FARM AND DAIRY.

Taranaki Daily News, 30 December 1920, Page 8

FARM AND DAIRY.

THE BUTTER POSITION IN GREAT BRITAIN.

It is quite evident that the people of the British Empire have net yet realised the importance of the present butter : famine (remarks the New Zealand Dairyman editorially). Had they done so they would have taken .steps to ameliorate to some extent the terrible position. Mo better authority exists in this country than Dr. Collins, M.L.C. His opinion is positive and alarming. ' It is worth quoting in full, and, what is more, it is worth remembering. In reply to a question in the Council as to whether he regarded butter as essentia!, he said: "Most certainly I do. It is one of the most essential things." The genial doctor went on to say that he would like the Public Health Department to make some inquiries into the health of the people of Denmark as a result of the exportation of large quantities of butter. He had reason to believe that the exportation of so much butter, and a consequent shortening of supplies for home consumption, had been followed by the development of certain diseases. But the shortage in Denmark, which the learned doctor deemed a danger to the health of the Danish people, is not a circumstance to the present shortage in England and Scotland. The wharf lumpers and other trades unionists in this country not only demand their pound a head a week at less than the market price, but they insist on their wages being raised to meet the extra cost, and they have received substantial backing from the Law Courts of the land. The labor unionist is a force in the land, and must be listened to. The butter producer, politically speaking, is a nonentity. Because he deems he is entitled to the market price for his produce, a stupid, boorish subterfuge has to be resorted to —the taking of some £OOO,OOO from the Consolidated Fund. In the meantime the children of the countries—England and Scotland (Great Britain)—that did the most to save us from the Germans are to waste away and die from sheer malnutrition. The only country that can come to the rescue to any extent is New Zealand, and if we stand alone in maintaining this truth we shall not refrain from urging the remedy. The Temedy is simple, and it would be effective. Mr. Massey should cable Home and suggest that the manufacture of cheese in. all factories ihat have dual plants shbuld (be at once and butter-making substituted. Of course, this would entail prices for both commodities being equalised. It would also entail some inconvenience on those commercial concerns that have either bought or arranged to sell on consignment the cheese outputs of the Dominion; hut this is only another detail that is capable of easy arrangement. Let butter output be substituted for cheese outnuil and let the arrangements for hand-

ling stand as they are. We are consent that once the position is mt to the Britisli distributors they would give their immediate consent. Theyare Britishers first and merchants afterwards. How serious is the position we arc sure no one in New Zealand has yet realised. Until next April the allowance is one ounce per head per week. To realise what this means, we suggest that each reader divide a pound pat into sixteen equal portions, and then ask himself the question whether he would relish that portion for his whole* allowance for one week. Given the parity of prices, there is not a factory in the Dominion that would not welcome the order to make butter instead of cheese, especially at the commencement of the year, when the milk is commencing to improve in quality and decrease in a marked degree in quantity. Our dairy farmers, like the merchants, are Britishers first and farmers afterwards. The fact that millions of our kith and kin in the Old Country are going to have the health and constitutions of „their children ruined through the butter famine seems hardly realised. New Zealand is one of the few countries in the world that can come to the rescue to any extent, and we think that no stone should be left unturned to double our supplies of butter. A few cable messages to the Old Country, suggesting that the manufacture of cheese should be abandoned in favor of butter by all cheese factories that have dual plants, and that to enable this to be done prices should at once be put on a parity, is

all that is necessary. To us it seems terrible that, with butter iaminn in the Old Country, not one single effort to relieve the position should be made. Perhaps the members of the 0.8. K. might take tip this matter and bring it before the publie. Here is an opportunity for us to do something for those who did so much for us. The opportunity should not be'missed. PROSPECTS BEFORE FREEZING INDUSTRY. Speaking at the annual meeting of the Canterbury Frozen Meat Company recently (states tlte Press), the chairman of directors (Sir George Clifford, said: "I am somewhat reluctant to enter > into discussion upon the prospects which r the approaching years hold in their lap |. for us The world needs the food which j a bountiful Nature so qualifies this Doj minion to supply, but it has still to. be tested whether an impoverished world j can afford to receive it at the enhanced price necessitated by the sharp increase ' of the cost of production and manufac- , tttre. In the meantime we have to study how to meet the steep rise in working expenses, with as iiw a corresponding ' increment of freezing and oth r charges *' as produce will permit. Economy can * best be effected by concentration of work, and it is a natural consequence that multiplication of factories will have the reverse result. There is, however, no need to labot a point which experience must quickly decide. It is fortnns ately not my duty to try to forecast y the effect which unsettled trading and r . financial conditions may have upon us. I" Such prophesies are apt to engender false d hopes or undue despondency. It is evie dent that multitudes are crying out in d Europe for sustenance, and that the '■ populations requiring it are increasing. i, It is fairly to be assumed that, with the o desire for peaceful existence, a return to f, a less perturbed life will follow, and a. therefore we, fortified as we are with .; reasonable reserves, and conducting our affairs 'on our accustomed basis, may look forward to a continued, if perhaps modified, prosperity, whatever betide. In '" its main aspects our policy will be une' changed. We shall not be our clients' 'y competitors either in the sheep yards of l * Canterbury or on the stalls of Smithw field. They may rely upon every assist. 3e mice on our part in the freezing and c ' marketing- of their goods.