THE PRICE OF BUTTER.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LX, Issue 18387, 1 May 1923, Page 5

THE PRICE OF BUTTER.

Sir,—"J.A.L.," in bis litter on the growth of Socialism, assumes that. he. has a perfect right to demand that butter should be sold in New'/ Zealand,: where wages are high, at the same price as it is in England, where wages are low, quite regardless of the cost of production, and at the same price in our winter, when. it is scarce and costly, that it is in the English summer, when. it is most' plentiful and there is a glut. What a howl there would be if the New Zealand unionists were asked to work for the same wages as the English sweated labourers, and to sell his production at the pame prices as those ruling, in England. /The talk about'' a butter ring is all bunkum. If any man, or body of men, think the price too high, there is nothing whatever to prevent them from having land, buying cows, and making their own. They Would soon find out that they , could not earn union wages by selling butter at Is 6d per lb. A practical and prominent butter manufacturer 'recently offered to bet £100 that butter, could... not be produced, under union conditions and rates of pay, for 2s 6d per lb, The dairyman is not getting a fair . deal. He is asking why ho. should bo expected to give 70: hours work . per week in exchange for the 44 worked by . the city Socialist. Live and Let Live.