THE PRICE OF BUTTER.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXVIII, Issue 18573, 27 November 1920, Page 10

THE PRICE OF BUTTER.

TO THB BBIWHt. Sir, —Lot “ Facts as T see Them ” como forth from liis hiding-place before he so meanly attacks one who has honestly stated “facts as he knows them.” Let not this lightning mangoldgrower and famous cow puncher hide his shining light behind tho darkness of a pen-name. If he is a genuine dairyfarmer,—and I say he is not—let him give the same particulars of his business as lie asks me to furnish, and it will be Time enough for him to he so inquisitive. It is true that he stated the approximate returns from his (?) twenty cows and six sows amounted to £4SO, hut he very carefully refrained from giving even onq item of expenditure. Strange, isn’t it? He did not even state the number of acres required to keep the. twenty cows, six sows and four horses. A poor dairy cookie usually had to ho Content with a smaller team than that, but did not “ Facts as I see Them ” say that he did not employ “primitive” methods? He sheds a little more light on his mangold-growing feat, and now says that he employed men at the work. Ho averaged their work and finds that it took an. hour a day for tho _ whole period the mangolds were in the ground. This gives a\ different impress s on from the one his _ first statement conveys, hut I am still a doubting Thomas. Now we see why he has so much leisure time on his hands—he has men to do the work. By the way, w&y did ho not deduct their wages from Ins butter cheque? To take his own figures, he allows poor cockie nine hours a day “on his own” to milk-. the twenty cows, separate, feed calives etc., and says he then “has an interval of seven hours for meals, etc.” But Facts as I see Them ” forgot to allow cockle any time in which to feed the six sows, or to feed, groom and harness the four horses, or to clean out the stable, pigsties, etc. Nor does he alltaw any time for gorse-cutting, ditch-cleaning, repairs or improvements, and yet all tliis work and much more has to ho done on a dairy farm. All this work, together with the time required' for

meals,, etc., will make a big hole in that “ interval,” and yet “ Facts as I see Them ” hardens his heart against cockie if ho once, to use his own words, “ goes slow, or makes his work hang out, either by loitering, or by gossiping to every passer-by. ’ Poor cockie, and you left your bed at 4.30 a.m. I If that alleged dairy-farmer “ Facts as I see Them ” really desires figures 1 refer him to this: “ Mr W. M. Singleton, the Government dairy, expert, subhiitted figures which could he taken as reliable, and which showed that tho average cost of orodneing e pound of butter was 21.7 d.” And “ Facts ns I see Them ” says he was “ content ” to sclli his butter for Is fid, when tho above statement shows it cost Is 9d to produce it. What, a contented disposition he has, and how business-like t And this is the man who sots himself up to tench genuine dairy-farmers how to grow mangolds and how lo run their farms generally! 1 have endeavoured to show that the butter-producer wns not showered with gold during tho war period: that lie worked long and weary hours for little pay ; that he wns subjected to a lot of abuse, and . called many hard names undeservedly in the columns of the “Lyttelton Times,” and that the recent increase in the price of butter was more than warranted and long overdue. Is it not strange that a professed fellow dairy-farmer should proceed to attack me ori all theso •points? Very strange indeed, but then he is that strange being, a “ contented ” man. To return to his figures: His twenty cow's, calves and six sows, together with his four-horse team, which ft appeal's, he must have, bring him in £4BO. Now as four draught horses and the other stock cannot bo kept for nothing (unfortunately) he will have to rent or purchase say a 60-acro. dairy farm of first-class land. The rent, rates, commissions, and wages for help to harvest his hay and oatshenves for his horses, and—dare wo saw it?—to help with the mangolds, will amount to say £4 per acre or £240 altogether. Deduct this from the receipts and we have £240 left, which amounts to about £4 12s per week, and a week of seven long days, too, don’t forget. Out of this princely salary or “ shower of gold,” be lias to purchase bis four-horse team, harness and implements, his twenty cowb and a bull, a separator, utensils, and—who said?—a milking plant, also the six sows, together with a spring-dray in which to drive the pigs to market. With the balance he provides for himself and his family, and anything that is left over goes to swell his already fat banking account. No wonder “Facts as I see Them ” is such a “contented ” man. Who shall say be does not know anything about his subject or of his (ahem) living? Verily his “facts” and his figures rise up and “ He-haw ” at him—l am etc. E. J. HARRIS, Springston South, November 24, 1920,