THE BUTTER OUTPUT

Otago Witness, Issue 3327, 19 December 1917, Page 12

THE BUTTER OUTPUT

SUPPLIES FOR NEW ZEALAND.

DANGEIt OF SHORTAGE.

COMPLAINT BY PRODUCERS. (Fbom Oen Own Cobiiespondent.) WELLINGTON, December 14

Trouble is likely to occur in the near future about the supplies of butter for the local market. A maximum price of Is £d per lb is still fixed by the Board of Trade and the Government, so that in the n*«antimo the price may not be raised. Tho danger is that supplies may be witndrawn. The conditions on which the New Zealand output of butter for this season was .*o'd .to the Imperial Government were that there should be a definite export pri'e of 157 s per cwt —a trifle less than !■:■ 5d per lb—and also that the owners of the bult'-r sent from this country should receive 50 per cent, of the profit made by the Imperial authorities on the sale of the butter to the public in England or elsewhere. This percentage threatens to amount »o about 3d per lb, so that it will not !• i g pay the factories or the producers to sunply the local market at a price which will allow of butter being sold at Is >-"d vot<il. Tho suppliers of tho local market cla-m that they will be placed at a dual vantage of 2d per lb as compared with those who export Under these circumstances it is probable that there will be .10 fnctores willing to supply the local market un>»s at a higher price than which vney nr* at present allowed to charge, and there is said to bo a real danger of supp'jes of "butter for the New " Zealand market running short- unless something is dotie p.-on in order to make good to the suppliers of the'" local market the loss of profit they may be called upon to sustain. Only two things may bo done. The loss may be made up out of tho consolidated fund or an equilavent fund; may established. An equalisation fund would involve something in the nature of the re-imposi-tion of tho butter-fat levy. _ The House declared pretty definitely against both pro-

nosals during the session. The Cost of Living Committee discussed both schemes, and in the end recommended payment from the Consolidated Fund. This was opposed by the Government, especially by the Minister of Finance, who pointed out the enormous cost of such a scheme. The end was that the committee withdrew the recommendation without substituting • anything for it. It is just as certain that a recommendation by tho committee that equalisation funds - should be established for the regulation of the prices of batter and other locally produced articles of food Would havo been even more strenuously opposed by the House.

The Government has power to keep the price of butter down by exercising the power it still has of refusing to permit the export of butter unless the local price is kept down, but a regulation of this kind operates most iinfairly, and can scarcely be put into operation when every advantage must be taken of" the limited shipping facilities offering.