AUCKLAND BUTTER EXPORTS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 13114, 1 March 1906, Page 5

AUCKLAND BUTTER EXPORTS.

A MARKED INCREASE. THE statement made by the president of the Auckland Chamber of Commerce that the butter exports from Auckland hud receded ! daring the year 1905 to the value of £15,000. is somewhat misleading. The error is no doubt due "o the system of calculating exports for the 12 month? ending December. 31. This may suit such products as gold or timber, but it fails to give an accurate idea of such a. product as butter. The Auckland I butter season begins in November, and ends : about April. Thus the Customs returns, on : which the president bases his figures, give . the latter end of the 1905 season and the ! beginning of the 1906 season. As everyone ! knows the end of the 1905 season in Audit- j land was marked by a severe drought, foi- j Jovimd by cold weather, and butter supplies i fell so suddenly and so severely that there j was not enough left for local consumption, And » shipment had actually to be reimported from London. At the beginning of the 1906 season feed was scarce, roads bad, and butter did not. commence to come into the export stores for fully a fortnight later than usual, consequently the Customs returns for the 12 months ending December 31 show the ! worst part of two seasons. Instead of showing a. decrease in butter I exports the present season, in spite of it commenting badly, shows a marked increase, this incifcaso being to date 6021cwt over the corresponding period of last year, or more than double the value of the alleged deficit, the monthly exports, according to the Customs retlrns, being as follows:—November (beginning of 1906 season), 10,570cwt; November, last season 5434 |cwt; December, this seasci, 5807icwt, last season. 12,009cwt; January, this season, 16,109cwt, last season, 10.320cwt; February, this season, or latest 10,905cwt, last season, 10.267, showing a total increase of 602lcwt, valued st fully iio.ooo.