BUTTER AND CHEESE.

Hawera Star, Volume XLV, 29 August 1925, Page 8

BUTTER AND CHEESE.

MANUFACTURE PROBLEMS. FUTURE OF THE INDUSTRY. An address Oil the prospects of the Dominion’s' dairying industry was delivered at- Auckland the other day by Mr. W. M. Singleton, director of the Dairy Division. 11l the course of his address he said that foreign experience couldi be stimulative and helpful, but- we must give out main attention to studying our own local conditions in relation to bur general educational and administrative functions connected with dairying. By edueational function he did not mean necessarily dairy school, but his thought took two lines. We needed more farm dairy instruction to help.,the farmer, and the assistance it was hoped to get from the experimental laboratory and factory at Wallaceville. We hoped to make the work of that institution educational by getting our instructors conversant with its findings and with more instructional work to dairy factories to disseminate that information. “New Zealand is a young country in the transitional and evolutionary stage,” added Mr. Singleton., “It is a. moot point ns to whether our industry lias attained td liioi-e thaii'its boyhood. Like a. boy who is going to make a good, man, the heart of our flairy industry is. sound and clean. The industry, or the manufacturing side of it may, like a good boy, deviate from the straight and narrow path, but come back again. He recovers from wrong practices befdte they 'become habits that take full and ultimate control. “In the manufacture these deviations from the. right paths have, in New Zealand, taken various forms from time td time. We get some of our cheese manufactured with too little or too much water. In the earlier days some, especially in the, spring, were too hard, and our autumn make was too soft. During more recant years it has been the tendency of some managers to make them altogether too soft. Some cheese are too open and loose, but we have no complaints that any are too close. Sonie firms appear to return the same prices to each factory for consignment by the same ship, and, of course, in such instances, the factory making the' soft cheese stands to win for the time being. They are trading on their own previous good reputation, and the reputation of New Zealand cheese generally, *lf the Control Board ’s proposal .-.comes into effect next season it should straighten up this anomaly. “Butter factory managers are dealing successfully with the deviation in Abater content of our butter,” eontinited Mr. Singleton. “The managers of no other dairy country that I know of have done as successful work from the economic standpoint as did our New Zealand managers last season. The average water content of New Zealand butters exported was just over 15.03 per cent. The average water content of Auckland butters exported was 15.18 per cent. The number of churnings showing excess water showed a satisfactory reduction, and I am hoping that the position in this respect will bei still further improved during the ensuing season.

“The point we are aiming at is to get better cream, so that less neutralising agent will be necessary. Where we can get cream kept clean and cool, .and delivered daily, little, if any, neutralising agent should be necessary. It may not be economically sound to utttempt daily delivery at many of our factories, but there is no reason why a better butter may not be made at many of these, if sufficient attention be given to keeping the milk and cream clean and cool.

“The New Zealand dairy farmer'of many districts is'taking a very praiseworthy interest in the improvement of the cream supply. Farm dairy instructors have been appointed in many districts, and this season we may have 60 per cent, of our butter matte from cream supplied by dairy farmers whose names are on the .programmes of farm dairy instructors. As the work of these officers produces its cumulative effect from year to year it should cause our cream to show such improvement that the use of neutraliser null be reduced.” ' BUTTER PRICES. HOW THEY FLUCTUATE. The first annual report and statement of accounts for the last eighteen months has just been issued by the New Zealand Dairy Produce Control Board. Following are some extracts of interest to those concerned: — “Comparisons of the High Commissioner’s cabled prices for the year disclose. the same extraordinary variation in price between the New Zealand and Danish butter that has been experienced in several preceding years. Talcing the figures as they stand for the year, the, average difference in price was between 2Gs and 275. It varied from 2s on September 6, 1924, to ; 58s to February 7 and March 14, 1925. Early in September some brands of New Zealand butter were actually quoted higher than Danish. It must also be borne in mind that the average difference is really greater than this summary of the cabled quotations discloses, as the volume of our supplies was much greater when there was the greatest disparity between the market prices. “The butter market has been subject to several extraordinary fluctuations since Christmas, falling from 204 s on December 20 to 156 s on January 17. It is understood that it fell over 20s in three days. This decline in the middle of the British winter, extra•ordinary as it may seem, proved to be its lowest point. The highest point was touched during the concluding weeks of October last, when 228 s was reached. Cheese prices have kept remarkably stable throughout the year. Moving on a gradually ascending scale during the past few months, it reached its highest point recently at 110 s. “A comparison of New Zealand and Canadian cheese prices during the past two years should provide food for reflection. We. recognise a possible measure of unreliability in these comparisons, seeing that for some periods, such as March, April and May, .1924, no Canadian figures are; available. But as far as figures are available, and only making comparisons over the periods when both were quoted, they indicated that for the season 1923-24 New Zealand coloured cheese on the average secured a premium of more than 5s per cwt over coloured Canadian, while the premium paid for New Zealand white was over 3s. The figures for 1924-25 indicate that the tables have been turned, Canada securing on the average a premium of 3d per cwt for coloured' and a .premium of 2s 5d for white. This should prompt the serious question with,

cheese-makers, Has our standard of quality been maintained? The Canadian Dairy Commissioner, Mr. Ruddick, provided a possible explanation for this altered position when speaking recently of the Kraft processed cheese. He said that its development was the best’ thing that had happened in the trade, for years, as it meant the opening of new markets for Canadian cheese and, within recent months had added several cents to their market price. ; “The report of the British Commission on the use of preservatives in food last year recommended that after two years the use of boric acid in butter should be forbidden. Representations were made through the Government by the: board! and: by Loudon importers of the probable effect of this recommendation upon colonial production. The original recommendations are to be modified,, but it is doubtful if adoption of the Commission’s advice to forbid the use of boric acid will long be delayed. Many of our factories have long ceased to use it. “During the past. season a series of experiments were made by the Dairy Division, while a further series were conducted bv the chemist, to- the New Zealand' Co-operative Dairy Company. In all 29 comparative lots were made; prese.rvatised arid noii-.preservatised butter being made in each case from the same churning. After being graded in the usual manner the butter was kept in cold storage for two months. It was then, taken out and re-graded. From this time onwards it was kept in ordinary temperatures and re-graded every .seven days up to twenty-eight days. This provided a very severe trial. The final results showed such a trifling difference in the comparative deterioration between the non-pre-servatised and the preservatisedi as to indicate that, the use of boric acid is of very little use under our present-day methods of manufacture. .Similar experiments were- conducted in Victoria at the same time, with practically the same results. These experiments plainly indicate that good quality butter docs not need the, use of boric acid. To definitely dispense with it will frustrate the attempts that have on occasions been made to create a prejudice against, colonial butter because of its: use. The British Government has now decided to forbid the use of boric acid as from January, 1928.”