PRICE OF BUTTER.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 17630, 21 May 1919, Page 5

PRICE OF BUTTER.

OBJECTION TO EQUALISATION SCHEME.

DEPUTATION TO MINISTERS.

(Feom OcbsOwn Correspondent.)

„ WELLINGTON, May 20 tuao iave tho butter proila± S is°L ZeaJ f ld he<m satisfied with Thff known M the equalisation echeme Itas was made as part^X with i° r ff l:>mf L tilo market supplied with butter. More than two veara Z t Ckred *»* h ° wo^alW u£ln« 1? exported from this country unless he -was assured that the local rS pn«, would not be aCedtoSLrita 8d to Is 5d per lb in bulk to tt't The butter producers had get their exportable surplus out of the *.? market, and they arranged Twth the Imperial Sutroliea TWi4 butter on P on sale of ST** , e London market should bo £-®d to make up to tho suppliers of the local market fo V what they had lost ih supplying the New Zealand a Jower price than Wasdbt£ able for butter exported. Bul+^ P p Ubo^/ epres< ? lting tho Dominion butter r^ m , wh , IC " II represents the ,? CrS ln dea^ra S s with tie Gov--I°®! D V and also butter nro+K ?i, ° ne ond of New Zealand to the Hon 1 ' •^ al n d S n , Sir James AUen and , j? , ~ - -D- S. Mac Donald to-day to ask tiiat th# cost of supplying cheap butter to the local market should be borne not y the dajrv farmers, but. by the general £~ity throug-h tho Consolidated 2 !^! Ho , n - D. H. Guthrie, in charge of the -mperial Supplies Department, being out of town, was unable to be present. all twT 6 ? w en Ilat he agreed with" of i b ? on about the important of the dairy f atm er to the countrTrim request made was that the cost of the equalisation fund should be bora© bv the Consolidated Fund and not by tho industry for +f, r r J e . oall< ? l ar] ght the proposal for tho equalisation fund had come in the m 5 r ance * rom industry. that the equalisation scheme had been forced upon them. Tho Prime Minister had said tLtX" woSd never allow the price of butter to iro beL°lh ls for looal market, or la 8d eqAtforSe *»*> ■** think 6^ tote equalisation scheme came from the industry. A scheme had beentrfed <£ iX the first occJbfthe protested, and the scheme was withdrawn. Afterwards the b<S pr£ dutKrs adopted tho idea. After that they must not blame the Government for the btmlen on their shoulders. The Government coald not be accused of imposing. this particular burden on the dairy farmer: ' It when^liA ß^? 8 thatthe time had come rwiti,- j Ur S^ n ? hould placed "on the Consolidated Fund Matter wold have to be considered by the Cahmet, and f, 0 o givo fie answer of the Cabinet. Nor would be give his X? ,°P miorl .. although it was ' quite bo I^ Eal^ge sted that he the decision of the Cabinet. He wished to make it clear that it was essential for the Government in war time-as it was now, in his opinion, durintr the time of reconstruction—to control the cost of living as far as it was able to do so. It was true that in keeping down the cost of commodities in common use they mignt have assisted the wealthy as well aa i J x ¥ >r ' but he could not see how that 3, be^ olded " " be that the wealthy had benefited, but the step had been taken to benefit the poor. It was not nis-understanding of the position that the butte? producers, as had been stated,-were market producers not, getting a free , The Hon. W. D. S. Mac Donald said thai) - be had not expected to meet this deputation again. He had thought that the whole matter was settled, as far as he was concerned. Oil this occasion he was in the nappy position that the business was not ins job. The whole business had been car-' ried on between the Imperial Supplies Department and the Butter Committee, and he had thought that the agreement 'made had ended the matter. He thought the question had now arrived at a stage at whicn it r.ever wosld have arrived if the original equalisation scheme had been left alone. Then the burden would have been spread over tha whole dairying . industry, and it would have been a small one; now tie whole burdsn had to be borne by the butter people. The Butter Committee had made an undertaking with Mr Guthrie, the Minister of Imperial Supplies, to see that the lccal market was supplied at .the price of Is 5d per lb when the two years' purchase agreemgat was being negotiated. It was on this condition that the two years' sale was made, and there was complete! agreement between the Butter Committee and the Imperial Supplies Department. Now ; t was asked that an amount equal to fcs 6d per cwt on butter produced should bo paid out of the Consolidated Fund. That question would have to be dealt-with in Cabinet. A large number of the butter people thought that they had been unfairly, dealt with, when the truth was that butter was tho only product in the country which, after the'local maxliet had been supplied, was sold in Britain in a free market at tha highest price available in Britain. A Voice: "We don't get it. Mr Mac Donald said that the producers might not get tho same price for butter as was chargcd retail in Britain for butter sold by the ounce. A Yoice: The price of butter in Britainwas 256s a cwt. We did not get that. Mr Mac Donald said that a lot of charges had 'to be borne by the product before it/ could realise that price. , A Voice: Not at all; we could land it at home for a very small amount.'

1 Mr Mao Donald said that the price of beef, mutton, and lamb were all fixed. Representatives of the meat industry had said that they should be getting about Is 6d a pound for their meat, but the price' had stood the same since 1916. The wool dip had been sold at a fixed price, and thero was no question that the prioe for the wool would have been higher if there had been, an open market. But the sale of these products to the Imperial Government might' not prove to be a bad bargain. Already the Imperial' Government was cancelling" contracts with neutral countries. They were not prepared to take the products at the prices. Xf wo could hold our present prices until 1920 we should do well, because after that there might be a very great difference. Mention had been made about what the Government was doing in regard to. wheat. There was a great deal of difference between the case of wheat and of butter, because wo had to import wheat. The millers had to pay 8d a bushel more for wheat than they paid last year, and last year they had bden allowed prices -which allowed them only a small profit. Its was necessary to import flour or five "million bushels of wheat-from Australia, and" as it could not be imported for less than. 6s 6d a bushel it was not' fair to expect our own growers to sell for less than this price. He wished to say,' regarding the butter people and about other people, that 95 per cent of the people in the country had played the gam© in the war period. No Government could have carried on without- their help. He would bo pleased to givo this matter consideration when it was before the Cabinet, but the butter people must' \ not be under the impression that they had been singled out. Ho thought it was unfortunate that the first equalisation schema ! had been done away with. If it .had been ' retained and extended to cover glaxo, cheese, and all other milk products as well as butter— Voices: "Hear! hear!" Other voices:; * And wool and meat. ' Mr Mac Don aid said that if the-schema - had been extended to cover all milk products there would not now bo such a heavy, burden on the butter producers. • . Mr Morton explained again that the butter producers had never adopted the equalisation scheme under compulsion. It ' had been forced upon them by the declared : policy of the Prime Minister that the local price of butter must not be advanced above Is 5d wholesale.