BUTTER PRICES FIXED

Dominion, Volume 14, Issue 20, 19 October 1920, Page 6

BUTTER PRICES FIXED

NEW OKDBK OPERATES FROM * TO-DAY. An Order-in-Council was issued yesterday, fixing the maximum price of butter as'recommendcd by the Butter Prices Investigation Committee of the House of Representatives. It will come into force to-day. The Order-in-Council sets out that:

1. The maximum price of butter sold in boxes in bulk shall be Is. HJd. per lb., ex factory door. 2. The maximum price of butter as sold by the retailer shall be 2s. lid. per lb. for cash over the counter and 2s. sd. per lb. if booked.

3. The maximum prices' herein fixed and determined shall not apply to butter manufactured prior to August 1, 1920. UNIONS TO APPLY FOR SPECIAL BONUS. The butter question was discussed last week by the Trades and Labour Council, which decided to recommend all affiliated unions to apply at the next sitting of the Arbitration Court in Wellington—in a few weeks' time—for a special.bonus to meet the riso in the price of butter. This will be in addition to the ordinary bonus due from October 1 based on the Government Statistician's calculation for the six-monthly period from March 31 to September 30.' The point is made that if the usual course is followed of waiting till the end of the six-monthly period- March 31 next—the workers will have paid the increased rates for butter for six months, and the contract with the British Government, on which the advance in price is based, will lapse at the same date. The amount of special bonus claimed will be 2s. Gd. per week, based on the consumption of an average family of five persons at one pound per head per week v 6d. being the difference between the price paid —Is. 9d—during; the last six months, and 2s. 3d., the price .fixed for the coming half-year. In reply to any criticism that may be forthcoming on the estimate of a consumption of one pound of butter per head per week, when the average for the whole Dominion is worked out at half-it' pound, tho union authorities point out. that bread and butter is practically Ihe staple food in a working-class family. Actual accounts of 'homes show, a 'consumption of butter as practically one pound per head per week.