DEAR BUTTER.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 134, 29 February 1908, Page 3

DEAR BUTTER.

A STRANGE SITUATION. '..The butter market is in. a .remarkably, queer situation ; at; the; present! moment.' butter prices aro slipping doivn very rapidly ni'; London—far more rapidly .than the.v went up—yet in New Zealand the. t-endoncy. is;still upwards.' Here are to-day's wKolesalo' prices approximately:— Loridoiv, 'is. 2d,' falling .to Is. OJd. . , Duncdin, Is. id., just raised. -V Auckland, Is. 3d.,, just raised. , - Wellington,. Is. 3}d., lately raised. " The London season of low priefcs is fast approaching, and it; would seem natural .'to .anticipate decreased exportation and, a freer supply to the buoyant local 'markets. That will, no doubt, happen before very 16ng, but ;jiist'now''there aro several circumstances preventing a -very largo diversion of supplies. I'he factories which sold their season's output early in the;season aro unable to escape their.; obligations l till the , periods of. their contracts expire. Formerly the contracts' ,frequently only till the end of Feb-! ruary, and if that had been ' the'case this season there would have been substantial supplies released for the New, Zealand ftowns. But the contracts'are now almost all spread' out- till the.end of March or-April, and they cannot bo broken. The local welfare, therefore, depends on the factories which have. " consigned," an don those firm's who always' -make . the iocal . market . one /of ' their' chief outlets. The latter have', doubtless, all along placed most of theirspare butter locally. The' consigning factories, with a free hand, could give attention, to the Now Zealand towns at; this promising juncturo if they" wished, and- ; would' probably , increase" their - dividends; thereby.. But. authorities generally''predict that they will be slow •to seethis unusual opening, -and: will not : be-easily pushed out of'.the exporting groove. It is a time for waiting and watching. on. tho part of the general: public. ' And on-the .part' of tho dairy farmer; it is an, occasion for feeling thankful;for small.mercies'in these times-bf drought and distress. One wonders what position would have to ariso beforo we would seo Danish butter in New.. Zealand. "