NEW ZEALAND BUTTER IN SCOTLAND.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 11562, 28 January 1901, Page 7

NEW ZEALAND BUTTER IN SCOTLAND.

THE TRADE AND ITS PROSPECTS. J INTERVIEW WITH MR. MoWILLIAM. I[FEOl£ oue own correspondent.] j London, December 22. I Being in Scotland for a "week-end,'* I took j the opportunity of calling on Messrs. Mathie 1 and McWilliam, tho well-known produce j merchants, of 126, Ingram-street, Glasgow, I to have a chat about New Zealand produce, I its position and prospects in the " second ] city of the Empire." I Mr. McWilliam is, as will bo remembered, I an eminent expert in regard to New.Zealand \ dairy produce, and I have had many profit- > able and instructive interviews with him. I The business premises of his new firm are j remarkably capacious and convenient for \ dairy-produce storage, and are in the very. | heart of the great Scottish city. i ' "Tho new season's butter which we are lj now getting from New Zealand," said Mr. J McWilliam, "is as a rule in grand condition, - | and there is virtually no fishiness of flavour. ilt is readily bringing 112s per owt. Indeed, 1 New Zealand butter has worked wonders i this year in Glasgow, where it is very popu- | lar, and brings capital prices. This, too, is jj the case in spite of one feature which is i usually a drawback—l mean its high colour. 1 Scottish consumers, as a rule, have a great | dislike to high-coloured butter. They preij fer it as pale as possible, quite cream-like in I tone. But New Zealand butter is geneI rally high-coloured when it first comes in, J especially after a wet season, and this tends I to lower its' market value in some degree. i Still, its fine quality atones for a good deal | when it becomes really well known. I "So far," continued Mr. McWilliam, 1 " the new butter from New Zealand is arI riving, as I have said, ia excellent order, 1 and another tiling in its favour is that it is 8 being very smartly handled and forwarded | by the railway companies, especially by the ! Midland, which makes a specialty of this 1 trade, and conveys the produce with admir-j-able efficiency and despatch. One fresh feaI ture in this season's trade is that so much I New Zealand butter has been sold on the I spot by the New Zealand factories. British | buyers have been able -to'..purchase direct from the factories, and have .. given high prices. _ That is all very well, of course, while prices remain good, as it relieves the producers of all risk and trouble and responsibility of shipment. But, on tho other hand, should prices fall, and.the fao- || from the factories, and have given high | prices. That is all very well, of course, j while prices remain good, as it relieves the I producers of all risk and trouble and reI sponsibility of shipment. But, on tho | other hand, shoidd prices fall, and the faoI tories be unwilling to accept the terms of-I I fered by Homo buyers in the colony, then I I the New Zealand factories might bo at some 1 disadvantage .in starting a new system of consignment. However, it is natural enough that they should seize. the advantage offeree by a prompt out-and-out sale on the spot. It remains to be seen whether some of the I purchasers will be able to make a profit after 1 the high prices they have given in the I colony." I "What are the facts," I asked, "as to the 1 alleged prevalence of ' fishiness' in some I consignments?" I "Well," said Mr. McWilliam, "so far as I New Zealand is concerned, the fishy flavour i seems to occur chiefly in the case of butter S not sold quickly, but held over. For inI stance, some held over from May last ap--1 pears to have developed decided fishiness of J taste. But the fishiness does occur at I times in the butter produced by the best facI tories, and it seems to depend upon causes 8 outside of the ordinary condition of working! § For example, it often is found to occur in l butter made when heavy rain has followed a | spell of hot, dry weather. It is undoubtedly | due to bacteriological influenco of some I kind, and the whole matter is being carefully ! 3 investigated by eminent bacteriologists. The i 1 idea is that under certain conditions the bac--1 teria which cause tho fishy flavour are de--1 veloped in the herbage itself. Look at the | particular bacteria that produce the turnipy | flavour. It is found that this objectionable I taste may be created without any access to j turnips being had by the cows, merely 5 through tho same bacteria having got into ? their food. Indeed, the culture of the « special bacterium which produces the fino ij flavour in butter is now being carried on j systematically in order to secure the preX sence of that taste in the butter." j ] In reply to my question as to his opinion j of the prospects of the New Zealand dairy ! produce trade, Mr. McWilliam said: !" Competition there will be, of course. j Argentine produce will be a formidable comi petitor in the future, although, perhaps, not ] yet. Already the Argentine butter has come 1 immediately into favour in various South of | England seaside places, such as Brighton and others. It was introduced there by a London firm thai made a specialty of it and pushed it with all possible energy. ' It is now in active demand. One very shrewd and capable judge of such matters once told me that Argentina would certainly be a great dairying country, because both bread and the water were so good. This does not seem at first sight very relevant. But it is found that the soil which produces the wheat which makes the best bread also produces tho feed that turns into the best butter. The advantage of good water is more manifest, but the other point is not self-evident, although on explanation, it becomes clear enough, and it is certainly worth attention, • "But," said Mr. McWilliam, "New Zealand is menaced with severe competition in the future from another quarter. That is Russia. The fact is not generally known that tho Russian Government has been devoting most earnest and careful attention to the subject, and has sent out experts to every dairying country to study the best methods and learn how Russia can most sue- j cussfully compete in the world's markets for dairy produco. Already a considerable ad- j vance has been n-ade. Even this year Britain has taken 201,000cwt of butter from ! Russia. Its quality is irregular, but some j is beautiful. The productive capacity of 1 Russia is enormous, and although Russian butter is late in coming into the field, it will ultimately have a very direct and J powerful bearing on the market. Hitherto j it fetches only moderate prices, say 10s to ! 15s per owt below best Danish or colonial | rates, but we are only at the beginning of j things yet, and assuredly Russian competi- f tion as well as Argentine will have tc be | watched and reckoned with." i =