Kōrero: Farming in the economy

Butter idol

Butter idol

Under the regulations that operated during the First World War, all New Zealand’s exports of farm products were bought by Britain at fixed prices. When that arrangement finished in 1921, prices fell. In response, the government in association with the dairy industry set up the Dairy Board to coordinate marketing in the UK. This 1927 cartoon shows a dairy farmer about to give a new coat of paint to the monument of a dairy cow, presumably alluding to the golden calf idol of the Old Testament. The paint is from a bucket labelled ‘improved marketing methods’.

Te whakamahi i tēnei tūemi

Alexander Turnbull Library
Reference: A-313-1-013
Cartoon by Kenneth Alfred Evelyn Alexander

Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand, Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa, must be obtained before any re-use of this image.

Ngā whakaahua me ngā rauemi katoa o tēnei kōrero

Te tuhi tohutoro mō tēnei whārangi:

Robert Peden, 'Farming in the economy - Times of change, 1920 to 1950', Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, http://www.TeAra.govt.nz/mi/cartoon/17633/butter-idol (accessed 29 March 2024)

He kōrero nā Robert Peden, i tāngia i te 24 Nov 2008