THE BUTTER MARKET.

Otaki Mail, 11 October 1922, Page 4

THE BUTTER MARKET.

; $. ! ARGENTINE COMPETITION j FEARED. A note of warning to the producers of New Zealand was sounded by the Hon. .-Sir Thomas Mackenzie in the | Legislative Council. Dairy produce ' was to-day, he said, commanding realJj good prices, but Ihcy must rej gard Hi" luture with great caution. ! They had to expect serious competi- <• tion Jrom tile Argentine and from si- . beria, providing that the world was kept, free from war. The Hun. Sir William Eraser: "It 'will be some years before there is any competition from Siberia." The Hon. Sir Thomas Mackenzie 'said thai the postiou of the Argentine | was different. He feared" the Argentine most. it had been discovered after all'these year.s that it was not a sheep country. In a return published in the Pastoral Review, it was shown that the flocks had been gre'aily re.duced, and the total number of sheep now stood at 21,500,000. Sir William Fraset: "It used to be \ over 70,000,000. s Sir Thomas Mackenzie: "Yes. This 1 is a most amazing statement." There was nothing in cattle-raising, and apparently sheep-farming was not successful, therefore the Argentine would have to turn its attention jo dairying. He had ju.-t received a letter from a friend, a prominent man connected with the trade,'itid one who had a * full knowledge of the position, and he would not like to say within the four walls of the' Chamber the price at which the Argentine might be able to land butter in England. He merely mentioned this to show that the proI ducers should be quite "satisfied if the l present prices were maintained.