The Stratford Evening Post WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE EGMONT SETTLER THURSDAY, DECEMBER 23, 1915. THE MARGARINE TRADE.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXVIV, Issue 17, 23 December 1915, Page 4

The Stratford Evening Post WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE EGMONT SETTLER THURSDAY, DECEMBER 23, 1915. THE MARGARINE TRADE.

The great development in the margarine trade which continues to take place in Britain, is the -subject of a special report from the Hon. T. Mackenzie High Commissioner for New Zealand. Mr Mackenzie is a keen student of commercial changes, and his observations are always of interest. ; He finds that during the past ie\v years the consumptive demand for margarine has been increasing rapidly, and during the last twelve months it has increased more rapidly still. So great has "this demand become that manufacturers have the greatest difficulty in filling orders, and in some cases they find it impossible to do so. Some time ago a new brand of high-grade margarine was placed on the market, the wholesale price of which is 9d and the fixed retail price Is per pound, which it will.be seen 'eaves 3d per pound foi the. grocer's expenses. The success of this line has been remarkable, aided no doubt in no small degree by the retailers pushing the. sale of an article that returns them a good margin of profit, which ior some time butter has not done. The worst feature in the case. Mr Mackenzie says, is that tin's class of margarine has. according 10 the opinions expressed by the trade, ' permanently displaced butter in the i ■ ' consumptive demand to a very considerable extent in quarters that had not hitherto been affected. The report goes on to say that the butter position in London was at the time of writing (the end of October) a mostj unsatisfactory one. The general dis-

; organisation of the Danish and Siberian trade, and the failure of the usual supplies from these two great butterexporting countries to reach London, has'been of great assistance in developing the margarine trade, because necessity has broken down the prejudice that existed in the minds of many people with respect to margarine, and by whom it is now! preferred as an article of diet when compared with high-priced and inferior-quality butters. So long as these conditions exist,: the greater, in the High Com'missioner's opinion, will be the development ol the margarine industrv. Mr .Mackenzie concludes!

by remarking that while it is admitted that there is lh e„j.>iobuJ>il7 it v. that there will always.-J| % ma J|s!| for good-quality butter, yefc'itjbas ~i«)tf to be recognised a s a fact of margarine is becoming more firmly established, and this must necessarily displace a proportionate' amount oi butter from the usual trade requirements.