NOTES AND COMMENTS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LIII, Issue 16375, 1 November 1916, Page 6

NOTES AND COMMENTS.

BUTTER IN AUSTRALIA

Tire retail price of butter in Australia from October 30 will be practically the same as that fixed in New Zealand. The price for bulk butter has been fixed at Is 6d per lb, cash over the counter, out butter specially packed in prints may be sold at Is 6.} d. An extra Jd may ne charged for hocking, and another for deliverymaking the total price Is 7*d. Owing to the special inducements now existing to export or sell for export, the Commonwealth Government has decided to place all manufacturers on an equitable basis by requiring each factory to contribute its quota to the current Australian requirements. In the event of any factory not making available for Commonwealth consumption its proportion of its best quality butter the Minister for Customs has given instructions that permission to export any butter by such factory shall bo refused. Butter manufacturers will he advised from time to time through '.he Collector of Customs of the percentage of their output required to meet consumption within the Commonwealth for the carrying out of the arrangement. Each butter factory will be required to furnish a weekly return of tho butter manufactured, setting forth the number of boxes of butter and the respective, classes in each State. A local committee, representative of the producing interests and of the wholesale trade generally, will advise periodically as to the percentage of butter required for Australian consumption.

BEHIND THE GERMAN LINES. A description of the havoc wrought by battle was given by Karl von AViegand. correspondent of the New York World at German Corps Headquarter?, in .in article dated August 17. The writer says:—"A wide path of havoc, devastation, and desolation extends along behind the Somme-Ancre battle line, and many miles beyond. None of the tornado md cyclone wrecked towns I have seen in Middle Western States presented such scenes of destruction. Rove is partially in ruins, though about 1000 French still cling to their homes. Peronne is burmig, being shelled daily. Bapaume is a picture of destruction. Some 400 of the population refused to leave, living bka cave-dwellers in cellars on the edge 'f the town. I walked through miles of trenches to day around Hrbuternc and Gornmecourt. Nparing Gommerourt. with Hebuterne on our left, we came across soldiers ploughing the fields, and others gathering a splendid crop of oats under cover of the fog, almost within rifle range of the British trenches. It- struck me as almost ludicrous, this ploughing and harvesting within sight of the British at Hebuterne, which they hold, were it not for the fog. within easy range of their guns. Only during the foggy hours of the morning and the nights are the horses which draw tho cannon turned into peaceful plough animals. The moment the mist lifts the fields are lonely and deserted ; the British make them too incomfortable." FROM DROUGHT TO PLENTY. An interesting description of striking recovery from drought conditions is given by Mr. G. W. Whatmore, manager of the Queensland Motor Agency, Limited, who recently completed a long motoring tour through the central west and the northwest of Queensland. Last year at about the same time he traversed the same parts of Queensland, and it was then in the grip of the drought. Sheep and cattle and marsupials were dying everywhere, and the country presented a most desolate and disheartening appearance. This time the outlook was completely changed. For the 2785 miles traversed the country on every hand looked splendid. The scene had undergone a wonderful transformation. "The hitherto desolate fields and plains," he. says, are now beautiful meadows of luxurious growths of natural grasses and spring herbage, crowned with spring flowers of various colours, stretching for many hundreds of miles in all directions, and lending a fairyland appearance to tho countryside. Forest trees currajong. sandalwood, . and brigalow— are also in blossom. So great n the growth of herbage and grasses on the black soil plains—from 2ft to 4ft in height —that if the country was possessed of ten times its present stock it would be impossible for them to eat it down. Unfortunately, however, following upon the disastrous period of drought, the stockis greatly diminished. The wheat and barley uelds mi the western line, from Toowoomba to Roma, look splendid." NEUTRAL BUYING OF SHIPS. Some remarkable ship-purchase transactions have been carried out for Norwegian firms. Apart from the buying of shipyards in the United Slates, orders for new ships have been placed there for Norwegian account on terms which British owners consider absurdly high. Thus, for an ordinary cargo steamer to be delivered in 18 months as much as £30 a ton is being paid. Before the war a vessel of similar character could have been built in Britain comfortably for £7 or £8 a ton. Norwegians are also paying enormous prices for Japanese steamers. Thus, for a new steamer just ready for sea—the Meikai £200,000 was paid, which is equivalent to £40 a ton on the deadweight. For another new Japanese steamer —tho Totei Maru— 5100 tons deadweight, £190,000 is being paid, equivalent to about £37 a ton. Another striking case is that of a steamer built in Japan for delivery in November at a contract price of about £100,000. She has been resold fcr £375,000, showing a profit to the owner of £275,000 and representing a price of £35 a ton. Prices such a.g these indicate, the fabulous profits which are being earned by neutrals.