to 7.4 per cent., while tho cost of running a grocery business, according, to evidence submitted to the committee, is now 18 to 20 per cent. Tho eftupidity of tho proposal is in the allowance or. so much ns twopence for booking, lhe grocers did not .ask for as much as this, and the trade cannot possibly charge its customers that amount. Why the committee has made such a recommendation is beyond our understanding. "The chairman of the Butter Commit--, too is reported as having said that tne price at the factory door would work out at Is. Hid:, and 'that would leave a good margin of profit for the retailor. The chairman knows quite well that tfiat is not the case. Tho recommendation means that the price at the factory door will bs nearer Is. lljd. in bulk. Then Iho wholesale distributor will come in, with his freight, packing and profit, which will amount to not less than Hd., making the retailer's cost 2s. Id. "The retail grocery trade throughout the country is not prepared to do butter business on these conditions, and_ if it is compelled by insurmountable 'circumstances to do this, then it must increase the price at onoe in many other lines to mako up the loss. If the outside price is to be limited to 2s. sd. booked, then 2s. M. for cash would make it at least a commercial proposition. Unless Parliament makes an attempt to improve the position, there is no doubt that a iJominion conference of grocers will be call- ■ ed forthwith, and I would MJike to say what it might decide to do. CITY SUPPLIES AT is. Dd. PER LB. The Milk Department of the City • Council has still in stock several thousand pounds of butter, which the chair-_ man of the Milk Committee, Councillor C. B. Norwood, announced last night; will be put on tho market at Is. 9d. per' lb. Individual purchases will bo restricted to one pound.