IMPORTED BUTTER

Press, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22340, 2 March 1938, Page 15

IMPORTED BUTTER

UNECONOMIC PRICE BRITISH FARMERS’ CLAIMS (non ODIt 0«y COKRIBFONDIRT.) LONDON, February 2. Complaint that overseas butter is being sold at uneconomic prices in Britain was made in a recent issue of the National Farmers’ Union’s News Sheet. It pointed out that wholesale prices of imported butter in England in mid-January were 1097114s for New Zealand, 1067112s for Australian, 1057109s for Argentine, 134s for Danish, and 1127113s for Dutch. At about the same time butter was quoted in Paris at, 172Js per cwt, in Berlin at 20735, in Holland at 1625, and in Belgium at 1745. The complaint is deprecated by a correspondent to the “Manchester Guardian,” “Why repine because butter, a wholesome and necessary commodity which British farmers do not produce in any quantity, remains within the means of the masses and is, in fact, the one food that keeps somewhere near pre-war level?” he asks. “If the rich resources of the Empire enable our population to enjoy excellent butter at Is Id a pound in winter, surely.it is one of the things that make it worth while to have an Empire. . “The theory so often put forward that cheap Empire butter lowers the price of milk at Home is just a theory, Cheap butter has doubled the consumption of this invaluable food, while milk consumption continues to lag badly. We British farmers cannot produce butter economically, and we know it. Leaders of agriculture would be more profitably employed if, instead of bewailing the fact of cheap butter from New Zealand, they tried to discover why in winter, when Nature demands more animal fats, consumption of butter and other dairy products which give them in the most palatable form goes down.” In a reply in the latest issue of the News Sheet' the union says its claims are fact, not theory. “The uneconomic prices at which imported butters are sold in this country definitely influence the prices which can be paid to British farmers for manufacturing milk, with the consequent effect Oh pool prices obtained by producers,” it adds. The claim that British farmers cannot produce butter economically is also denied in the article, “Is it imagined that butter which can be sold in this country, after processing, transport, and storage, at llus per cwt yields an economic return to the producers of that butter when that ilos per cwt is equivalent to something’like lid a gallon of milk?” It continues. “The fact that in all the chief exporting countries the producers are subsidised throws some doubt on the ‘economies’ of the sale Of ’cheap’ butter.

"Most people—farmers amongst them—are in full sympathy with the desire of the Government to give consumers the maximum supplies of foodstuffs at the lowest possible price, providing that the accompanying part Of that policy, consistent with reasonable remuneration for the producer, is implemented.”

The staff of the Methvdn Transport Company registered a performance recently which should emphasise that modern labour is not guilty of all the decadence with which it Is frequently credited. The five lorries of the company loaded from farms in the Lyndhurst district on to the rail 2400 sacks of wheat in eight hours. This included 1-availing time from Methven to Lyndiuirst and back and meal times, the trucks being loaded at Lyndhurst. Ten men were (mployed. A correspondent hai worked out that all these stops Included, five sacks a minute were tarr ed and loaded every minlitfe of the eight hours. The whole teem is cnnprlscd of Me'hvat-born youths, and the correspondent asks, can anyt ne beat this record?

After consideiab'e correspondence in connexion with the history of New Zealand merino sheep and their suitability for the high country in Northem India, a definite order has now been secured by Messrs Wright. Steplienscn end Co.. Ltd., to select and ship to the Government Sheep Breeding and Research Farm. Jammu and Rasmlr State, India, a consignment of merino rams and ewes. The object of the purchasers is to experiment with New Zealand merinos to test their suitability for conditions in that country, and if success is achieved in the object further importations will follow. All the sheep required will be selected from Marlborough studs.

Whether your income is £2 or £2O weekly, youll make It buy moi'eifyou read the advertisements regularly tft “The Press.’’ —(j

EWE FAIRS

CANTERBURY BATES Ram and ewe fair'dates have been arranged as follows! ttawarden Ewe Fair—March 3. Rakala Ewe Fair-March 4. Little Rivet Ewe Fair-March 7. Waiau Ewe Fair—March 3. Culverden Ewe Fair—March 10. Methven Ewe Fair—March U. ' Fan-lie Ewe Fair-March 11. Tin Wald Ewe Fair—March 14. Sheffield Ewe Fair-March 15. Ashburton Ram Fair—March 18. Christchurch Ram Fair—March 17 amt 18. ' Oxford Ewfe Fair—March 21. Coalgate Ewe Fair—March 22. Waiau Supplementary Sale—April 4. Culverden supplementary sale-* April 6.