OUR BUTTER TRADE

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2581, 1 October 1915, Page 2

OUR BUTTER TRADE

Mr. C. J. Parr said he was advised from Auckland that: the price of butter liad been raised to Is. od. per pound. If . this ' were so he would suggest'to the-Prime Minister that as butter'was a food which v;e produced ourselves the regulation of the retail price of it was ill, the hands of the Government. He woukLask the.Prime Minister whether he; could see his wa.v to have the price of a commodity so widely used- reduced to'; a reasonable'figure. .'Mr.'Wilkinson: AVhat is a reasonable iigUre ? . Mr. Parr: Say one and threo. The Prime Minister said that when the Wellington price, was raised about a week ago ho was by no means satisfied that the increase was justified, and he cabled to London for information. He wished to ascertain .whether the looal price was in proportion to the prioe obtainable! for export. Hb received a cablegram to the effect that there was no-New Zealand butter on the London market, but that if any wero offering it would be very ai&y to place it at 160s. pel* hundredweight. A simple calculation would show that this price , waa about equal to the wholesale price hero. However, ■he admitted that there was a great deal in -the honourable member's contention. Ho was sorry that the men in the -butter trade had deemed it necossary t« raise tho prico. - , . Mr. Fletcher: It isn't the merchants who-are doing it. The increase Comes f 10m . tiio . dairy factories. ' Mr. Massey said he had had a report from the head of the Dairy Division on the point, and he had advised that the price of butter here was justified by the prico obtainable in London. Tlie prico could bo fixed here, but the Government must -be careful not- to interfere with the-export trade. AVhat had happened,- he believed, was that the Germans had bought up all tho Danish butter available, and Britain .was short of high-grade butter in consequence. He belioved that until the London market ivas satisfied the. price v.ould be as good'■ there as was obtainable; -locally* \ J-,-. J. B. Hine asked the Prima Min■ister; whether he was aware that the .practice in Taranaki was . that retail VshOpkeepere were supplied with butter at a penny a pound below the export price.' He would su'ggest that if..'Auckland people wanted cheap butter they cfould come ,to Taranaki for ii. ' . Mr'. Massey:-1 shall .be only too glad, on behalf.'of the Wellington and, 1 the' Aiioklaiid people to offer to- tak<j, siiffi-' cient butter for their requirements at 1 a penny a pound below tho- expert prico. And I hope the Taranaki people will come along. .