RUSSIAN BUTTER

Evening Post, Volume CXI, Issue 141, 17 June 1931, Page 11

RUSSIAN BUTTER

DUMP IN LONDON

PRICE NO OBJECT

A'MENACE'TO TEADE

(From "The Post's" Representative.) LONDON, loth May.

Soviet Russia, with insidious economic war methods, is trying to ruin Great Britain and the Empire: The "Daily Mail" says: "No other Government but the British would permit dumping of this malicious kind to be carried on to tho destruction of its own industries." ' ■ , ■ Fifteen thousand barrels of Russian butter and-8000 cases 'of poultry arrived in the Thames on Monday by the Soviet steamer, Alcxei Eykov. . It is cs.timatod that ' £2,000,000 .worth, of So'viot butter will arrive in England this season. ■ , .-, ; Tho butter is stored in a Thames-sido warehouso in preparation for its distribution all over the country to_ agents who receive generous commission on its sale. Tho first thing asked of tho agents is that they shall, sell the butter; the price they obtain for it is of secondary consideration. , . _ ■ . An official closely connected with the handling of Soviet cargoes said in an interview: "This stuff is collected and shipped in a way that no community with any self-respect would -tolerate. "The conditions at tho Russian docks arc absolute slavery, whilo tho butter itself is. collected in small quantities from farms and salted and- frozen in central creameries. The' farmers are bound to give up their supplies, and last year there-was a shortage of Soviet butter exports because niany. of thesa farmers, rather than give up _ their stocks, slaughtered their cattle.-'' This further attack in. tho Soviet's carefully prepared scheme of economic warfare on the British Empire (says the "Daily. Mail") has been launched just at a time when butter prices are low and Australia and New Zealand are continuing their exports at a loss simply 'to maintain a reputation for their butter in this country. TOR THE BLENDINp- TRADE. "This is not ordinary : competition," said Sir William Way land, Conservative M.P. for Canterbury, who is chairman of the Empire Dairy Council. "The butter is bNjing dumped here with the idea of depressing the market for Empire products to such a point as to cause a crisis. New Zealand is experiencing a big loss on its exports of butter to this coiintry owing to the Soviet's policy. It is jusfc tho same game as Moscow has been playing with other products, such as timber and grain. No duty will meet the case. (The Russians do not mind at. what price they sell so long as they got their produce on tho market. "Soviet/butter,is used mostly for purposes of blending. It is mixed witli Australian, New Zealand, Danish, or English butter and sold in nice, pretty wrappers. It is trickery and that is why I am so insistent that butter should be markod, for I am surd then that people would,demand Empire produce. It has an established reputation for quality which this nondescript stuff coming from all parts of Russia can never hope to gain. ■ ..'-.. "The price of butter has, already fallen considerably owing to a number o; world causes, but'whatever its price may be, the Soviet butter will be sold in this country at anything up to 15 per cent, cheaper so as. to clear the dumped'stocks. While butter is being sold so cheaply here it is 25s a pound to-day in Moscow!" ' ■ . INDENTURED LABOUR. ' The Soviet fcutter (says a special correspondent of the "Daily Mail") has been produced on State dairy farms and under the so-called collective system of farming. Privato farmers are forced to deliver their milk to the dairy farms irrespective of their neods or inclinations. On these farms labour is "indentured," and the conditions are akin to serfdom. Every worker is "tied" to his, employment, and should he or she leave it they are posted as "deserters," and when captured are invariably sentenced to forced labour in one of the; Ogpu (terrorist) labour camps.•' Soviet butter is produced mainly in Siberia and in the Ukraine, and the bulk of production is always cqrmarkod for export, chiefly to this country. Tho dairy industry is under the control of a central body known as the Centromaslo, while the actual dumping ia carried out by the Centrosojus, a Soviet organisation in London registered as a British company. Since the beginning of the year Soviet agents have been offering spring butter all over this country at prices varying from 5s to 9s per hundredweight below butter from Empire countries, and they have repeatedly reported good business. FINANCED FROM BRITAIN. Judging by Moscow reports, the financing of the dumping of Soviet butter emanates from British sources. It is claimed that several, hundred "thousand pounds have been received in advances from British importers. Ships in Soviet ports, too, are being loaded with large quantities of chemicals for dumping on tho'British market. The goods are expected to arrive in London and Liverpool this month. Soviet agents in London are pushing the sale of chemicals both in this country and in Great Britain's markets overseas. '. . • Mr. W. Graham (President of the Board of Trade), replying in the House of Commons to a question concerning the dumping of Soviet butter in England, said that the Government had no power to prohibit or restrict the importation of such goods into this country on the" ground of tho price at which they wore offered, nor did he contemplate taking any such powers. Sir Georgo Hamilton (C, Ilford) asked whether Mr. Graham had seen photographs . showing 15,000 barrels of Russian butter being landed here below the cost of production in this country, which was really a slap in the face" of Australia and New Zealand? Mr. Q. Smithers (C, Chislehurst: "Has he no thought for- the' British farmer?" Mr. J. Romer (C, Macelesfield) asked whether it was not a fact that in Russia itself they could not obtain butter at any price. ■ (Cries of ■ "Answer.") The Speaker intervened and prevented any answer being given.