BUTTER BOXES

Taranaki Central Press, Volume IV, Issue 305, 9 December 1936, Page 5

BUTTER BOXES

Increase In Prices For Present Year.

Press Association—Copyright. Wellington, Last Night. A statement about the substantial increase in the prices of butter boxes for the current dairying season and the supply and equalisation arrangements for 1937-1938 was made to-day by the Minister of Agriculture, the Hon. W. Lee Martin, as acting-Min-ister of Marketing. He emphasised that, even had the Government not iimplemented the policy of increasing wages and reducing working hours, prices would have increased to the present level as a result of the development of the scarcity and the price for white pine timber in the North Island. Regarding supplies for the 1936-37 and 1937-38 seasons, the Government had secured a precedence for North Island box factory requirements over prior Australian commitments and thereby had not only avoided an acute shortage of boxes for .the present season but. had already commenced negotiations for ensuring an adequate supply’ of South Island white pine to meet North Island deficiencies during the 1937-38 dairying season. Il was also proposed to institute a stay order in respect to the type of butter boxes to be used for the 193738 season, whereby dairy factories now using Saranac ami sub-standard boxes using Saranac to use the same type of container as during the 1936-' 37 season.