TILL GOING UP.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 105, 27 January 1908, Page 7

TILL GOING UP.

PRICES OF MILK AND BUTTER. ;VIEWS OF EXPORTERS AND RETAILERS. Tho price of butter went up last weok as forecasted recently by Tits Dominion. It stands now at . fourteen Jienco a pound, but , it is pretty safe to say that it will not stop there. Another riso may be looked for soon. E Ono authority in Auckland has named eighth or . oen ponce as a probable figure,' but a reporter lv who made ■ enquiries on Saturday found that w, merchants and retailers do 1 not anticipate be that .it'will come to that in 'Wellington, A w; ; further , rise is, however, regarded generally ' (thbiigh not, it ' seems, • unanimously) as a certainty, and the householder will also haTO to rwkon with dearer milk. The'dry weather Ml and the bush' fires are tho main causes of the trouble—for trouble it is and will bo to (. 0 the. city consumer, whoever elso may benefit., tii Tho . demands of oversea markets, and the 01 . increasing cost of labour aro also made to bear a part of the blame. • . ■ tl ... ■ "lii , Effect of ths Bush Fires. "A. gentleman largely interested m the ox- ft ] port , trade said: "Here 15 u letter we have •'< lust received - from a' small butter factory m fr Hawko's'Bay. They say' they are forwarding fe eight boxes,, and it ..jrill be the" last lot .tras hi Boason!". In, an ordinary year, they- would be, a Bonding us : butter rigllt up to the; end of - 1 March. -Wo [ have a contract 'to take their whole season's output. The contract _was based oh an estimate of 22 tons; and wehave received'only 12} tons. That is typical of whafcis happening in other/places. 'Tho Mas- . tcrton factory 'is not closing down, but is supplying much less butter than last year. ; Butter, is "now actually being. sent in substantial quantities from Wellington, up to Wangaiiui. and Hawke's Bay. That is to say, : the ordihary stream of commerce is reversed, ( . and -the ,city,' ;from its stocks'• in store,' is supplying-tho country. Exporters' Difficulties. . p "Tho outlook is very serious. , I have J cabled - Home this .morning, strongly advis- q irig.that: no more forward contracts be niado in London. •, I do not think the,pricc; of but- r ter;'forv local consumption' 1 will, go. up .any •, higher. ,at present. It .may ,doso -if we. do d not'havo a'good fall of rain, and certainly it B will not come down 1 unless there ,is a marked . change'■•in* : thc;weather pretty soon, pood heavy rairivwbuld #lter ,'the whole position, t Tarauaki,, fortunately, does not seem ,to be I very/.seriously affected as yet, but the posi- ' j Wairarapa, ; Hawke's Bay, and , Canterbury is such that it has become veiy. . difficult to-fill contracts for oversea markets. 1 The'demand for New Zealand butter is in- 0 creased', this season owing to shortage else- ; where./' Australia has suffered so much from drought, that A a large number of heT export . orders havis come to New Zealand; both from England and: South Africa. 'The demand for our butter■'from South Africans greater than ; for,several yeais past. There is also a .shortage in Canada, which affects .the Homo 1 market."'.'.: The Farmers' Point of View. ', r And:,wiil the scarcity bring pny compensation, to the farmers in the way "of increased prices?"* : ' • . "in most cases —no. The majority, of the • factories-, made forward 'contracts, .and' they by the rise. A lair propor- , tion' of . this/season's butter, however, . has been: going Home on ' consignment, and .in those cases the suppliers will get the best .' of it.' Last year it was tlio other way about. The price fell during, the season, and the forward contract people scored." ' l Will these experiences.tend. to settle tho Vexe^''question of consignment versus forward; sale on .a' basis of general opinion ?". ;"'"I think tho conviction is growing among 1 the producers that; taking one senson-with . "*• another, 'the 'forward-" contract J suits them best." - , . ' The 1 only response to a further request,for a forecast of prices was-r-" It all depends on tho'weather." ?..*.« .. > ,; Milk—Flvepence a Quart. 1 \: The manager of a largo concern engaged In the retail,milk and butter business was .- next annealed to." . ■ -, " go'far/as the local milk market \is concerned."' ho said, " any increase in price is duo'to Hbe weather conditions. Our, output of milk at present is a day, and the supplies we receive from tho farmers are "falling off at the rato, of 100 gallons a weok^-This has beep going on for the last three,'weeks,' and the position'is becoming worse.' .There is, in fact, a tremendous sbortago of, milk, and, even if we got a good downpour- of rain, I don't think thero will bo an, increase in tho supply. It is too lato in the season for,, that, and the. best wecan hope for is that tho supply will bo maintained at tho present level, as a result of a chango in the weather. Tire milk, retailors intend raising the price of milk by ono penny a quart' at tho end of this month. It will ' their/be: sd; In Sydney it is at present 6d. a, quart. ' ; ;• : • . : / A Fiirfher Rise In Butter. '. '".The increases' in the price, of butter locally," our informant .proceeded, " are Sue I partly, to tho falling off of the milk supply and partly to the high prices offered on tho London market.' The retail price ,of best factory ibas been Is. 2d. per lb. since January 20. ' The futuredepends partly on the weather, but I think a material increase may be looked for within the next few days,, irrespective of any chango in the weather. Wages and Prlccs. " The farmers aro receiving more for their milk and butter-fat than they have had for some years past; but they need it, as tho increased prices of land and labour have added largely to the cost of production. The consumer is bound to pay more for his milk and butter, than in the. past; because the farmer, the butter factory, and the retailor all have to pay higher wages, than, before. The demands of the butter-workers,' as'jiubJisbcd in .Friday's Dominion, > will intensify this same tondency, if they are given what! they ask for."

AfrAl'eced "Ring." Said' another -authority:—"l notico that the forecast of butter at Is. (3d. a pound came,from Auckland; but the price of butter is always. lower here than in the other cities." Nevertheless, this authority held that' butter might bo lower in Wellington tbiin it is, but for the action of what ho described at tho "butter ring." Ho said that one or two big retail stores obtained butter by dircct negotiation with'up-country producers, and were still selling best factory butter at Is. Meanwhile the bulk of the supplies wore controlled by the "ring," and the ruling price over tlie counter was Is. 2d. Incidentally, he mentioned that tlio retailers had benefited by t'no recent rise. Before last Monday they were buying at lsi and selling at Is. Id, ; now they are buying at Is. O'jd. and selling at Is. 2d. He considered that any rain that might come now would be too late to cause the pastures to recover. The dairy-farmers' season would end a month earlier than usual, and nothing now could 6ave it.