BUTTER PROBLEM.

Wairarapa Age, 8 April 1933, Page 5

BUTTER PROBLEM.

GOVERNMENT INTERVENTION LIKELY. POSITION VIEWED WITH SOME ALARM. DAIRY BOARD TO MEET NEXT THURSDAY. WELLINGTON, April 7. Up to the present the Government has not publicly expressed any opinion as to whether there should be a restriction of the quantity of butter exported from New Zealand to Great Britain, but there is reason to believe that the silence may be broken within the next few days. It is known that the Government views with alarm 'the serious fall in the price of butter during the last few ’weeks, and the Prime Minister (the Rt. Hon. G. W. Forbes) has already referred to the possibility of the consequent shrinkage in revenue forcing the Government to effec# further economies. So far the Government has refrained from entering into the controversy, preferring to leave any decision on the quota issue to the producers themselves, but it is understood that the opinion is held in Government circles that the position has become so serious that it will be necessary to intervene. The opinion is that some form of restriction cannot be avoided. The New Zealand Dairy Produce Board will meet in Wellington next Thursday to consider the position. It had not been intended to hold a meeting until April 28, following the return of the board’s representatives from Australia, but it is understood that several points have arisen which require the decision of the board before the delegates leave for Australia.— (P.A.) - FOREIGN IMPORTS. REQUEST FOR RESTRICTION. LONDON, April 6. Australia and New Zealand butter importers have appointed a deputation to the Minister of Agriculture (Major Elliott) to ask for a restriction on foreign supplies of butter. Meanwhile, it is estimated that the arrivals of Danish and other Continental butters in the North of England are now 50,000 boxes a week in excess of the figures for 1932, seriously affecting the demand for the Dominion article. CANTERBURY FACTORIES. IN FAVOUR OF RESTRICTION. CHRISTCHURCH, April 7. The following resolution was passed at a meeting of Canterbury butter factories held in Christchurch: —*‘ This meeting of Canterbury butter factories urges upon the Dairy Produce Control Board and the Government immediate consideration of the disastrous position regarding butter prices. This Association favours restriction and be lieves that immediate action is necessary in the interests of producers. This association is also of the opinion that the views of the Control Board as opposed to restriction and a restoration of the price level do not represent the viewpoint the industry as a whole or the suppliers in particular.”— (PA.) •