PRICE OF BUTTER.

Taihape Daily Times, 8 September 1919, Page 6

PRICE OF BUTTER.

'7" PRODUCERS IN'I‘ERVIE\V } ‘ “ MlNrs‘Tnns. _ THE PRIME MINISTERS’ new. " BUT CONSUMERS, AS w1«:1.1. AS ' “ PRODUCERS M.'UST 81-I PROTECTED. ' ‘ WELLINGTON, Sept. Matters aifecting the butter equalisedeputation of producers which waited deputation of producer which waited upon the Priule\Minister and the Minister_of Lands. The deputation asked - that the loss to certain producers should be borne by the Consolidated Fund. ‘ Mr A. Morton said that as a result ‘of the Government restrictions, factories producing butter for the local ' market were losing 2d per Ib..As. a result many farmers had ceased to. supply_butter factories, preferring to send their butter-fat to the cheese factoriesMr .Morton claimed that the‘ cost -of producing‘ one pound of butter-fat had increased to 2/. “I have your own statemeiit here, as far back as iVlarc_h,. 1918, in which you say there -are three ways of securing buttexr-fat_fol_' the, local market, by prohibiting‘ expol't,__' seizing bui"rel' in store, or an equalisa: tion scheme.’’ By the Grovernmcnt’s_ at-‘I titude factories, to protect those ‘pl‘»o—‘__ ducing for the local market, had ‘beenij forced to accept the third alternative. ‘ The Prime Minister saidihis atten—‘ tion was called on arrival here to some ' statements made in his absence with re— i gard to himself, which were grossly‘ Jlnfair and quite inaccurate. What Mr ‘ Morton had quoted was not_the speak-h} er-’s' views, but the opinion of the Soli-cit-e;r—Genel-al, who was asked to re—! commend methods by which" the difiiculties could be got over. Was Mr M;or- I ton:aw.are of that? ' ‘ _ Mr Morton: I stated so there.‘ i’ '_ Mr Massey: But. you -don"t say so. The; proposal that if the Government -i:=ook' the butter they would have _to i payfull market value for it was very ] fair, ‘ ’ I Morton: Unfortunately when they ; didttake it they did notieven ‘pay 1/5 7 at the factory. 7 ‘ i ’ 5 Mr Massey: When that was done 1 was away in England. “I am quite { sure that neither Mr .\lacDbon.a.ld nor! Mr'Guthrie would do any injustice to ‘‘ the''butt.er-produeers.’’ He quoted Mr " Morton’s own statement regardingthe equalisa-tion fund as follows: “To meet T, thelposition the Dominion Butter Producers’ Committee, which has the " authority of the producers in this re—‘ speet, after giving the matter full con- 5 sideration, has passed a resolution i leeoinmending the establishment of ai butter_ equalisation fund, and asking‘ that the Government will take the mat. ter in hand with the help and assist- . ance of an advisory committee.” Mr Morton: That is quite correct. It

i was forced upon us. Mr Massey: I cannot agree with that_ V Mr Morton: -Local producers 'werc A forced to sell at 1/5. The Government proposed [no method to remedy that in- ; justice. M ’ Mr Massey said thcrcwas no injustice’ ‘until the market went up in England. “When the market went up in k England you Sea db case, -but you never used that argument. Producers 1 V were entitled to the full export value ‘ When the butter producers had pro-I posed to enter into 3. had agreement] ' Withtthe Imperial Government to allow the Board of Trade to take only i J what it wanted, he had stopped it.l Had that proposition been agreed to} and he believed it would have been but for his veto, butter .would have been: left. in t'avoul_- of meat. It was an 3 9; unfortunate position, but. he had noti i been idle in the. matter, and he thought I he could see a wc.y out. “All I can i ’ say just now is that I believe in the‘ T principle that you, as producers, should , get export. value for your butter, andi I think_l can promise that. you will ."‘C.‘~_ it. You can depend upon what I have said just now as to what it is intended shall be done. am speaking K for the ("Curing season.” Mr Morteii: I hope you are going back as far es the "commencement of the prr-:<rnt. Znl}_;:-rial .'-ciontract. - Mr. Massey: I havegivcn you what $‘.3llO11I1i?S to a promise as commencing .. with the present season. Last sea- ’ son’s arrangement-was :¢°eur own. Mr Morton. I cannot accept that. g It was forced upon us_ ‘ ' Mr Massey (to Mr" Morton): That is where you make ' a .mistake. You 4:-'»li'-9"‘? I"-ve left it to thcmi‘ '- ‘ V ‘Hon. MacDonald" said that ‘ as_ one , of the National Government he was ' prepared to: take "no more and‘ no less of his responsibilities than he was entitlea to take.’ When the matter ‘ had been discussed ‘previously and the producers‘ had agreed, as ‘Mr Morton ’s letter showed, he had thought - the)’ Wore being e:~:tremely generous ifi bearillg :1 bul'dell‘ which might V have been sprrad over-'3l] products, It h=9fl to he Pdmittccl that ("IV-4 !_"!‘(‘fl’[‘ _ v_ ihcrease ill land v=.\.lues had i:sC:it* :1

considerable difl*'erence’ in the cost of producing butter. The request of the deputation, he_felt, was well worthy of the consideration of the Cabinet. In the course of further discussion Mr Morton asked the Prime Minister whether he was prepared. today to allow the price of butter on the local market to be raised, to whicll Ml‘ Massey replied with an emphatic “No.” He added that Mr Horton had made a very serious mistake by adopting the equalisation fund scheme, and he ought to own up to it. Mr Morton thanked the Prime Minister for his promise as far as it Went, but asked that his assurance should be made to apply to last season as well as this. Mr Massey: That is a matter for the Cabinet.