BUTTER PRICE RAISED.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LIX, Issue 18062, 10 April 1922, Page 6

BUTTER PRICE RAISED.

INCREASE TO 1s 6d RETAIL. DISPUTE OVER LOCAL RATES OPOTIKI COMPANY'S CASE. Ar. announcement is made by the New Zealand Cooperative Dairy Company today that the retail price of its first-grade butter is Is 6d per ib. This is an increase of 2d on the previous quotation, the continuation of which, in spite of the advance on the London market, has been the cause of so much discussion. The statement bv Mr. W. Goodfellow implying that "merchant distributors" are responsible for the present situation in tho local butter market was discussed on Saturday by Mr. Hugh Aickin, local agent for the Opotiki Dairy .Association. Mr. Aickin said tlwt when Mr. Goodfellov. stated that his company's losses were almust entirely due to the methods of merchant distributors, he was either surprisingly ignorant of the channels through which his butter was being distributed in Auckland or else he sought to cloud the issue. His declaration that the price of his company's buttoi would not bo advanced until tho trade was captured from those merchants would be most amusing were it not for the tragic cost to his suppliers. It was inconceivable that Mr. Goodfellow was not aware that his company was supplying the only merchant distributors operating in Auckland at a price euabiing them to compete successfully with his depot and at his own cut prices. This, he said, was what Mr. Goodfellow described as "giving the merchants the medicine they appreciate." Mr. Aickin suggested that Mr. Goodfellow's statements were merely designed to cloak his desire to drive a sister cooperative dairy association, in the Opotiki Association, ofT the market, and he observed that if the declaration that the price of the New Zealand Co-operative Dairy Company's butter would not be increased Mntil this was accomplished, the pooplo of Auckland would be assured of a supply of cheap butter for some time to come. It had been denied by Mr. Goodfello.v that his company an as experiencing considerable losses through cutting prices on tho local market, said Mr. Aickin, but doubtless, dairy farmers "would appreciate tho fact that it would* be impossible to engage in a "rate war" without incurring losses. The point made by Mr. Aickin was that butter worth at least from ls 6Jd to ls 7d a lb. in London was being sold here at from ls to ls 2d a lb., with tho objec#, ho stated, of capturing tho trade done in Auckland by the Opotiki Dairy Association. The chairman of directors of tho Opotiki Dairy Association, Mr. H. R. Hogg, who arrived in Auckland on Saturday, stated that his company had received a letter from the South Auckland Dairy .Association, protesting against its agent, Mr. Hugh Aickin, publishing misleading statements- Mr. Hogg said his company had replied thanking the South Auckland Association for taking up the matter of price-cutting, and expressing the hope that it would not be allowed to rest until it had been cleared up to the satisfaction of the farmers. "We have also asked," said Mr. Ilogg, "if the association h3s made any protest against the action of the New Zealand Co-operative Dairy Company in cutting the price of butter." Continuing, Mr. Hogg said meetings of farmers throughout the Waikato were being arranged, and the South Auckland Association had been asked to co-operate in placing the facts before the producers. He scouted the idea that his company's Auckland agents had done anything to prejudice farmers' interests. Mr. Aickin had identified himself with the producers to such good purpose that they had benefited to the extent of thousands of poundsProof of this was to be found in tne fact that Opotiki butter was now realising in Auckland 2d a lb. more than was being received by the New* Zealand Co-operative Dairy Company. Mr. Hogg expressed the hope that the present tronble, with its accompanying loss to a section of the butter producers in the province, would soon bo at an end.

LONDON" QUOTATIONS. AN EASIER TENDENCY. Australian and N.Z. Cable Association. (Reed. 5.5 p.m.) LONDON, April 8. The butter market is easier. Finest New Zealand is quoted at 180s to 188s, and exceptionally fino at 190s. Australian finest is quoted at 170s to 1765, and Danish at 196s to 198s.