GOOD NEWS OR BAD?

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 695, 21 December 1909, Page 10

GOOD NEWS OR BAD?

; A BIiTTJCR MYSTERY Butter intdrosts havo a difficult riddlo pro ■ touted to them in tho High Commissioner' '. cablegram published this morning Tho por / ton roaring to butter states — ; "The butter market is steady with a goad demand Tho market for Nen Zealand bnttor is demoralised and in an unsatisfactory condition Danish fodder-fed I butter firmly held, and prices for it lm\o advanced sinco Inst telegraphing New •, Ze-Uand butter, which is of excellent qual--1 lty, is bom" pushed for sale by weak holders, prices hav-o declined There is no oon- ; centration of New Zealand interests Tho shipments of butter and cheese per ss : Tauiui arrived in good condition Tho ; average price of choicest New Zealand buti ler is 110s per cwt , Australian, 108s , Danish, 1275" Tho riddlo is difficult of solution because i |a so contradictory in its terms Is buttei ; too plentiful? Then why is Danish buttei ■ Idearer? Is trade depression responsible' foi *tho fall in New Zealand values? Are , henvj « (jsnpphos, contemplated from anj sources' Tin (improvement m tho Dauish. pneo makes al • sthes(> answers to tho riddle untenable [ Then whj has tlio fall happened? Th< places it at tho doors of we-il ; pholders To somo extent there wa3 a changt j fin the personnel of tr-e firms who securcL .' i, ;New Zealand outputs this season, and in 'the relative quantities they tooi. Indeed il _ suggested at the selling season that thest changes suggested tho existence of a "nng , ' JBut n Wellington informant in tho mdustn t \eay<! "no ono could be at tho other end and , hehevo thero was any collusion" So far a , , the consignments aro h"ld by Messrs' Lovol .and Christmas Mesas Clements, Messrs yMIs and Sparrow, and Messrs Lonsdalo and i Vo, it cannot <bo said that they aro m weal 1 iands. This is tho first year, however, tnai illessrs and Co hav-o figured v largelj \ as consignment agents, they havo heretofore been chiefly buyers Is the bolution of the puzalo reflected in ,'nny oabtanding fcatnre of the season? Per vhaps the most prominent feature is the fad that it is a consignment year Are consign linont agent likely to ibe weaker holders than v thoso who bought? It cannot be stated on < general grounds that they aro And after all 'tit 13 tho personal equivalent nhich counts speaking, tho landowner, whether he jhas bought or has secured on comniis'-ion, 'fixes his price according to Ins own opinion , l of tho prospects If 1 o happens to think the good, his price is firm whether he is selling for himself or for u factory, but i '¥. no s c ™ts danger his price weakens Hi« ! difforent basis bt agreement does not altor hi« opmion of tho markot or his desire to "ot a .good pnee , The fact of the decline indicates that holders have deiraed it wise to lower tho pneo, and ( f>«J there is no nev« of an increased supply i or a lessened demand, or even a deterioration 1 jof quahtv, line must look elsewhere for tho cause In tho darkness and mjstery ,of tho mestion one can only fumble about m un ( certamtT for the solution, but tl.ero is one j that seems at least possible At this time of the Jear, with Christmas coming, the demand rfo- butter will be keen, and the trade, I from the piocer's point of \ieir, exceedinly im- ' Portent It would form a eplendid time for •butter operators to make small saenfices in fPiiees m order to snatch, enstomera from some pf thoir rnals The science of "out lines" i hotter understood m Britain than it is here, andl better practised The fact that the 1-nce of Danish butter had been put up mar have suggested that it wai the psychological moment tor ft on Zealand butter to be shipped into places -U.ich woro forraerly Danish •strongJiolos Tte sscTifico mißht bo well repud by . 'hr, perm inert new outlets thus secured Whether or nrt this bo the true explanation, , thn fact tjat Danish butter is still up Bivp «q confirlfnce that the bottom is not out of the butteribusiness Jet ■~ .< \