SERIOUS PROBLEM

Manawatu Standard, Volume LX, Issue 158, 5 June 1940, Page 4

SERIOUS PROBLEM

BUTTER INDUSTRY. | POSSIBLE EFFECTS OF .WAR. The dairy industry, in New Zealand, as well as in Australia, might be faced with a serious problem in the post-war period because of the severe rationing of butter in the United Kingdom, coupled with the unrestricted sale oj butter substitutes, says the annual report of the National Dairy Association. Those intimately associated with the industry immediately after the last war would have clear recollections of the difficulties experienced, says the report. The losses sustained in rebuilding the demand for New Zealand butter on the British market were caused partly by the high accumulation of stored butter of all descriptions, subsequently released on the market with depressing effects, and partly by the strong hold obtained by ■margarine interests during the war. Years of strenuous work and the expenditure of many thousands of pounds on advertising campaigns were necessary before our butter could be reestablished in . the position it previously held with the British consumer. Tiie lessons of the last war should not be forgotten, the report continues. The drastic rationing of 4oz of butter a week instituted early in January of this year presented an opportunity that the margarine interests were not slow to seize, and .aided by. a free market and boosted by well organised advertising campaigns, it is no wonder that their factories were soon working clay and night to cope with the demand. Add to this the fact that the retail price of butter was fixed at Is 5d and Is 7d a lb, while the best table margarine could be purchased in unrestricted quantities at Bd, and the ultimate effect is not difficult to foreEFFECT OF RATIONING. The immediate result of rationing was to build up large reserves of stored butter, and while the ration was subsequently increased to Boz a week, this was not sufficient to counter-balance, though it did slow up the rate of accumulation, the reportadds. Since then the invasion of Denmark has taken place, cutting off all supplies from that source, but if, as appears evident, the policy of the Imperial food control authorities is to hold huge stocks of butter in reserve, it must be assumed that the tragic misfortune of the Danes will eventually mean stricter rationing of butter in * Britain. For the time being, the identity ot our butter has been completely lost, all butters being sold under the “National” brand. Our responsible marketing officers have been taken over by the Imperial authorities, and this Dominion has thus lost the services of the men most capable of watching our overseas interests during a critical period. The effect of the huge sums spent on advertising New Zealand batter over the past 20 years is rapidly diminishing, and soon will be entirely lost. The, Minister in charge of food supplies, in support of his policy of storing butter, has publicly drawn attention to the availability and to the high food value and vitamin content of margarine. All these factors, pointing as they do to danger ahead, are of vital concern to New Zealand producers.

INVESTIGATION WANTED. The people of this country are completely justified in asking that the Government should fully investigate * position that seriously menaces the future welfare of the lnuiistry aid the Dominion as a whole, the - lepoit adds. No farmer will criticise or question the soundness of the oolicy ot the Imperial Government in .building up adequate reserves of foodstuffs for the successful prosecution of the war, but the industry is fully entitled to ask that everv effort should be made by our marketing authorities to avoid a disastrous state of affairs, similar to tha+ which arose after the last war. The components of margarine can be stored much more easily and with less risk of deterioration than manufactured butter, and if the food control authorities’ estimate of Abe food value of the former is accepted there appears from this distance no reason why the components should not be stored and a larger proportion of butter brought into consumption. . i