BUTTER FROM RUSSIA

Taranaki Daily News, 26 August 1931, Page 16

BUTTER FROM RUSSIA

APPALLING CONDITIONS. METHODS OF MANUFACTURE. London, July 16. In spite of the energy they put into their export campaign, the Soviet Government appear to be very simple and unsuspecting in some of their methods. This is demonstrated by the publication of a report in the newspaper Pravda, which has been republished in the Morning Post. The report indicates under what appalling conditions some of the butter is manufactured. The disclosures so frankly made are likely to further retard the consumption of Soviet butter in this country. The report is made by an official eommission sent to inspect the great butter factory-of Molochnoe, in the Vologda district, and its publication is intended to encourage those responsible for the management of the factory to improve the conditions prevailing there. The factory is under the control of “Maslotrest” (Butter Trust), the body responsible for butter intended for export. The dairy is described as one of the greatest undertakings in the industry, having 2000 head of cattle and a permanent and temporary staff numbering 1000. The’cows, the report states, are kept on “starvation rations"; the sheds are without roofs; the cows are allowed to stand knee-deep in filth, and when the sheds are cleaned out this filth is merely placed in heaps outside the doors; udders are washed only on rare occasions; there are no towels, soap, or overalls for the workers; healthy and sick animals are herded together. There is no sanitary supervision, it is also stated, and despite the size of the herd, no qualified veterinary surgeon is employed on •the premises. Conditions under which the butter is produced are described as appalling, being so bad that, on occasions, the dairy produce is spoiled and has to be thrown away. Butter is transported in the same vans as are used for carrying mineral oils, and, in consequence, the butter frequently has an unpleasant smell. Other details, concerning which dissatisfaction is expressed, appear in the article, which fills nearly half a page of the newspaper. Two and three columns a day are being devoted by the Morning Post to the campaign against Soviet goods. Letters from leading firms sent to the Trade Defence Union, are quoted. These show that the tendency to boycott Soviet produce, is growing day by day. Many leading linns refuse to sell Soviet produce. Some of these make an exception of caviare, which cannot be obtained in any country but Russia. A large number of stores are displaying notices announcing that they do not sell Russian produce. The campaign is being carried into the provinces.

The spirit in which British traders are fighting Bolshevist tyranny over the Russian people and their economic war against Great Britain and the world, is remarkably illustrated by the action of a group of London laundries, says the Morning Post. These firms opened on Saturday in seventy depots, extending throughout Central London and the suburbs, an exhibition of slave-made soap, which they disdain to use in spite of its low cost. The window of each of the depots is piled high with Soviet soap, and emblazoned with the warning: “Russian Soap Menace.’’ An explanatory card shows that this soap is made by conscript labour, and that it is being dumped into the country and sold at £l5 a ton less than British soap of the same kind. The inscription continues thus: “Rather than deprive. a British soap worker of his job, we guarantee that all the soap used jn this laundry is entirely British. Be British! Buy British!" The exhibition is continuing for a week.