THE PRICE OF BUTTER

Otago Daily Times, Issue 18049, 24 September 1920, Page 2

THE PRICE OF BUTTER

A DAIRY FARMER'S POINT OF

VIEW. BY FHKD Waitk. As tlio Daily Times is the newspaper of most (Slufjo dairy farmers, may }>e allowed, ple.'ise, for ;i sl;ifoment from iin? dairy farmer's point of view? .Mutter deserves the important; place it has secured in tho 'dietary of tho people, tiood broad arid butter are more plentiful, and cheaper in New Zealand than in any "(■her part of the world. The wonderful Now Zealand Division was composed of men who from their youth up lui-d been Mtflicient.lv nourished. Good meat, good bread anci butter, plenty of fresh air made thoin tho men they were. Milk as a food for infants, butter <is a food for grown-ups e;:n never be displaced by any concoction of tlio chemist's. German and Austrian scientists, mi-dor the great stress of war necessity, could not do it, and hun<lre<is of tnousunds of Austrian children are dying to-day because deprived of milk and the liie-givmg butter-fat. 1 we hear a great cry against an increase in the pricc of butter ill New Zealand. This cry, needless to say, conies from people who are not producing butter-fat. We do not hear it contended that dairy farmers are milking great profits—but wo do hear that consumers cannot afford to pay tlio price. Now, why should this apply only If) butter? "We are continually being told that the town and the country are inter-dependent, that wo mutually assist each other. We in the country do not seek to raise the issue, it is being raised at present by townspeople over the price of butter! aro a J so told by people who do not practise what they preach that the man who should be considered is the producer. J his man .above all othors should receive the product of his toil. Now t the countryman in New Zealand is essentially the producer; the townsman is the manufacturer and distributor. There are more men living on their wits in tho cities than there are in the country. One may walk miles in the country and never see a brass plate; in the country all able-bodied men work. Vet it is now suggested that the man who, bv sheer hard work, has butter-fat to sell should sell it at a specially low price to the man in the city—the man who is not a producer! Now, do lawvers charge the dairy farmer a special low' rate when ,the mortgage is being adjusted? When some absolutely essential building; is required on the farm, will any carpenters from town c.o tne work at a lower price? On the contrary the carpenter will want extra money for a country job! COST OF PRODUCING BOTTER-FAT. The point is: Is an exorbitant price being charged ? Butter is not the only article that has advanced m price. It is not necessary here to enumerate the items; housekeepers who pay the bills know them well enough. Has the price of butter advanced higher in comparison with tea, sugar, kerosene, and matches? ' Have any of the cities really considered the cost of keeping and milking a cow? l< or one must consider many things before one can say that more than a. fair profit is being made from butter-fat. Has anyone s*one into the figures? Jake the following items (the list does not pretend to be original or complete)-— Labour.—One man to 20 cows. Is this man's labour worth £3 a week? He is rec > ll 'l cd ■ t ? + wor t, r fr ° r " 4in the morning till these n /,n Would any townspeople work these hours for any wages? At least after h °? ra they would want over-J-ft' ie farme ?" and his wife and 0 der children are asked to work twice an eight-hour day, and produce an article f , at ]os , s t . han 3s a pound, will be sold at a loss during the season 1820Feed.—Feed of every description. It takes about £120 to £140 worth of land to keep a cow. To get good grass to fn r °rhe°davf '" v , th , e by to give cheap grain butter to the towns-it is now n™ Sary v, j manure heavier; and manure is trfh and no n bctter - Then the wages of the man who works the team (that cultivates the hay, turnips, and oats) irLwft "? The rent or interest at 6£ per cent, on the monev yv j n : tho !«=al authority rates and land taxes must be cai-efully. considered. Implements for working tho soil to produce winter feed are enormously ?n----<ors,?s sales will show. There are losses from deaths by accidents and disease These losses must be taken into account And interest must l,e allowed on the tetnl value of the herd, say at 8 per cent. wh"ch IS ® tock will charge anyone 1° ? wc them money! 1m- 1 erf ' n P' cee P must be inched the interest and depreciation on the price of a pedigree bull of a'milking strain for such an animal one must pay anything from 30 to 100 guineas to-day. A scrub bull at lQg-s is the most expensive °V onl y a milUonaireand so far dairy farmers have not achieved this distinction can afford to keep a cheap Buildings .-The interest■ on money invested m buildings, maintenance and deK3°for. InSUraJICM musfc also be Sundnes.—Covers. for cows, upkeep of water supply, renewal of leg ropes ba<* lopes, .and other cordage, posts, ' wire staples, tools, etc., for the upkeep r,ewal of fences—all these items moist be carefully considered and allowed for Everv dairying and. farming has doublS years'" 0 Uc dann £ the last six So that if anyone sets out to find out ninnh t b° eS °°t u to koer \. a cow - is J arefuJl -v, w «'?bed. Apart from 1 ie greatly increased costs of production, -he number of hours a dairy farmer must work, his of necessity being tied to his cow hails.- makes the task of producing buttonone of tho most exacting in New Zealand. Would any set of townspeople cheerfully "T 1 ;, u Y T• d 'F " >vit,, ? ut me f \ t the dairy farmer is asked to— or _ ! I would that some of our critics had to pull frosty tumins through the winter-when we are .supposed to be ha\ nvr. a well-earned rest. leaving the steel: tc care for themselves or to round up the cows in the grey dnwn of a dirty, wet morning, chilled to tho bone, tie ■ Vard n son of mud. Yet. country folk-men and t-rpnen. too—are expected to do this. suffer n 1 the discomforts, e-'ve th« townsooople eheap butter, and smile, smite, smile! DISADVANTAGES OF LIVING IX TI-IF COUNTRY. This is a point not often stressed. But we country people feel very keenly about it. Ihere is a continual stream of people from the country to the town. Country life is much healthier—even Town magistrates Tealise that when they order goodfarnothings into the country—but popple prefer tho town. The other day a townsman, in the -valour of his ignorance, sought to convince mc that there was a good thing in cow-keeping. Ho does all his dai™ farming on the atoslyn tram! He really could not tell the difference between a bullring and a cowcatcher; but he is of the opinion that butter should not be ■ more than 2s 6d. He does not know • how he arrives at 2s 6d. It seems a nice round figure. After our discussion he said: "Well, I cooldn-'t live in this hole for £50 a week!" But we've got to, if We are to keep on dairying. We cannot live in tho city and enjoy the many advantages of city life. In 'many ways we suffer. Take education. Our country schools are smaller, do not attract the !>est teachers —though there are 9ome notable exceptions. Our children have to ride or walk three, four, and fivo miles, often on muddy tracks, through pouring rain. Many clays' schooling aro lost through bad weather To obtain a first-class education one must live in or noar a town. Wo'have a greater dtffioafty in obtaining suppbes than townspeople have. And ic the cost of everything is added railway freights. The oonntry storekeeper has to get his profit on the price of the goods. plus freight, and so in tho country all articles wo .ouy are dearer than the same articles in town. Then some things wo cannot get at alL_ TaTce sweets. For 'nonths it ha_! been impossible to get sweets ,i.ny sort in most of the conntrv stores. we are tetter without them, hut that is not the point. Townspeople can proour" them if they want to; we can't. TVn we are cirt off from the intellectual life of the city. should the mtellectaal life of Ota fro stop at Caversham and Oreon Island? Tlie fact, remains that it does. Tectures by eminent scientists and educationists. reoitnls a.nd concerts bv celebrated musicians and vocalists—all these ato denied tho people who Irro in the owmlxv. True, we can commune with Naferro appreciate i.ho beauty of the simr>lo life around us. bnt rren nnd women—all cennrtry n«?n nnd wrnnpn—crave for the ncqniivmpTit of knowledge and nnderstmdinir. Tf Otsun is tr> pvo?.tcfs. t.V ; e intenrotna.l life of f>.o ]>ro\i'iee must nnt. crass smnen-here in the Mfghlxjurhood of Green Island

Much space might be taken up in a recital of the disadvantages of living in the country. But the situation is obvious to people of understanding. What I wish to stress is Unit not only have all our farming necessities risen enormously in price, but wo hnvo to labour longer hours than townsfolk, and we are denied many of the opportunities of education and self-improvement— not to mention entertainment and amusement. For tho nvm on tho fa.rin there is no week-end at Broad Bay, no evening at, the pictures, 110 Saturday afternoon at the Caledoniau Ground. As our friend Mr Dennis sings: "We ore signed and sealed to cow!" A CHALLENGE. \Vill anyone discuss tlio question of tho value of a pound of butter-fat worked out on the cost of production? Those who say that 03 a pound is too dear should bo prepared to show how it can be produced cheaper, and .should give detailed figures— figures based on tho prices of to-day. The workers of Italy are at present seizing the factories, and presumably will endeavour to work them for the benefit of fill. INo doubt some of our New Zealand rcdraggcrs would like to have the same opportunity here. They might successfully manage a boot factory, or even a newspaper. It is very doubtful if even they would be able to reduce costs. But how would they tackle the butter-fat problem? Would they work a six or eight-hour day, and refuse overtime. If they got union wages for their work for 14 hours a day butter would reach 10s a pound. If they stuck to their eighthour day, butter would perhaps bo as low as 5s per pound the first year, and the next year, though not working tile long hours and so developing the milk production, the cows would likely give little milk at all, and butter would be dearer than ever. 15uf. this point is not worth labouring, for there are no people in the organised labour world of to-day who would undertake the long hours, the hard work', the discomforts and disadvantages of the dairv tarnier. Butter at 3s per pound would be the cheapest and best in tne world to-day. This system of selling at one price to Great Lritain, and at a reduced price to local consumers, is not honest. For the difference ls ,made up from the Consolidated Fund, to which we all must contribute by way of taxation. So if a person pays 2s 6d over the counter for butter, and the Government P a y® ou t 6d from the State finances it really means that directly' and indirectly the people of New Zealand are paying 3s per pound for their butter. Would it not be more in keeping with honesty to face the tacts pay the 3s straight out. and be thankful that one is getting good butter at a less price than anyone else in the world? It is saie to say that we as a people are better off to-day than anyone else in tho whole wide world, for no one is going hungry, no one is poorly clothed. Honest work is the cure for most of our troubles. The dairy farmer sets" an example to the people of New Zealand, even to those who at present are living in the town.