NEW ZEALAND FLOUR.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXII, Issue 7402, 10 August 1885, Page 3

NEW ZEALAND FLOUR.

TO THE EDITOR. Sir, —In your Saturday's Herald you state in your article headed "The Paoifio Islands"—(l) that New Zealand flour will not keep; (2) that it is very difficult to work. To remedy this you suggest that the wheat, before being ground, should be dried either in kilns or by currents of hot air. Let me tell you that by the adoption of such a course the fermenting principle of the flour would most likely be destroyed, and the flour from wheat treated thus would only be good for the manufacture of biscuits. The writer comes from a country which has just as much rain as New Zealand, and where farmers, on account of too much rain during the harvest - , are even more frequent than in New Zealand. I may go further, and say that at the close of the last international exhibition at Vienna, samples of New Zealand wheat were sold by the "glass " for 3s, and in a few cases for IBs. The fault of the New Zealand flour lies not in their wheat, neither in their climate ; no, it lies in the system of packing the flour. Last year, I bought flour enough in one lot to last for ten months. It caked very well during the first three or four months ; but after that time I found the dampness of the atmosphere had affected the fermenting principle, and the fl >ur proved absolutely unsuitable to turn out a good loaf of bread. This discovery litis saved my baker master many hot words. It being a fact that New Zealand wheat' counts amongst the best in the world, all you want to produce is a good flour of a longkeeping quality to do what the Californians do, viz,, pack your medium brands flour in barrels, and the superior brands in tins. If the New Zealand millers will do this, then there will be no flour in the world superior to that produced from New Zealand wheat. I have the honour to thank you for the space you kindly open for these lines.— I am, &3., Lewis Zdmbdhl,