A DAIRYING RIVAL

King Country Chronicle, Volume XXVII, Issue 4459, 19 October 1933, Page 5

A DAIRYING RIVAL

AUSTRALIAN COMPETITION. The opinion that in Australia New Zealand would have a serious rival in butter and cheese production was expressed by Mr. W. Crawford Burt, formerly managing director of A. and T. Burt, Ltd., on his return by the Mararna after twelve months’ residence in New South Wales. Mr. Burt said the output of butter for export was increasing by leaps and bounds, and now Australians were turning their attention to cheese. New Zealand would have to “watch its step,” for Australia was a prospective producer in a very large way in a market already over-supplied. Mr. Burt said the feeling throughout Australia at present was one of buoyant optimism. There was no doubt in anybody’s mind but that Australia had turned the corner. “At the same time Australia is showing an alert commercial mind in seeking markets for her goods other than in England,” he continued. “Figures showing the export to the Orient of butter, flour and jams are really surprising. She has live agents in Java, Singapore, India, China and Japan, and they ai'e straining every nerve to create trading relations with those countries. It is nonsense to say that prospects for trade do not exist owing to the poverty of the coolies. All the people of Java, China and Japan are not coolies any more than all the people of England are farm labourers. There is limitless wealth in those countries, and if Australia can produce the goods they want there is an open avenue for trade. This market New Zealand has entirely neglected up to the present. “I still think there is a chance for New Zealand’s meat, butter and cheese in the East,” said Mr. Burt, “but the trade will need- fostering by accredited agents who know both countries. We have by no means shown an alert mind in investigating the possibilities of trade with the East.”