BUTTER GOING UP.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 264, 17 April 1915, Page 8

BUTTER GOING UP.

I EIGIfi'EEM'IiXOE A POUND. liy Telegraph.—Press Association. Wellington, Last Night. The price of butter in the city will be raised to la (id per pouijd to-morrow, the second rise of a penny within a week. Already the demand for the best brands is reported to be declining. A local wholesale merchant declared that "Mutter is bound to advance beyonl Is (id per lb. The merchant is not responsible for the rise, nor is lie benefiting 'by it. The farmers and factories are, and I do not see how they are to be blamed, either. I venture to state that not one of the distributors in Wellington Ims a box of butter of his own. The whole of the butter is 'lold on consign- , mout. If the Australian demand increases, then butter wfil certainlji be dearer. It has already been sold at Is 3%d per lb, free on board the steamer for Australia, and no doubt sales will be made at is 4d. It will ;be a very difficult question for factory directors to answer, whether they will keep their butter here in Now Zealand for their own trade or whether they will export it to Australia. To keep butter here for the winter market will cost a penny per lb. Then there is the cost of freezing and storage and packing for three months. They are getting Is 3'/ 2 d for Australian to-day, but they would have to get lg 4'/ 3 d to Is od in New Zealand to induce them to keep the butter here for June, July, and August."