RETAIL PRICE OF CHEESE

Press, Volume XCVI, Issue 28436, 16 November 1957, Page 12

RETAIL PRICE OF CHEESE

Board To Ask For Inquiry

(New Zealand Press Association) PALM. NORTH. November 15. The dairy industry wanted to encourage the cheese market in New Zealand at a price which was reasonable to the consumer, the acting chairman of the Dairy Board (Mr A. Hayward) told a meeting of dairy factory directors, managers and secretaries in Palmerston North today.

Cheese on the local market was under control provided it was under four months old and he understood the retail price was under control. Cheese more than four months old was classed as mature —although in his opinion it was not mature—and there was no limit on the price. “You can charge what you like and the retailers can charge what they like,” Mr Hayward said. “Mature cheese has only one date stamp on it, so how do you know that the cheese yqu buy is mature.”

The Government was going to be asked to look into the situation, he said. It seemed that if cheese could be put on to the United Kingdom market to retail at Is 6d a lb, it could sell here for less than 3s a lb. “I would be surprised if a man can go into many shops here and pay less than 35.”