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Australian Butter Sales.
FEDERAL CONTROL DEFENDED.
Criticism in Sydney of the Federal Go
vernment's control of the sale of Austra
lian butter abroad through the butter pool,
contained in an article published in 'The
Age,' was the subject of comment yes
terday by the Minister of Customs, Mr.
Greene. In the couree of a statement or.
the matter Mr. Greene said that the cor
rect ugures ior tne sale to tne imperial
Government were as follow:— The total
exported, 30/284 tons 4 cwt., of which th?
money value amounted to £4,554,072 14/(1,
and the amount received from the Im
perial Government by way of a bonu
brought the price of this butter from 151/
per cwt. up to 170/ per cwt. The total
amount received in money from the Im
perial Government ill this regard was
£375,399 16/, ^so that the .total sum re
ceived from the Imperial Governmeut on
behalf of the surplus Australian butter
for the season ended 30th June, 191S.
amounted to £5,159,472 10/0. The sale
being ou an f.o.b. basis, the matter ot
freight, marine insurance, &c., was the care
of the Imperial Government. At tlie time
this contract was made with the Imperial
Government the producers of Australia
would willingly have sold the whole of
ineir surplus butter if an offer had been
made of 1/ per lb.
What influenced the producers of Aus
tralia, through the Federal Butter Com
mittee, to sell their produce to the Im
perial Government at the low price tliev
did was, firstly, that the Imperial Govern
ment wanted the butter for the troops in
the trenches, and for the people of Great
Britain; secondly, that we had no ships
with refrigerator space to carry our pro
duce to London, and had it not been for
the Imperial Government making the very
complete arrangements ther did in regard
to shipping our butter would still be lying
in cool stores on these shores. Mr. Greene ?
added that he ventured to say that had
the .Federal Butter Committee not taken
the action it did the butter-producing
industry of Australia would have been
practically ruined to-day. The position
was, however, that the Commonwealth Go
vernment made arrangements with the
Commonweatlh Bank, and the producers
weje paid their moneys from week to week
in the usual way, just as though the butter
were being exported regularly to London
He contended that through the Federal
Butter Committee having control during
the p-ist years of uncertainty the pro
ducers had benefited to- the extent o'
nearly three-nuartem nf * Tnillmn .tel;,. -
which would otherwise have gone into the
pockets of private individuals.
At first sight the fact that Denroaik,
Ireland and Canada got such big prices
for their butter seemed to indicate that
Austialia should have got more, but thi«
was not the case. Denmark wai a week's
sajl to the homeland; Australia was 14,000
miles away, and the consequent d-'fference
in freight, insurance, ic., would go a long'
way towards putting our price on their
parity. The point was that the Imperial
Government had to make the best con
tracts it possibly could with countries like
Australia, who were so far away frow
the home markets. But when the end ol
the Bcason came, and the Imperial Govern
ment final'sed its accounts and found that
it had made a profit on the resale of the
surplus Australian butters in the United
Kingdom, it paid the Australian producer/
50 per cent, of this profit. Owing to the
very complete records kept by the Federal
Butter Committee of Australia it wag pos
sible to pay this money out to ihe whole
of the butter factories of Australia on an
equitable basis according to their produc
tion—and this had been done. With the
exception of approximately £9000 tbi
whole of this, huge amount had been paid
out and actuallv received in a great num
ber of instances by the men who sup
plied the_ milk to the factories. There
still remained an amount of about £14,0CK),
which was the surplus remaining ont of
the moneys retained by the Committee to
pay insnrance, storage. Ac., here, and this,
together with the balance of £9000, would
be distributed to the butter factories of
Australia within a very short time. These
moneys, together with any other prollts
received from London, would never have
gone into the pockets of the producers had
it not been for the magnificent organisa
tion and complete control exercised by the
Commonwealth Government.
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