N.Z. BUTTER IN LONDON

Dominion, Volume 19, Issue 307, 23 September 1926, Page 9

N.Z. BUTTER IN LONDON

CHARGES OF ATTEMPTING TO SQUEEZE CONSUMER CRITICISMS OF ENGLISH PRESS London, September 21. Though definite statistics are not available, it is reliably estimated that a million boxes of New Zealand butter are in cold storage in Britain, of which 700,000 boxes were stored before the commencement of the New Zealand Dairy Produce Board’s control. In addition there are in store 127,000 boxes of Australian butter, including new season’s arrivals. Newspaper criticisms accuse New Zealand dairy factories of trying to squeeze the consumer. It is stated that the quantity stored is 50 per cent, above the quantity stored at the same time in 1925. Owing to the trade depression, Australian butter is being cleared steadily, but holders of New Zealand are hanging on fo’f better prices, though they are.paying 3s. per cwt. per month for storage. It is largely of the nature of a gamble for enhanced prices, though many experts predict that there is no hope of higher values, even if the coal strike ends soon. Wholesale merchants contend that the prices arc too high. They declare that many retailers have been com-

pellet! to reduce prices. Mr W. Ground;; (chairman of the

New Zealand Dairy Produce Board) declares that there is no intention to exploit the consumer. The board’s only policy is to maintain a steady supply and to stabilise prices. Some traders predict that prices will break, involving losses upon stored butter.

STATEMENT BY MR. BRASH Mr. T. C. Brash, the secretary of the New Zealand Dairy Produce Board, referring to the foregoing cable message, states that the first shipment of butter tinder control was dispatched this month and will not reach London till late in October, and that butter under the board’s control will not be in Britain in quantity till November. He adds: "No butter now in London is under the control of the board. We have no jurisdiction over it in any shape whatever.’’