PRICE OF BUTTER FIXED

Press, Volume LXXVII, Issue 23414, 22 August 1941, Page 2

PRICE OF BUTTER FIXED

TRIBUNAL’S ORDER

(P,A.) WELLINGTON, August 21. In terms of its policy of stabilising the prices of essential commodities, the Price' Tribunal, by a price order gazetted -to-night, fixes the maximum price to the consumer of patted creamery butter of quality not lower than first grade at Is fid a pound, and that of patted whey butter at Is 5d a pound. It will be permissible for retailers to whom a wholesale freightpaid delivery of butter is not available to increase the price to the consumer by the actual amount of freight charges incurred" from the nearest wholesale source of supply. Explaining the order, the tribunal stated that in terms of the Price Stabilisation Emergency Regulations, 1939, prices for butter at individual stores have remained at not more than the prices charged by various retailers on September 1, 1939. On that date the prices charged by various retailers buying their butter by way of wholesale on .a freight-paid basis varied considerably. There have been instances where Is *6d has been generally charged in one town, and Is 7d in another town ‘ nearby, although storekeepers in both towns would obtain their butter wholesale from the same factory on a freight-paid basis. This anomaly, frequently proved the subject of adverse comment and complaint to the tribunal, i The issue of the price order was preceded by a very careful survey of consumer prices operative throughout the Dominion, and by removing anomalies it is felt that the order will promote uniformity in marketing conditions. •