The Chronicle LEVIN : TUESDAY, OCTOBER 17, 1916 THE PRICE OF BUTTER.

Horowhenua Chronicle, 17 October 1916, Page 2

The Chronicle LEVIN : TUESDAY, OCTOBER 17, 1916 THE PRICE OF BUTTER.

'I In- proposal to raise tin l r tail price i f butter •to a wholesale rate that would have meant 2s per lb retail in Now Zealand, eitics brought a storm of discussion around the heads of the various butter-dealing proprietaries. Oil the face of the proposal to prohibit sucli a price being charged, there

"does" seen to be some interference with the open rights of dairy farmers, but the converse fact must bo fae-d that 110 prohibitive price should be put upon so necessary a commodity-, and 2s per lb ''does" seem prohibitive. The dairyfarmer, unlike some other men who have been working the land, lias enjoyed two years of unprecedented ed prosperity since '1 Oi l. and. to compel him io soil part of his produce (locally) at Is Bd. per lb, plus a special levy on exports, will entail »n great li:niMrp. Further, tlv bar agninsl excessive local clinrge/? will prevent imd"e inflation of land values, which is a i-ery present risk in "New Zealand since the prices of primary produce soared so high; and it remains to be said that any u.ndue inflation of Jand values to-day will entail a ruinous collapse For landholders when prces of podiuce fall to normal levels on the conclusion of the war. For the reasons herein given, we must congratulate the Xew Zealand Government upon the decision it has come to. "We note that the Hon. W. D. S. Mac Donald, Minister for Agriculture, in the course rf an interview with a Now Zealand Times' reporter, said: — "Of course. I haven't had time to look into the comments and criticisms on the Hoard of Trade's scheme, but the position that faced us a.t once, so far as butter was concerned, was that a deputation waited upon the Board of Trade and myself, stating that the butter factories which were supplying the retail trade throughout the Dominion were confronted by the fact that, unless they could raise the pric.' of butter at least 2d a pound, making butter Is 10d, the ■supplies nf milk would cease. So thai the rise was net a very small matter as some of them represent. The price was already high - Is 8d a lb as against Is yd per lb at the corresponding period! of last year—and the proposal was to put it up to Is 10d, which would make it od a lb higher than last year. There was, besides, no guarantee that it would stop even there. It might have gone to 2s a lb. or even more. After giving the matter every consideration, therefore ;l decided to give effect to the Board of Trade's proposals."