THE DAIRY INDUSTRY ACT.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume XXVI, Issue 2519, 30 August 1893, Page 2

THE DAIRY INDUSTRY ACT.

Mb Sawers, the Chief Dairy Inspector, in his annual report, is pronounced in bis ' oommendation of tbe Dairy Industries j Aot, and very sanguine of the results that j are being and will be achieved by it. He says that if its provisions are strictly enforoed it will work marvels in the coarse of a year or bo ; "ia faot, it is doubtful if any other plain and simple law on our statute books bas brought tbe immediate and valuable assistance to one of our chief industries that I feel confident this Aot will do." As to its plainness and simplicity, there will of coarse be difference of opinion. So far as we can judge from the converaationa we have had . with practical men, the Act is not univp 1 - sally regarded as entirely plain and simple. ' Seme of tbe provisions may not deserve tbe description. Bat everyone recognises the difficulty of plainness a» d simplicity in an Aot of this kind, which for tbe public good interferes somewhat with individual action ; and after all, tbe BQOC6BB of laws intended to apply to new conditions, ot which there has not bo iar been extended experience, depends more on the administration than on tbe letter of tbe law itself. And here let us say that we are satisfied that Mr Sawers and tbe department generally has administered the Act well, at first easily and gradually inoreasini? in firmness, and throughout with. rq earnestness which betokens appro* eiation ot the importance of tbe industry, which it is attempted to safeguard. The whole gist of the argument in favour of tbe Act 13 that experience has shown, and unfortunately still shows, that the reputation of tbe product and of the general body of producers must be protected against the carelessness of tbe stupid, and the greed of the dishonest who, though few in number, are capable of doing barm quite out of proportion to their numbers and producing power. Honest and ordinarily careful men, as Me Sawers says, have no reason to fear the Aot ; on the contrary they should welcome it and cordially aesietin its administration, beoause the maintenance of the colony's good name in respeot of this industry is an essential factor in eeonring success and bringing profio to tbe dairy farmers. Mr Sawers unreservedly says that but for the Act " the practice oC slightly skimming the milk before making into cheese, and false branding by oar dairy factory proprietors in their endeavour to overreach others, would become very prevalent." This is not a pleasant picture of commercial morality, bat Mr Sawers does not speak without proof, for be goes on to

Having been in attendance ai the pott of shipment (principally Port Chalmers and Wellington) on nine different occasions when dairy produoe was being put on board tbe Home steamers, and by utilising tbe powers conferred upon me as dairy inspector under eeotion 4 of the Aot in question, I was enabled to see some of the fool compounds, by tbe name of oheese and batter, which, but for tbe Dairy Industry Act, 2892, would have gone to Great Britain without any designating mark to distinguish them from " full-cream " factory obeese or " factory " or " creamery " butter. On the nine different occasions in question, I opened and inspeoted 213 oases oheese, and 57 packages of butter. Out of this quantity I examined Borne cheeee of the skim type, and butter of the " grocers 1 " and " dairy " blended type, wbiob was neither wholesome nor palatable, but thoroughly iDJnrions io our dairy trade, and wbioh could only have the effect ot curtailing the eonenmption ot the good and para article and disgusting tbe consumers with New Zealand dairy produce. Mr Sawers reiterates tbe arguments in last year's report in favor of an enactment against fraud in the supplying of milk to dairy factories and to preveot deception in the branding. Further be says ; —

Tbe Aot regnires amending in tbe direction of making it compulsory for all oheese and butter, and packages containing the same, for export or not, to be branded before leaving the factory, creamery, dairy, or blending-bouse, and to prohibit proprietors of factories (whether butter or cheese) from taking in butter from the surrounding eetfclora for the purpose of having it blended, and packed for export or sale in the colony. Until this ia done the Act is too easily evaded. No doubt " blended " butter is a fruitful cause of trouble, but some consideration moßt be paid to settlers in scattered districts who are not yet sufficiently numerous nor do they produce enough to ran a factory, and ib would, we fear, be hard on them to close their market. I* is quite natural that Mr Sawers sbonld bs proud of tbe Act, for we flnppoae it may be accepted that he was really the author, but ( after making full allowance for the partiality of a parent, he certainly does not overrate the importanos of protecting tbe many from the results of the fraud of the few.