PACKING SUTTER.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 6314, 14 September 1907, Page 3

PACKING SUTTER.

VERY trNDE'SntAr'LE departure. In Rale contracts the dairy pompanics havo boon accustomed to allow half a poumi of butter in one); 501 h box. By reason of the sound provision to pack a half-pound over in oaoh 501 b box becoming general tn this country the endless friction occasioned by short weights was romo-ved, and our butter business was raised to n much higher plane on Home markets. Other countries which continue to pack the bare quantity and consequently show variations in weight— Romotimes a little under the quantity, sometimes a little over—are continually giving trouble to the British trade.

Time and again we road in market reports made to our Canadiaoi _ and Australian rivals that short weights are hampering the business, and the Zealand is held up as an example. Attempting to give the exact weight is poor economy. If it should happen that through carelessness, or the scales not being true, one box should be a half-pound short, and this particular box happens to bo the package tested for weight, the whole consignment would probably be docked hall a pound a box and the produc-1 mg company rendered liable to a reclamation to this extent. Can a company afford to run this risk? And is the half-pound allowance a halfpound of good butter-fat ? By no moans; it may be represented by so much water, in fact, this one per cent, allowance can be made good many times over by increased over-run. One fact which companies remember in this connection is that it is impossible to keep butter factory scales'in good order without daily attention and adjustment. The moisture and salt present leads to rusting of tho more delicate parts, while the heavy task of weighing a big line of boxi leads too often to the boxes being dropped or dumped roughly on the scales, thereby tending to affect the accurate working of the scales, lo weigh the exact amount is therefore a matter of great difficulty. In the interests of the reputation of its produce it is sound, policy for a factory to make the necessary trade allow%nce.