GOLDEN EGGS.

Taranaki Daily News, 17 April 1917, Page 6

GOLDEN EGGS.

THE PRICES OF "NEW LAID." (From Our Own Correspondent.)' Wellington, April 13. The present prices of new-laid eggs in Wellington is 2s fld per dozen wholesale, and the retailer must ask at least 3s a dozen, or 3d per egg. Even, at this price the eggs are in fairly keen demand, owing to a pronounced shortage of supplies. Tho price advanced 6d per dozen this week locally. The Canterbury Egg Farmers' Association sold csgs at auction on Tuesday at 2s 3d per dozen in Christchurch, but that price is expected to be exceeded at the next sale. The increase in the price of eggs to a level that is regarded as prohibitive by many consumers is accompanied .by a strong demand by the producers for the e.velusion of Asiatic eggs, which at present are used largely by confectioners and bakers in this country. At. the same time there is a proposal on foot among organised poultry farmers in the North to export New Zealand eggs in liquid form (broken into barrels and preservatked) in order to "avoid the necessity of selling at unprofitable prices during this productive season" in this country. "A man who merely buys eggs may be itinerant of the finer points of the productive end of the business," said a Wel--lin«ton grocer yesterday, "but it certainly appears to me that the public is not getting a square deal. The enor■moiis increase in the price'of eggs is not explained fully by the increase :in the prices of the foodstuffs used by tli* .poultry farmers. The egg circles, poultry associations and so forth are engaged 'putting their business on a profitable footing' and the public is footing tho •bill. Consumption decreases under these conditions, but the demand remains keen, but *horo is a big shortage of locally produced eggs in New Zealand. I have seen it stated that we produce 10,000,00(1 eg«s in a year and consume 20,000,000. Any talk of blocking importations in these circumstances seems utterly unreasonable."