DEARER BUTTER .

Evening Post, Volume CXXV, Issue 146, 23 June 1938, Page 23

DEARER BUTTER .

HOUSEWIVES IN ARMS BOYCOTT PROPOSED * ACTION IN AUSTRALIA *" An increase in the price of butter in "i Australia by Id per lb has aroused the jj Housewives' Associations of Sydney t- and Melbourne to stout resistance. The •' advance was not made by the Govern- *" ment or distributors but by the Dairy I. Produce Equalisation Committee, a !• body enjoying sturdy protection of e the domestic market through the high " duty on imported butter. The risee brought the wholesale price up to 161s e 2d per cwt in Australian currency, * compared with the London landed e value of about 117s (sterling) per cwt i for salt butter. The retail price of - Australian butter in Australia was fixed, * or "stabilised," at Is 8d per lb; whereas I New Zealand and Danish butters %vere / selling retail in London at. the same i time at Is 3d per lb. and Australian ' was no dearer. The reasons assigned for the advance in the domestic price by the Equalisation Committee included the general . improvement in Australian conditions. , And it was held that the increase in wages granted by the Federal Arbitra- : i tion- Court entitled dairy farmers to a ■ > share in the benefits of a return to ■ ; prosperity. The increase, according . to the committee, was made as a result ] !' of, its belief that at the prevailing price j the farmer was not being adequately ] i remunerated considering the capital in- \ vested in the industry and the exacting ] nature of the work. . < Against' the rise it was argued that 1 protection for a primary industry, as i well as for secondary industry, should < be subject to impartial review. A rise ;

ss. of a penny a pound ill the price c " e butter means an extra outlay of aboi er £700,000 a year by consumers in th j> r area covered by the equalisatio ln scheme. s- SUGGESTED BOYCOTT. Ie The Housewives' Association in Me: " bourne (Mrs. W. Thomas, president) i 1_ a special meeting, called'on the housi "j wives of Victoria to boycott butte ij l because of the rise of Id per lb i * s price. Steps were taken to approac the Federal Government with a re i 0 quest that butter exports be held u . until the home market was well sujp |r plied at reasonable prices. j? Mrs. I. Tynan declared that it was " n ' scandal that overseas people shoul benefit by a lower price for butte while Australians were compelled t go short." Members of her associatioi considered that without any othe ie action on their part there would autc il matically be a considerable reductioi 3, in the consumption, due to this addei B , cost With all other dairy product at a high price, consumers would b n obliged to turn to substitutes and'tb ~ habit having been acquired it woul< remain. ' While sympathising with the pro t ducer because of difficult condition . recently, the association felt the deci " sion of the Dairy Equalisation Com a> mittee to raise the price was not ii '• the interests of the producer. Thi: ** policy was a short-sighted one, as fo: ! > a temporary benefit the committei i" hazarded a permanent injury to th< * industry. Mrs. Tynan denied tha' I there was any scarcity but, excepting 1 Victoria, there was an increased 1 proi duction in all States. There was, she said, ample justification ,<f or the Housewives' Association » of New South Wales launching a boyj >cott against the use of butter or at j least reducing purchases. f The Minister of Agriculture, Vic- . toria, in commenting on the increase t In the price of butter, said the rise was justified by the dry conditions and the scarcity of feed for cattle. The increase would be equivalent to about Jd a gallon on milk.