BUTTER PRICE-WAR

Hokitika Guardian, 17 November 1930, Page 5

BUTTER PRICE-WAR

CONCERN AMONG FARMERS

The butter war on the Auckland market came up for discussion at a largely-attended meeting of farmers in Matamata last week. The chairman, Mr D. B. Higgins, moved: “That this meeting views with dismay the chaotic state of aft'ars in regard to the sale of butter on the local inaiket, and considers it imperative that a. meeting of farmers should bo held with a view to formulating a scheme for th© readjustment of the market prices.’’ It was suggested that a monster meeting of dairy farmers should be held in Matamata.

Mr R. W. Stevens, bank manager, said that one-third of the butter production in New Zealand was consumed locally. He was sure the townspeople would pay up to Is 6d or Is 8d per lb for their butter if the farmers could be assured of a payable- return for the whole of their output. Mr Ivan Black said the local price was fixed by a board of fhree, one of whom was Mr IV. Goodfellow, managing director of the New Zealand Co-operative Dairy Company, Limited, which controlled a larger quantity ol butter than any other company in the Dominion.

The chairman pointed out that Mr C. J. Parlane, general manager of the New Zealand Dairy Company, had written stating that if the suppliers (,:)uld evolve any satisfactory scheme for stabilising the- price on the local market that scheme would have his company’s support. Mr P. Hawke directed attention to the economic waste that went on through dairy companies competing for supply and through the cost of distributing the manufactured article. He suggested that the dairy dompnnies should organise and place their industry on a better footing and eliminate waste.

Mr IV. H. Allen, a director of the New Zealand Dairy Company, said that other companies had started undercutting in Auckland, and his company had had to follow suit. An amendment was moved that the matter he left to dairy company directors, but the motion was carried by a large majority.