MANAWATU EVENING STANDARD POHANGINA GAZETTE. Circulation, 3,000 Copies Daily. SATURDAY, MAY 21ST, 1904 TRICKS IN THE BUTTER TRADE.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XL, Issue 7843, 21 May 1904, Page 4

MANAWATU EVENING STANDARD POHANGINA GAZETTE. Circulation, 3,000 Copies Daily. SATURDAY, MAY 21ST, 1904 TRICKS IN THE BUTTER TRADE.

Facts which have come to light show that abuses in connection with the butter trade haye been oarried on in Viotoria for some time past. A gentleman who at one time occupied a responsible position in the emplojment of a leading firm of butter agents ha 3 made some startling allegations as to the methods of business pursued by a section of the trade. Certain firms conduct what may be described as a proprietary business, in addition to acting as agents, and they are thus able to manipulate the consignments they receive on commission to their own, instead of their clients' advantage. If suoh a firm receives the output of a factory producing say, 10 tons of butter per week, worth in round figures about £1000, it is at once in a position to operate in its own interest. If a consignment consists of a choice sample, it may take possession of the butter, repack it under one of its own registered brands, which by previous manipulations has acquired a good repu. tation on the London market, and export it on its own behalf, allowing the producers wHt it thinks the ■ least amount which will satisfy them. If by such an operation an agent can make a profit of even o|d per lb on a consign, ment of 10 tonß it means that he oan pocket a cheque of between £40 and £50, in addition to his commis. sion. On the other hand, if the sample happens not to be specially choice, it is sold at the risk of the producers. The agent is interested in keeping up the reputation of his own brands, not that of the factory whioh produces the butter. This method of manipulating consignments is, it is alleged, carried on very extensively. One proprietary and agenoy firm has as many as 50 registered brands; others have as many as 30, while firms who profess to act as agents pure aud simple are known to have several brands, presumably for the purpose of manipulating consignments cf butter to their own profit. A brand with a poetical rural snggestiveness, such as "Cowslip butter, manufactured. at the Parkside factory," is generally selected to represent the mythical establishment. It is under such idyllic guises, too, that butter manufactured in some establishment in the heart of the city .masquerades on the London market.

An illustration of the injurious influence ot clandestine operations with regard to butter was afforded by the attempt to make a " corner" last year. Butter was stored by speculative agents in Melbourne in anticipation of prolonged scarcity and higher prices, instead of being forwarded to London to supply tbe demands of legitimate trade. But the local market did not afford an output for the stocks, and tho speculators had to unload on the London market. Tho result was a depreciation in the reputation of Australian butter. Butter twelve months old was sold as new, and the factories whose brand it bore had the credit they previously enjoyed for producing choicest butter destroyed by the sale of the deteriorated sample. A regulation enforcing the branding of butter with the date of its

manufacture, would provide at least one safeguard against some of ' theZ malpractices which affect the reputation of the product and the pockets of the producer.. The tinning of butter Is another department of the trade which lenda: itself to tha methods of the unscrupulous traders in Melbourne. A tin originally contained lib of butter, and is popularly supposed still to contain that quantity. But tlie Melbourne operators have reduced. the quantity to 14oz, and in some cases to as low as l_o_ In no case is it more than 14oz, which represents a profit of at least Ud on a tin supposed to contain lib. It is asserted that there is in existence a very general system of bribery of directors, managers and secretaries of country buttter factories by the Melbourne agents. The, secret commis- j sions were largely applied to this pur- ' pose. The method adopted is to find I out the strong man of the directorate or its officials. It may be the chairman, the manager or the secretary —it matters little, so long as the individual selected can exert a controlling influence as. to the destination of the butter or the agent to whom it shall be consigned. The agent having thus secured the factory's business he is in a position to manipulate its output as already described, and the profits he makes are sufficiently large to allow of very substantial bribes. Unscrupulous tactics have also been adopted with regard to the formation of companies and the establishment of butter factories in some of the raral districts, the usual result being that the Melbourne butter agent ' who promotes the company makes all tha money and the producers have to bear the loss. A commission was appointed recently to. investigate the charges made against traders, and the enquiry should result-.in the business being placed on a more satisfactory footing. .'