QUALITY OF CHEESE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20514, 15 March 1930, Page 9

QUALITY OF CHEESE.

AN IMPROVEMENT SOUGHT* INCENTIVE TO SUPPLIERS. • ARRESTING DOWNWARD TREND. [BY TELEGRAPH. —OWN CORRESPONDENT. ] NEW PLYMOUTH, FridayA suggestion for checking the defective quality oil cheese was made to-day, by Mr. J. Murray, Dominion secretary of the New Zealand Dairy Factory Managers' Association, at A conference of the association held in New Plymouth. "The falling-oif in quality of New Zealand cheese during the last few years is a matter of- grave concern to the industry," he said. "It is of the greatest importance to the cheese producers of the Dominion that the downward trend should be arrested with the least, possible delay and it is quite obvious that the only, measures; likely to effect a speedy im-. provement must include some incentive leading to genuine avenues of remuneration to the producer." Mr. Murray suggested a scheme which' would differentiate in payment on a quality basis, A prompt response to the Dairy Produce Board's policy of paying a premium, of 3s 4d a, crate for finest over first grade was evidenced by a substantial increase in the percentage of finest-, he said, and it was reasonable to assume that the initiation of a similar premium would again meet with the same response,Cheese producers had the issue in their own hands by agreeing to a levy being made on first-grade export cheese to establish a fund out of which to pay a premium on finest. Short-Sighted Policy. The result of the Dairy Produce! Board's venture might be taken as X sound reason for not pursuing further a measure similarly constituted, having rei gard for the narrow margin in the realisations between finest and first grades, but therein lay the short-sighted policy of the seeming advantage held out to the supplier by devoting more attention to the higher yielding cheese in ence to the higher quality, thus temporising with a position which must react'to the detriment of all concerned. The manufacture of the highest grade quality and its maintenance must reflect in a; higher level of prices for "all grades, which after all was the main object of the producer.

In suggesting that the Dairy Produce Board should bo empowered to make a levy on all first-grade cheese exported to establish a fund out of which a substantial premium would be paid for finest, Mr. Murray gave an indication of tho position assuming that such a levy were fixed at Is 6d a crate. ' It was assumed, lie said, that second grade should be included in the levy, but the amount should be fixed at 2s 6d a crate for that quality. . Differential Scale. A measure which penalised one grade of produce to create a fund to pay a premium on another grade would obviously affect one section of a given group of suppliers somewhat unfairly if returns for both were credited to one common fund to pay the entire group of suppliers, on a pro rata basis regardless of the quality of : individual deliveries. An adjustment would therefore be necessary on a quality basis of the milk delivered, the classification of which cduld be determined by a regular periodical test carried out by the manager, the standard being fixed to correspond as closely as possible with the percentage of finest and first grade manufactured at the factory, payment to suppliers being made accordingly on a differential scale. "The matter is in the hands of the producer as to whether he considers a forward movement in quality worth while with a probability of a substantially-in-' creased price for all grades," Mr. Murray concluded.