Australians Have “Protection” But No Butter or Margarine

IN this age of natter-and-do-nothing it cannot be said that we have not been warned about every possible calamity that could hit us. More words have been spilled in dire newspaper forebodings in the last five years than our grandfathers indulged in in half a century.

To see most of these predictions coming true would be of great academic interest to the student of human nature, were it not that the student of human nature, like everyone else, has got to eat and that it is becoming increasingly evident that eating in the pretty near future is going to be a number one problem.

One thing the student of human nature has learned, is that in a democracy the people cannot be led by newspaper articles; only economic pressure is likely to turn them from the easy path that they are determined to follow.

The food shortages of this Australian winter have been a shock to the Australian consumer but he is still not likely to do anything about it—for the present The reasons for the food shortages in a country traditionally a food producer are not far to seek.

The Primary one is that the economy of Australia is orientated to the wool in-

dustry. The sheep farmer finds it more profitable to grow wool than sell his stock for meat. He does not plant wheat and other grain because it is easier to run sheep. Wheat and other grain, being scarce and dear, makes the feeding of poultry, pigs and other live stock so ex pensive as to be uneconomic, Farmers who cannot get labour struggle a certain distance and then give up, fol lowing their former workers into the sfe condary industries where there is a 40 hour week and an assured income, The ’ consumer suddenly finds that he cannot buy milk or butter or meat or po tatoes or onions. He does not do much about it. If he lives in the city—as over 50 per cent, of Australians do—indeed, he cannot do much. He sits down and puts the blame on “Them.”

There are, of course, many things that could be done but it is unlikely that they will be dope, There is, for example, the question of butter—virtually unobtainable in New South Wales at the present time. Much of the pressure on butter could be relieved if, some years back, this situation had been prepared for by the encouragement of the margarine industry.

The price of butter in Australia is fixed

at 2/2 per pound. This does not pay for the cost of production so the Common wealth Government subsidises it—cost of butter subsidy in 1950 amounted to about £l5 million.

Australians have been so educated to the superiority of butter over margarine that they will not buy the latter product if they can get butter at a comparable price. Therefore the selling price of margarine in Australia is about 1/10 per pound. This too, is probably unprofitable to the manufacturer and does not give him the margin of profit that would en courage him to manufacture more. So, at present, one cannot buy margarine either.

If butter were selling at its true price it probably would be something between 3 and 4/- per pound. The price of margarine could therefore rise substantially also, and still be competitive.

It could be competitive and it could re lieve the demand on butter, but it will do neither while the Australian States cling to the archaic laws that restrict the manu facture of margarine in order to “protect the dairying industry.”

This law may have had some worth in the pre-war depression days. It has no merit now when the world market is starved for edible fats and Australia is so tied to its wool economy that its popula tion is likely to join the other hungry millions of the world.

The manufacture of margarine is re stricted in all Australian States and al though the country has taken in hundreds of thousands of migrants with no anti margarine complexes in the last few years, there is no more margarine being manu factured now than prior to 1939.

Experts are agreed that margarine made from vegetable oils can be as good a food as butter. Experts are also agreed that Australia’s butter production, under exist ing conditions, will increasingly fail to meet demand.

It is unlikely, with the price of butter pegged and the margarine price tied to it that Australian manufacturers of margarine will throw themselves en thusiastically into the job of giving Aus tralians enough to eat, even if restrictions were lifted.

But a solution could be found in the im portation of margarine from Fiji during Australia’s lean butter months. This would also help balance Fiji’s adverse trade with the Commonwealth.

It is unlikely, however, that such a commonsense and revolutionary step will be taken. In Australia it is still believed that it is better to have no butter (or potatoes or onions) at a fixed price, than allow them to find their own price levels on an open market. And that it is better to protect the sacred short working week than to let outside competition force workers into a little more effort.

Australians have yet to learn that you cannot take more out of a pint pot than you put into it.