BUTTER STOCKS

Southland Times, Issue 18620, 19 August 1919, Page 5

BUTTER STOCKS

A STEADY DEPLETION.

“WORSE BEFORE IT IS BETTER.”

“I am afraid it will be worse before it is better/’ said the manager of a local daily factory yesterday in reference to the butter shortage. He went on to say that with the beginning of the milking season next month an improvement might bo expected, but before then he expected the scarcity to become even more acute. The manager mentioned returns showing that, on August 4, there were only 10,440 boxes of butter in the Dominion stores. The supplies had steadily decreased and he gave the following figures as showing the decline in the number of boxes held:Boxes. July 7 45,140 July 14 32,299 July 28 21,307 July 31 15,167 August 4 10,440 Of the stock held at the beginning of August only 703 boxes were held in the South Island, there being 618 at Dunedin and 85 at Lyttelton. In the informant’s opinion a low estimate of the withdrawals from store under the present conditions would be 5000 boxes per week. On this basis there would be now no reserve unless the stocks in the north had been unexpectedly augmented. On the other hand, he saw no reason why the scarcity should not be tided over with nothing more than slight inconvenience tq_ the consumers. “I have applied rationing in my own family,” he declared cheerfully. “If we have to live without butter for a few days should the worst come to the worst, there should be no grumbling from the public, who, I think, fully understand the position.”