THE GLOBE. TUESDAY, JUNE 21, 1881. OLEO-MARGARINE.

Globe, Volume XXIII, Issue 2252, 21 June 1881, Page 2

THE GLOBE. TUESDAY, JUNE 21, 1881. OLEO-MARGARINE.

The prospects of oar agricultural interest, and, indeed, all our interests, have been wonderfully brightened by the successful introduction of the process of freezing as applied to meat and dairy produce in transitu to England. Our markets have been illimitably widened, and all those centres of population which depend on extraneous aid for their meat supply have been opened to ns, while the disadvantage under which we have hitherto laboured of being so far removed from those centres has been reduced to a minimum. But after all, the market on which the agriculturist of New Zealand will keep the most anxious eye will always be the English. Any circumstance that affects that market will be watched with the keenest interest, and any information serving to show the fluctuation of prices there will be considered valuable. As it is trusted that before very long a considerable trade in butter between this country and England may bo kept up, it may be well to notice a very interesting debate in the House of Commons, the report of which was received by the last mail. The debate in question was the result of a motion brought forward by Sir H. Maxwell, to the effect that the substance known as oleomargarine or any other spurious form of batter should not be allowed to bo sold under a false name as long as it was harmless; and, in case of its being hurtful or dangerous to public health, its sale should bo altogether prohibited. There was no attempt on the part of any of the speakers to prove that good oleomargarine was at all hurtful ; in fact it was acknowledged to be a valuable addition to the food supply of a nation. In reply to an application of the Health Department of New York City, Professor Chandler has reported that oleo-margarine, if properly made, is quite as valuable as butttor from the cow; that the material is fresh suet, and that the processes of manufacture are harmless, and are conducted with great cleanliness. Mr. Pell in the House stated that he bad visited a manufactory in America, that everything was quite open to inspection, and that the best compound consisted of 45 per cent, of cream and 55 per cent, of animal fat. But on the other hand, the ease with which the substance is adulterated would seem almost fatal to any comfort in nsing it. Under the conditions in which it is now sold in England there can bo no guarantee as to the purity of the sources from which the fat used is obtained. The substance is smuggled in, generally mixed with ordinary butter, and of course there is no recognised brand which the public can look to as securing it to a certain extent from danger. The evil, moreover, has attained large dimensions. In America there are at present thirteen establishments for the manufacture of the substance, and the export just now of professed oleo-margar-ine is half the value of the butter exported. In nine months of the year ISSO, nearly 1,500,0001 b wore imported from America into Glasgow. New York alone has sent 12,000,0001 b of oleo-margarine to Holland, and much of that, no doubt, came back to England mixed with real butter. And it is almost impossible to detect the mixture, at least no ordinary chemists

could do so, although experts might find it out from the flavour and the taste-Oleo-margarine can be sold wholesale in. England at sid a pound, leaving a good profit to the merchant, and yet the mixture of it with butter sells readily at Is a pound. As pointed out by Sir H. Maxwell, the public wore defrauded by such a transaction, and it was the evident duty of the Government to protect it. The Sale of Food and Drugs Act passed in 1875—although it provides that no person shall sell to the prejudice of the purchaser any article of food or drugs which is not in its nature, substance, or quality the article demanded by such purchaser, under a penalty of £20 —has been found to ho practically inoperative. Consequently the mover of the resolution demanded that the House should register its opinion that the Government should move in the matter, and the House acceded to the request, notwithstanding Mr. Chamberlain’s opposition, that gentleman apparently thinking that the more good oleo-margarine that was imported tho better for the country, under whatever name, and at whatever price it was sold. So far we have been discussing principally the importation of pure and wholesomely made oleo-margarine. As to tho necessity of keeping other sorts entirely out of the market there were of course no two opinions in tho House, although tho main difficulty how the two sorts were in all cases to be distinguished still remained. Sir H. Maxwell stated in his remarks that so great was the demand for oleo-margarine (or butterine as it appears often to be called) that sufficient fat to supply the trade could not be obtained from proper sources ; he feared that much of it came from diseased animals. Besides, there were two other compounds which were of quite a different nature. One was prepared from the fat of pigs—not cooked fat, but raw fat. Moreover, if it was heated above ninetysix degrees it was spoilt for the purpose for which it was intended, and consequently tho heat was not sufficient to destroy animal life, and tho possible risk of catching trichinosis was much increased. Tho other substance was made from soapstone or talc, and although not absolutely poisonous—indeed. Professor Church states that if a man has to eat a mineral ho may as well eat soapstone as any other—still the substance can hardly be called nutritions. It will be seen from tho above that the butter trade in the Old Country is surrounded by many difficulties, but still there is a bright lining to the cloud. Good butter, as Dr. Playfair remarked, will never be driven out of the market by oleo - margarine, because the latter has not the fine flavour of tho former, but bad butter certainly will. Consequently, the farmer should recognise tho fact that it is of the utmost importance that what he sends to tho market should be of the very finest quality. Good farmers can thus thoroughly protect themselves, but great care should be taken in packing and forwarding. The new article of food is, when properly made, no donbt, a valuable addition to the food supply of a nation, but it is not butter, and oven the purest sorts will never approach that substance in popular estimation. Consequently, the new Zealand farmer has nothing to fear if he recognises that inferior sorts of butter will not repay the trouble of making, at least for export to England. It is the old story of a really good article always commanding a market.