PRICE OF BUTTER.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 266, 20 April 1915, Page 7

PRICE OF BUTTER.

•POSITION IN NEW PLYMOUTH. THE RISE EXPLAINED. The price of butter is a subject of particular interest to the housewife in New Plymouth—and throughout New oZalnnd —at the present time, for high retail prices are now ruling, and it is expected that prices will go higher. The retail prices in New Plymouth yesterday for the best brands of'butter were Is 3d ami Is 4d per lb. While there are no indications vet that the rise in price is going to cause a falling-off in the consumption of butter, one shopkeeper stated that a demand for a lower grade butter was already setting in, customers for a butter which sold at Is Id per lb. The position is new in the history of the butter trade. Only once before has Australia been the cause of these high prices. The demand is not so much for the Australian local trade, but is due to local legislation in New South Wales, which permits only 10 per cent, of the butter in stock to be exported. In order to keep their Eastern trade going in Java, Hongkong, Singapore and elsewhere, merchants are drawing upon New Zealand, importing our butter to fill their contracts and keeping Australian butter for Australian requirements. You can hardly blame the New Zealand dairy farmer for seizing such a golden opportunity, but it is not the merchant or distributor who is benefiting by the advances.