Colonial Produce in London.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume XX, Issue 2348, 9 February 1893, Page 2

Colonial Produce in London.

A Correspondent of The Times, after describing the adoption of the butter " factory," or co-operative system, in the Australasian colonies, says that oar total imports of butter from Australia for the past three seasons have been as follows :— 188990, 790,9441b; 1890-91, 1,665,5001b. • 1891-92, 5,207,9441b. The amount expected to arrive in London from Australia during the season 1892-93 is ovev 7.200.0001K New Zealand made a much better start, her export of batter to L-mdon being 2,081.3761b. in 1889-90, and 2,200,5101b. in 1890-91. Bat in the following season Anstralia left New Zealand far behind, the latter colony then exporting 3,010,6721b. Still, the value of all dairy products exported from New Zealand rose from £1,033 in 1886 to £236,900 in 1891. The wholesale price of the finest' brands of colonial butter i 9 kept 10s. per owt. below Danish. This is a fact of which retail dealers hare not been slow to take advantage, there being not the slightest coubt that large quantities of these finest brands, bought as Australian q# New Zealand, have been sold to householders as " prime Dorset " or " best Danish," thus overcoming British prejudices against innovations, while at the same time shopkeepers have realized a substantial increase in their profits. Coming to other food products, the writer shows that our fruit trade with Australasia has also grown to large proportions. Some small consignments were received in 1886, more came in 1887, and in 1889 a fair trade was developed. Is" 1891, . 130,000 boxeß (each holding about a bushel and weighing gross from 501b to 601b) came to hand, and the total for last season was about. 200,000. For next season the whole of the available space in the cool chambers of the steamers (some of which load irom 25,000 to 30,000 boxes at a time) has been already contracted for. Tasmania is the chief producer, and so carefully is the quality watohed in that colony that the orchards are visited from time to time by a Government inspector, who if he Bhould find that any tree has been attacked by moth, has the fruit taken off and destroyed. Even more remarkable, perhaps, is the developement of the trade in frozen mutton. Twelve yetyre ago this trade was practioajtly non-existent. In 1882, two years after Australia baa sent 400 carcasses to' Londoni ftew" Zealand forwarded 8839. In the following year, 1883, she consigned 120,892, and so went on advancing by leaps and bounds nntil last year she readied the great total of

1,896,706 caroases, far ontatripping tbe | Australian oolonies whioh' first took upihft A business, their total for, last -year tsflHM only 334,693. The increase in ifiSH^ value waa from £19,339 in 1882 v to £1,194.724 in 1891. New: South Wales and Queensland, however, are likely to become much more formidable rivals of New Zealand in the immediate future. Tbe frozen meat trade is described as having already been "the salvation ot New Zealaud." It is worth while point* mg out that atieast 20per:o6dt. ofoar total meat eupply reaches us in a frosen condition. Comparatively little New Zealand mutton, so describe^ is seen on - sale in the Bhope. Bus it is said that the • prime carcasses are largely sold as •' Eofelish" or •• Scotch," while it is chiefly the inferior carcasses or joints from Aa«il tralasia or from the River Plate whioh 1 are sold as " New Zealand mutton." Two \ things may be thus explained— fire*, why " the trade in foreign and oolonialmeat .does not appear, to the retail purchasers, to be so large as to represent one" carcass out of every five offered for sale; and, in the second place, why there should still be so much prejudice against " New Zealand mutton." On tbe other band, competent authorities assert that, but for the supplies from Australasia, mutton would, by this time, for a large section of the British community, have attained a price alto*o gether prohibitive. Concerning smaller trades, it may be added that a fair badness is being done in pure white clover honey from New Zealand, and that arrangements have just been made for supplies of bltok duck, teal, and Yanga pigeons to arrive? here from New South Waleß, in a frozen condition, at tbe rate of 1000 birds a week, during the months of January, Febrnary. and March. . J