LONG STORAGE OF BUTTER.

Auckland Star, Volume LVII, Issue 53, 4 March 1926, Page 10

LONG STORAGE OF BUTTER.

. . NOT THE POLICY OP THE BOARD. (By Telegrapn.—Own Correspondent.) I WELLINGTON, this day. "That is not the policy of the board," said Mr. T. C. Brash, secretary of the Dairy Produce Board, when asked for I any comments he cared to make on a matter brought forward at Hawera by Dairy Commissioner Singleton, with special reference to the holding back of produce for long periods in anticipation of higher than the current prices. Mr. i Singleton had said he had been advised of butter graded as far back as January, 1925, being in store. It required good butter to stand that test, he added, but it was only New Zealand I butter that would stand it. The repuj tation of our produce was likely to suffer by such holding. Mr. Brash said butter held for so long, whether it was the property of factories or firms, was liable to deterioration in quality, but such operations are foreign to the policy of the board, which will come into operation on August 1 next. Xo attempt would be made by the board to totally withhold dairy produce from the market, with a view to forcing up the price. The board's proposal was to "feed" the market with regularity, if possible avoiding any glut as well as any undue restriction of supplies. At present individual factories or firms had to act without knowledge of their own of what other factories or firms were doing in supplying the market. Under the board's policy, supplies would be regulated after the full fact 3of the position had been obtained and considered. Furthermore, the board realises that to withhold produce from the market when prices are low is not in the best interests of the consumer or producer. The board had no control at present over marketing operations in any shape or form. It had nothing at all to do with the holding- back or liberation of supplies for the market. Any reservations now taking place in London were the result of the independent actions of individual factories or firms. In connection with the shipping of produce, the board has arranged that reasonable quantities will bo shipped per month from New Zealand, so a* to provide for regular arrivals in the United Kingdom. The board had no control whatsoever at the present time over produce from New Zealand arriving in Great Britain, ,