SKIMMINGS

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1651, 21 October 1903, Page 60

SKIMMINGS

A debate of interest to dairymen took place at the last meeting of the Rangitikei County Council while considering a communication from the Rata Dairy Company asking that persons carrying cream to railway stations be exempt from a carrier’s .license. This letter was the outcome of a request from the County Inspector asking a supplier, who was carting cream to the. station, and being paid for doing so, to takeout a license. Opinion was divided as to whether the man was legally liable. Cr Beckett’s interpretation of the by-laws was that any person receiving a sixpence or any other sum for goods not his own property, was a carrier and ought to be licensed. The chairman (Cr Marshall) was not in sympathy with the idea, as a person carting cream only was not following an occupation as a carrier, and the by-laws were not intended for the purpose indicated by Or Beckett. •However, he preferred to get a legal opinion on the matter or institute a test case in Court. Cr Beckett said a man could own a big farm but could follow more than one occupation, and it would be unfair, if lie adopted carting, for him to be allowed to do so without being licensed; He moved that any person being paid for carting cream musttake out a license, and the chairman-, as an amendment, moved that a legal opinion be taken as to whether persons carting under the conditions named are liable to take out a license. The amendment was won on the casting vote or the chairman. As showing that milking by families

is a paying occupation, we may state that a family in Klthani Is making £3OO a season with butcher’s meat and the produce of three cows thrown in. The employer’s cheque amounts to £9OO for nine months’ working. Tho Poverty Bay factories have been offered as high as 9UI for their butter supply for the season. Nearly all the dairy factories in Taranaki are understood to have made their contracts for the ensuing season. One large cheese contract is reported to be on the basis of SJ-d, and butter has, under certain conditions, been sold at lOd. Advances approximating three figures aro also reported. At the annual meeting of the Glen Oroua Dairy Company. Mr 'Sutton proposed that ail officer bo appointed by the Company to do the testing of a*IJ milk, skim milk and butter milk at all the creameries and devote all spare time to testing suppliers’ cows at their farms and generally assist the Company in producing the best article possible. This motion produced a very animated and interesting discussion. While it was generally admitted that the cowyard was the place where the greatest improvement could he made, still theiro were found many shareholders who could not go so far as the motion proposed. Its weak points were the impossibility of enforcing any order for improving any particular yard, and in. test ing suppliers’ cows some argued that the owner alone would be the gainer at> the cost cf the Company, and as to improving tho quality of the butter, although that would mean from Is to 2s per cwt which would make £2OO to £3OO per year to the Company, the difficulty would bo to ascertain if the increased prico it might realise was due to the improvement in quality. A letter was read from the. Home agent expressing tho highest opinion of its quality and asking for thousands of tons if possible. This led some suppliers to think there is no improvement possible. After a very ’ general expression of opinion in a very friendly tone towards the idea, the motion was lost. According to the French Consul at Helsingfors, the exports of butter from Finland has been falling off year by year since 1897, when the highest figure was T’e&cliGcl, viz., 14- million kilos. It is now under nine million kilos a year, and as butter is the -country’s principal source of wealth, the loss of the trade is a serious tiling - for the public geneially. The reduced exportation is due first - to the increased local consumption; secondly, to the present dull condition of the milk trade; and thirdly, to the keen competition being felt in the British, maihefc from Danish and Siberian butter. Tho Government is doing all in its power to assist the trade, by granting subsidies to the steamship companies, and by distributing' bounties. The report for 1902 on the trade and agriculture of the consular district of Cherbourg states that, notwithstanding the extent of the district, it possesses but few large commercial centres offering openings for British trade. A. considerable amount pf trade is done in the export of various dairy products and agricultural produce, such as eggs, butter, milk cream, cabbages of various kinds, a little flour, and quantities of potatoes. Danish butter, is said by the French Consul stationed at Santiago de Cuba to be the kind most liked at Cuba, and it sells slightly cheapen - than the French article. The Americans, however, do the bulk of the trade owing to very low prices, although their butters are as a rule, blended with margarine, and the quality of them is inferior. During the last three years butter imports into the Old Country from Canada have more than doubled, but the total value is still only £1,347,345, out of a total of £20.527,934. In cheese, however, the Dominion holds a very strong position. Last year 67 per cent of the cheese imported into the United Kingdom was from Canada, and the proportion increases yearly.