DAIRY PRODUCE IN TRANSIT.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1683, 1 June 1904, Page 67

DAIRY PRODUCE IN TRANSIT.

' ACCUSATION AND REPUDIATION, v • The annual report of- the Naficaiai Dairy Association (South Island) issued last Aveek includes a 4 ' paragraph Avhich Should be of some interest to persons’ connected Avith the dairy - produce export trade in this city. Tne paragraph reads . as folio avs: —“Complaints have been made regarding the condition of our cheese ernes as they . land alongside tne ocean steamer in Wellington. Investigation f;shoAvs that so far as tne Union steam ' Snip and Hudart-Parker Companies are concerned, it lands in equally good condition as at Lyttelton; but, unfortunately, owing'* to the condition of affairs in Wellingion, more particularly in regard to the distance of the export Avnarf from the landing Ayharf, and other causes, it. has to undergo) several handlings after landing, Avhich necessarily does it no gooci. In Avefc and muddy Aveather the cases are apt also to get more or less dirty. Undoubtedly the proper method forfhll dairy produce 7 shipments to London is to go by, rail direct Lie the. ocean steamer at the port of loading, wherever tnat may 'be. At present Lyttelton is the last port of call in. the... South Island of tne folding- . contract steamers, gnd they leave there about a Aveek previous to final ueparture from Wellington.” - - . It Avas thought the correct thing by a "Mail” representative last Aveek to see - if there was any justification fo-r shell an attack as this On the port, Avitli die result . that the extract seems to be an attack made from.motives of petty jealousy. Mr J. G. Harlcness, secretary of the Noav Zealand Dairy - Association (North Island), states that as far as ue knoAvs there is nothing in the charges made. Discolouration of boxes is no greater hero than at any other port in New Zealand. The only thing that could be said is that the extra handling here' might result in more breakages, but tnat Avas not referred to. It is knoAvn that, steamers do not like to receiA’e dairy produce until the last of their cargo, and the desire in th© South is to make Lyttelton the final ' port of call, so-that, tiley .can ship as easily and as economically at the last moment as'possible, bub the state of the harbour ■ and the position of Lyttelton would never alloAv of .that. • Speaking on the subject, Mr William Eei*guson; secretary of the Harbour Board, said that in December 1902, he had some correspondence (produced) with Mr James R. Scott, secretary for the association in Dunedin, on .the subject. On that occasion Mr Ferguson went to the trouble of Avatching the unloading and transhipping operations here, and he Avrote stating the procedure, ahd that so. far as he knew there could be no improvement. If discoloured boxes resulted, it was through men trampling over them, when in the "square of the hatch,” or from being unloaded in wet weather, when nets are dirty with the damp and the men's hands soiled. Otherwise the boxes wefe handled as- ordinary cargo, placed in a shed and from there taken round to-the. GlasgOAV Wharf in -, carts." The men had instructions not to

load into a dirty cart, but this did not often occur, for tbe vehicles were invariably. swept clean, and at- times a bed of clean straw was laid in the bottom of the conveyance, t£> keep the boxes clean. They were sent to the Government graders, then placed in a shed, and finally transferred to the ship’s hold when required. Mr Scott’s reply was to the effect that, what he wrote was only hearsay, and he recognised that Wellington must always he the principal shipping port for dairy produce for the Home - markets- r Mr Ferguson said it was a growl that came along every year. He was of opinion that the Southern boxes were soiled at Lyttelton, if anywhere. The dairy produce was shipped, and then further cargo for Wellington was* taken on board the -steamer, and . ip. placing it in position the men trampled over the cheese oases, and so damaged them slightly. The same thing would occur in Wellington in consequence when discharging. On the strength of the however, he would issue fresh instructions to the Harbour Board’s employees who handled dairy .produce., « Mr Harold Beauchamp, of Bannatyne and Co., said tjie only way to prevent double and treble, handling—if that die-

coloured the case&—was for the Southern people to send .up a sufficient quantity at a time to ensure that the/coastal steamer Avould go alongside the Home boat and discharge the cheese direct into, her chambers.