The Times. Published on Tuesday and Friday Afternoons. Motto: Public service. FRIDAY, MAY 28, 1920. A FREE BUTTER MARKET.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 9, Issue 535, 28 May 1920, Page 2

The Times. Published on Tuesday and Friday Afternoons. Motto: Public service. FRIDAY, MAY 28, 1920. A FREE BUTTER MARKET.

We fancy there wii! be few farmers whether cow-keepers or not, who will not be In full accord with Mr. Gocdfellow's demand that the battermarket, both here and si. the Old Country, shall be freed from restrictions a's to price, and that the. old, and really inevitable, law of supply and demand shall once again be allowed to rule. Mr. Goodfellow st.itrs that the butter soldi*rT the Domini, n at 'the pinesent restricted price of Is 8d cannot be manufactured except ft - a loss to the producer of 5d oei 1.), and we are bound to accept his figures as being as approximately-correct as it is possible for expert _ knowledge to make them. This being so, it is plain thrift a portion of the community is being disgracefully exploited by the rest of the people in the countrv. However pleasant it may be for the people who have not to ' bear the toil and drudgery r-1 dairy farming- to be able to buy their butter at less than coat price, they will not, if they have any regard for fair play and justice, desire thru such a state of things should continue We are aware that we shall be met bv the cry that dairy farmers, in common with all our primary producers, have been doing remark'iu.y well. They have certainly received large enhanced prices, but t e-o have been at least counter-balanced by what thev have had to payj<r the articles necessary to prouiue their goods. Manures, fencing, am building materials, implements, mid wages have all risen by a higher percentage .than either butter or meat, and the increment has not rema.md ; in their pockets, but has -one V> bW ell the hoards of the manufacturer and importer, who have also been able to buv their butter for the 'sift two years at a price at which the farmer cannot produce it. Let us n.".\ turn to the subject of the butter ye export. This has. during the poivd of the war and since, been conm rndeered bv the Imperial Government at a fixed price much below its ma '- ket value. Meqt has also been tm;en in the same way. and at a still lower price compared with what a would have brought in ithe open 11 ticket The position now is that tno.e is a shortage of butter in Great retain, and the commandeer is to >n continued. Meat, on the other hand, is in a vei-v different position. Owing to the muddling, which appears inevitable whenever the politician bv.t.s in moat has been hoarded up t 1 there is a glut of it. The Imperial Government is going to end the commandeer at the end of June, leaving us ! to face an overstocked ma.kct with our cold stores full to overliovinu- With the Imperial Government it'appea s to be a case of -Heads ] win, tails you lose." We are lw.y ami gratefullv cognisant of a 1 Ore t Britain did for us during the wrr. We reco-nise fully that the Navy flun<. il.sshi.4d over us when we we at the meivv of the enemy, and -w.-.X her morehanl ships saved us Horn baiikruptcv bv carrying our prod-e ,wav. Hut at the same time we gau the' Motherland all the aid we p.* ,-biv could, not grudgini'ly bu w.:h fruity and alfection, and. we be i.~.e she Ufa grateful to us as we ere to her.. She is all the ess l.keK ... leaveuil in the hnch il the mutU-i is m ,t ilfmly and forcibly to her. i. Mr. Massev will ask for lair and sympathetic" treatment, and point nut ll* (Usabilities under which Doth < -\ I | Jllt ter and meat trade ere snl erme we believe his voice will not lal. .1 deal ears.