THE PAT O'BUTTER

Evening Post, Volume XCV, Issue 52, 1 March 1918, Page 8

THE PAT O'BUTTER

HOW WELLINGTON IS

SUPPLIED

NEW SCHEME TO-DAY

Butter factories which have hitherto furnished the Wellington market, discontinued as from to-day. This is in accordance with a resolution passed at a meeting of directors held at Palmerston North, viz. : —

"That this meeting, representing dairy factories supplying the butter market of the Wellington Province, decides (since all efforts have failed to establish an equalisation fund to bring factories supplying the local market to the same level as exporting factories), that our. factories withdraw from the local market on 28th February next."

Mr. James Prouse, chairman o£ the meeting which passed the above resolution, in an interview given to The Post, showed what induced the factories supplying the Wellington market to withdraw, Directors of such factories, he said, never proposed to the Prime Minister that there should be any increase in the price of butter. What they did ask for, as a matter of principle and a-s a matter of right, was to be placed upon an equality with exporters of butter with respect to the returns to be received for their produce. Mr. Prouse also stated that the local supplying factories submitted certain proposals to secure equalisation to the Prime Minister, and he agreed to them subject to the Butter Committee also agreeing to them, but that committee failed to come to any conclusion consistent with the original agreement. T^ien the local supplying factories decided to withdraw from the market.

The Prime Minister, in commenting on this action, expressed his regret that the local suppliers and Butter Committee j could come to no agreement as to partij pation in profits—"an uncertain quan- : tity." He added : "I offered to give effect jto any arrangements which might be made in that way. No agreement has been come to." He was sorry the local suppliers should withdraw from the Wellington market, "but that market," he said, "will-not be left bare, and prices will be no higher-than are being charged at present." SUPPLYING THE MARKET. Then followed a notification (dated 23rd February) by the Department of Imperial Supplies, of which Mr. Massey is Minister-in-Charge, to the effect- that as from to-day, Ist March, supplies of first-grade butter stored at the Wellington Mea-t Export Company's Stores, would be obtainable by the public at £3_ 19s 4d per box of 56 pounds net weight in lots of not less than two boxes. This works out at Is 5d per pound. The butter is of the highest grade, and is sold at the same price -.the Imperial Government is paying for it. The wholesale and retail trades can draw supplies from the stores. on the above terms, so can hotels, bo'ardinghouses, or private persons. TO-DAY'S SALES. The total sales of butter under the new scheme up to 2 p.m. to-day amounted to 250 boxes, and these were bought by one customer. Tho local retail trade, howev.er, is not used to handling butter in bulk,' although the practice is not unknown and butter from the box is already sold over the counter in quantities required. The pound block' or package is the general form of selling butter, and the i weight, 16oz, is required by law to be legibly printed on tiie paper wrapping. Butter in this form has much to recommend it from both tho retailer's and consumer's j point of view. The former has an already weighed and packed article to deal with, and there is no waste. The latter has a neat package with the weight marked upon it, and, moreover, is able to rely upon, 'even quality •under established brands which have their reputations at strike.

In the sixties, in England, the cheesemonger was the usual retailer of butter, and confining himself mainly to cheese, butter, hams, bacon, and eggs, he learned all there was to know about the trade, and regarded the grocer who handled cheese and butter merely as side lines with some contempt. While the grocer in England has now a great hold on the butter and cheese trade, the cheesemonger (who may also handle game and poultry) is still an exclusive specialist; but the great stores and multiple shop concerns are pushing him out. Even so. thoir cheese and butter departments are kept separate and select, and soap and candles, tea and coffee, are never allowed to intrude. FROM THE BLOCK. The retail practice in the British shopsselling butter is to cut from the bulk and weigh in quantities as required—in tome places down to 2oz. The butter is turned out from the keg or tub on to marbleslabs \,and sometimes decorated with parsley. There will be as many as four or more qualities or description, each a, different price. The fine art of the retailer in handling butter in this way is to j avoid waste in cutting it up, and there I may be a very serious loss if the butter is served by inexperienced hands. In addition, butter from Brittany in white chip baskets and rolls of butter from France and parts of England are sold over the counter, but the main business is done from butter in bulk. _ On the whole, the system adopted in New Zealand of the pound pat is to be preferred. Thi6 butter is put up by firms who have made a. close study of the trade and know its requirements. The article has a good appearance in the shop, and involves the .retailer in no loss by waste. On the other hand, it has been found in every concern patting butter for the trade that it does not follow that a box of 561b of butter in -bulk will yield 561b of butter in pound pats. The Ices due to a variety of causes is sometimes quite large on the packing of, say, a. week's supply.