THE PRICE OF BUTTER

Southland Times, Issue 16785, 13 July 1911, Page 6

THE PRICE OF BUTTER

There is something radically wrong ■when, almost before factories have closed down for the season, New Zealanders are faced with a butter famine, says the “Stratford Post.” All over the dominion there is an alleged shortage. and prices have gone up in some centres to a figure beyond the purchasing power of many people. The exports of butter and cheese have been on the Increase for a number of years, and while people in Britain and elsewhere outside the dominion have reaped a direct benefit both as regards the price and quality of these dairy products, the Xew Zealand consumer has had to pay what some contend is more the full market value. _ Thus, -while dominion butter, according to the latest quotations, is selling at IOSs per cwt in Kng'.and—-or less than Is per jb—right on the spot where this article is nreduced people are asked from Is 2d iip to Is Gd per lb, with the prospect of an increase before the new season opens. ft is all very well to be able to show that we exported £1,(139,380 wortli of butter in 1909—an increase of £409.198 over 190S—but when people are deprived of the free use of this necessary article because of Us prohibitory price, then it is surely time to draw the line. Tire best of New Zealand meat has been leaving these shores for years, and now the export limit' in butter is being strained, or some person or persons have resorted to that most undesirable practice of establishing a corner. “There was a time in the history of Kew Zealand," the “Post” adds, “when circumstances forced the price of butter —and salt butter at that—up to as much as Is per it), but the conditions are altogether different now, and we tail to see why the people of this great butter-producing country should be called upon to pay an unreasonable price for the commodity, and it certainly does appear unreasonable to want several pence more per lb at the factory door than is obtainable over the counter in Bn English butter-seller's shop.”