THE RISE IN BUTTER

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXX, Issue 21596, 14 September 1933, Page 8

THE RISE IN BUTTER

It is an ironic circumstance, in view of the values ruling only a few years ago, that a rise in the London price of butter to 100s a hundredweight should be a cause of satisfaction, even of moderate rejoicing. The reason for it can be found in the figures showing what the dairy farmer has had to endure for nearly a yea? now. The promise of another phenomenal yield of dairy produce, coupled with the promise of a better price level should spread an invigorating influence over a country long in the grip of depression. The present movement should be especially valuable because of the encouragement it must bring to those who have hitherto looked in vain for a lightening of the cloud that hung over them. The actual and visible fact of the depression was intensified by the absence of any sign to hint the return of better things. The upward movement in butter prices provides that sign. If it is accepted in the right spirit, and not made the basis of extravagant expectations, it should be of inestimable benefit. The improvement in the market is due to easily discernible causes. The stock position has improved, and the outlook for future supplies indicates an easing of that competitive pressure on the British market which has forced down prices, in past months, to levels not experienced in a lifetime. The hot, dry northern summer experienced on the Continent and the British Isles duced output. The Australian yield has fallen away through unfavourable conditions, though good rains have now come to ease the situation in several Stated. The bettor prospects for wool and wheat can be

trusted to turn away again numbers of those who resorted to dairying because prospects for other kinds of primary produce were worse than for butter and cheese. These circumstances make a sound and substantial foundation for the rise in prices. The altered situation should lessen the demand for quantitative regula r tion which has' been a major anxiety to all who viewed the situation clearly. Even if the demand persists —as it may, since there seems almost a superstitious belief in the magic propertied of quotas—it can be resisted with an even more powerful show of reason than it could before the rise in butter prices began. The need for quotas should be much less.