BUTTER PRODUCTION

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3164, 16 August 1917, Page 8

BUTTER PRODUCTION

problem for next season. tho dairy farmers of New Zealand are naturally very anxious with regard to tne coming butter season. Much uncertainty exists as to tho provision of shipping facilities to enable them to get tlieir butter to the English market. The outlook is a frequent topic of conversation among country members of Parliament, and various solutions of the problem are being put forward. Some members are of opinion that it may bo necessary for tho Government to take tho matter in hand in a very resolute manner. They suggost that tho Government . should buy up the whole butter output [and take the responsibility of getting it sent to the English market. It is contended that if : this oourse were adopted there would bo a better chance of obtaining the necessary shipping space than if tho marketing has to be arranged by private enterprise. It is not a question of commandeering, but of the State coming to tho rescue of the farmers. The Government has been giving the matter careful thought, and it is understood that the Prime Minister would bo ready to give sympathetic consideration to any reasonable suggestion which might be placed before him. If there were no other way out of the difficulty the Government might possibly heprepared to purchase the output at, say, Is. 4d. a pound, and guarantee that-tile retail price in New Zealand would not exceed ■ Is. Gd. The Government, it is suggested, -would keep one-half the profit on the butter sold in England, and would give the other half to 'the producers. This solution has a good deal of support, and there is reason to believe that the Prime Minister would be ready l to take action in the direction indicated'if the butter producers as a body should 1 so desire.