MARGARINE MENACE

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 707, 5 July 1929, Page 10

MARGARINE MENACE

GREAT DAIRY MERGER TO COMBAT IT LARGEST IN EMPIRE ( United, P.A.—By Telegraph Copyright) Reed. 11.50 a.m. MELBOURNE, Today. A cablegram has been received here confirming the agreement concluded between Amalgamated Dairies, Limited, New Zealand, and the Australian Co-operative Federation, Ltd., for the purpose of selling Australian and New Zealand butter and other produce from one floor by one controlling organisation in Great Britain. This is described as the largest merger of dairy interests attempted in the British Empire, with the object of combating the attempt of the Margarine Union to oust butter from the markets of the world as a staple article of diet. A Sydney message says Mr. M. Foley, a prominent butter trader of Sydney, who has returned from a visit to Canada and Europe, made a statement to the effect that the Northern European countries had increased their butter output by 10 per cent, this year, which was a severe blow to Australian and New Zealand exporters. European butter was popular because it sold at the market value on the day of landing, ensuring freshness, whereas Australian and New Zealand butters were held in store.

The margarine industry was becoming a real menace. It was difficult to tell the difference between it and butter.