BUTTER SUPPLIES.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIV, Issue 284, 1 December 1933, Page 6

BUTTER SUPPLIES.

The sharp fall in the price of butter, following a rapid rise, must produce further suggestions of control, whet/her it .takes the form of quota or regulated shipments. The Australian Dairy Produce Export Bosxd is to consider next week a proposal to regulate the flow of butter to Britain. This is a matter that affects New Zealand vitally. A member of the New Zealand Board visited Australia the other day to confer with the Australian body, but it is not stated whether this aspect of the industry was discussed. There would seem to be room for improvement in this direction. When, however, it is proposed in Australia that "butter shall not be sold at the present prices," dangerous ground is entered on. The price could be regulated only by holding butter back, and such retention would encourage the English clamour for a quota. The low price of butter is not without advantage to the colonial producer. It increases the consumption of butter against margarine, and extends the butter-eating habit, which may be continued even if prices rise. Already the consumption of butter in Britain has been doubled in five years, arid saturation point is not yet in sight. The truth is that if conditions in Europe were normal our position on the British market would be causing little anxiety. Europe would then be consuming a great deal of the butter she is now sending to Britain, selling it there at prices far below the home levels. It is the fact that Britain is the whole world's market for butter that causes the oversea producer to lose' his sleep and the British farmer to demand a quota. ,