NEW ZEALAND GHEE

Northern Advocate, 5 November 1934, Page 7

NEW ZEALAND GHEE

POSSIBILITIES DISCUSSED. LETTER FROM MR COATES. Considerable correspondence on the potentialities of developing a market for New Zealand ghee W India was received: by the Whaiigaroi Chamber of Commerce bn; Friday, The secretary of the Department of Industries' and Commerce intimated that it had been ascertained from an official spurce in India that the-selling prices of ghee in Calcutta about the middle of August of this year was rs 45 to rs 80 per mauhd of 82 2*7lbs. By' reason of the adulteration which takes place in India, care must be exercised' in basing any conclusions ;as to market possibilities upon the ‘ available information in relation to prices. The Department had been informed that the primary wholesale price of ghee in India was higher than the retail price, owing to the fact that the first wholesaler dealt with pure , ghee, while subsequent dealers largely depended on adulteration for their , profit. Public opinion in India was very much against the sale of adulterated ghee and hydrogenated vegetable oils, and it would appear that if New Zealand were to undertake the manufacture of ghee for export to India it would be advisable to ship fine ghee only, and to leave any adulteration to the Indian merchants who trade in that . commodity.” In a letter to Mr J. F. S. Briggs, who has taken a leading part in prosecuting the question, the Rt. Hon. J. G. Coates wrote as follows. — “I am much indebted to you for sending me a copy of your full alphabet of 26 points on the prospects in the ghee market in India. These make interesting and stimulating reading and they are usefully and provocatively at variance with some other reports that we get. “The subject, as I see it, ties up with the legislation which we have before Parliament at the moment. It is not the function of the Government to itself sell ghee, but it is properly our function to open up markets by trade agreements and otherwise, and to set such machinery in motion as will en-, able producers and their interests to follow up these openings. That is the essence of the Bill, which is causing a certain amount of commotion and is being assailed as introducing Government control and so forth.” A further letter received from the Dairy Control Board indicated that the board apparently still relies upon the unfavourable report from substitute vegetable oil merchants in Bombay. Mr Briggs suggested that if the Dairy Control Board acted in a logical manner it would send our butter home to Unilevers, who make margarine, and ask that firm to obtain a market for our produce. Probably a trial shipment, if sent from the Dominion, would be consigned to the Bombay, firm to* sell, and when a reply was received , that it was unsaleable the board would say “I told you so.” Pure ghee according to the Commismission, was worth 1/6 (English) per lb. The fact of Indian ghee being adulterated by the bazaar seller could not affect the market for pure ghee, which would always be used if practicable. Owing to the coriditioris under which ghee was produced in India the use of the food contributed to the spread of cholera , and enteric. 1 Knowing this, the intelligent Hindu would prefer to purchase the article made in New Zealand.

It was decided to circularise all Commerce Chambers, drawing attention to the attitude adopted by the Dairy Board, and advocating a vigorous inquiry into the possibilities qf instituting an export of ghee.