CHEESE COMMANDEER

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 2940, 28 November 1916, Page 8

CHEESE COMMANDEER

THE QUESTION OF PRICE

POSITION OF THE PRODUCERS,

Exporters of cheese have not ' yet Teceived definite information concerning the terms on whicli shipments are to be requisitioned in the United Kingdom, They understand that the Imperial Government intends to take over the whole of Now Zealand's output of' cheese at a fixed price per hundredweight, but private messages from London indicate that tho price has not ' been announced there. There appears to be ground for believing, however, that the factories will not receive as high a. price under the new arrangement as recent sales had led them to expect. The requisitioning of the cheese in the TJnit-ed Kingdom, instead of prior to shipment from this country, means that merchants will secure their full commission, although apparently they will be_ relieved of responsibility for marketing the product. The charges, under present conditions, for commission, freight, insurance, storage, handling, etc., may be estimated at 14s. per hundredweight. It seems, therefore, that if the Imperial authorities fix the purchasing price in the United Kingdom at lOd. or IOJd. per lb., the factories will receive B}d. to BJd. for their cheese. The fact that the factories were willing to sell the whole of : their output to the Government at BJd. per pound, equivalent to §ls. Bd. per hundredweight, when the matter was discussed early in the present season, suggests that this figure may be the basis of the recent purchase. The Imperial authorities, at that time would not oonsent to pay more than Bd. per pound for the cheese, and the negotiations fell through. Since then factory sales in New Zealand have been made as high as 10Jd. per pound. Presumably the requisitioning of the cheese at Home at a fixed price will he regarded as cancelling some of the contracts already made in this country. Many factories have sold their outputs for the season at prices ranging from 9d. to lOd. per pound, hut the merchants who did'business at these prices expected to have an open market in the United Kingdom. They -would he involved in considerable loss if they had to accept in London a price little or no higher than_ they had agreed to pay to the factories in New' Zealand. !A reporter who made inquiries oil this point yesterday gathered that exporters are expecting the Government totake their position into consideration. Representatives of the producers, discussing the position yesterday, urged that if there was any interference with existing contracts in the way of relieving merchants from liability, then, the Government should eliminate the "middleman" altogether as far as the requisitioned cheese was conoerned. "lie Imperial authorities already control all the refrigerating space," said one gentleman, "and they will be. required to make arrangements for the transport of the Why should the producer pay a commission to a merchant for exercising a nominal Ownership over the cheese during the journey from the stores in New Zealand to the dock in the United Kingdom? Anyway, if the .farmer is to receive a reduced price for the commandeered cheese it seems absurd that he should be required to pay the full commission lunfler the newconditions." The following cablegram received by the Acting-Prime Minister from the High Commissioner-contains all the in■formation the Government has on the subject:— ''No New Zealand cheese being allowed to go into the hands of consignees here, pending- arrangements which British Government purposes making."