RACE FOR QUALITY

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XXIII, Issue 10, 22 December 1932, Page 6

RACE FOR QUALITY

DAIRYING INDUSTRY REORGANISATION URGED. INVESTIGATIONS ABROAD. Auckland, Dec. 21. Increased quality instead of increased production should be the slogan in the New Zealand dairy industry at present, according to Mr. E. J. Ulander, branch manager of J. B. Mac Ewan and Company, Limited, in Taranaki, who returned by the Rangitata after a trip round the world investigating the dairying industry in various countries. “In the dairy industry at present it is a race for quality,” Mr. Ulander said. “The nation which gives greatest consideration to the quality of its products will be the one to secure the most favourable markets.”

During his trip Air. Ulander inspected the most important factories and research stations in Australia, Great Britain, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Germany, and Belgium. The dairy industry in Finland, he said, was better organised than that of any other country he had visited. “I have no hesitation in saying that the sending abroad of New Zealand dairy factory managers would assist in the salvation of our dairy industry,” Air. Ulander said. “Wc are definitely not abreast of modern conditions abroad, and we must make every effort to catch up with our competitors. Our grasslands arc second to none, but we can learn much from the Continent in production methods. A start should be made next winter with the sending of managers of out large factories overseas.” The retailing of New Zealand dairy produce abroad provided Air. Ulander with some interesting sidelights. In Belgium ho saw New Zealand cheese being given away to anyone who cared to take it, and in the same country he had met retailers who were making a profit of 5d a pound on the sale of New Zealand butter.

The position with regard to cheese was disastrous. He had made investigations throughout his trip and had brought back samples showing how discoloration and deterioration had taken place. Cheese that had been given away in Belgium had originally been coloured cheese. It had faded and was motley in colour, and most unsightly. The merchant had 13 crates in stock, and simply could not sell it. “The low prices obtained by New Zealand butter on the London market can be attributed partly at any rate to retailing in England of appreciable quantities of whey butter from this Dominion,” Mr. Ulander said. “This is having a most harmful effect. In two London shops I asked for New Zealand butter and was given whey butter, and I do not wonder that English peopld did not buy it more than once. It has a pronounced flavour of cheese, is definitely inferior to genuine creamery butter, and its export should be rigorously controlled. A building has been purchased in London and is now being equipped to pack New Zealand butter in pats and cartons under a well-known proprietary brand. There will be a fairly large output, and it is definitely a step in the right direction. A large section of the English buying public seems quite prepared to pay extra for New Zealand butter in cartons, so that they can be sure if is of first quality and unblended. In Denmark the experiment is being watched with considerable interest. ’ ’