THE MILK SUPPLY.

Auckland Star, Volume XLVII, Issue 19, 22 January 1916, Page 9

THE MILK SUPPLY.

EFFECT OJFiBOTTGOTAm* WAR HAY CAUSE SHQKEAGB HSC CEtX. BETTER PEICES-HFACTOETEST. The ramifications , of . 'fee war are widespread, but. ifc could BcaTCehr have been expected Jthat hostilities in iurope mighv result in higher pric* ruing for mflfc supplied in Auckland, Yet such seeps to be quite likely to occur in the near future. The dry tier is a contributing factor to the present position.;. For'lack of rain, the pasturage is drying up rapidly, and as a natural consequence supplies of mflk are lessening. If there were no war the position would not have been so serious as it appears likely to become, but the fact that both butter and cheese are celling at much higher figures than those obtainable under normal conditions, means that farmers can get better prices at the nearest factory for their milk, and this may mean a faHing off in the quantity sent for consumption in the city. When the Imperial Government placed an older in New Zealand for cheese to the value of one million sterliag, it had the effect of setting all the plants in the Dominion in full swing, and this hae opened a big market for milk; in fact, some farmers state that it now pays better to make cheese than butter. One thing is very certain, farmers, are not so anxious to send milk to the towns vrhen they have such a good mariet nearer homo at butter and cheese factories. The rain which fell last night and to-day wiH be very welcome to dairy farmers, though it has come too late to have any appreciable effect on the falling off of the town milk supply.