POULTRY REGISTRATION.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 21232, 12 July 1932, Page 12

POULTRY REGISTRATION.

Sir, —It seems to me that tlio cost of registration to poultry-keepers has been greatly understated, inasmuch as the proposed fee of 2s 6d per 100 birds is only a small part of the actual cost. Let us take the cost of one bird as a basis and seo the real cost. Say registration is one farthing per bird, though it is actually a fraction more. Then comes the cost of labour to stamp th o eggs. Taking a hen's average at 150 per year and putting down, say, l£d per 100 eggs for this work, gives 2Jd per bird. Then we must add not less than 2 per cent, breakages (and probably more). With eggs at one shilling per dozen, this gives 3d per bird, so that tho total cost is going to be sgd per bird per year, or £2 5s lOd per 100 birds, a very different story to Mr. McLean's, and a very costly affair to the poultry-keepers, many of whom are now struggling to make both ends meot without this added burden. Then thero is tho disfigurement of the egg by an unsightly stamp mark. This has in tho past been a very ugly, blurred nffair. Stamping is nocessarily a hurried operation and the impression on the egg is usual indistinct. This will lead to confusion in distinguishing producers' eggs and so cause untold trouble. For epg-cup use the stamped egg is disliked. Nothing can equal a nice clean appearance. This certainly cannot bo said of a stamped egg. As to eggs to bo oxportcd, what with tho producer's stamp, then tho compulsory Government stamp with tho word "New Zealand," tho consumers will think that they are buying "ink" not eggs. One Of The Struggled