THE CHEESE CARGO

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21530, 30 December 1931, Page 10

THE CHEESE CARGO

A TIMES LEADING ARTICLE (From Our Own Correspondent.) LONDON, November 24. One form of valuable publicity gained from the ceremony performed last week by the Lord Mayor on the arrival of the first consignment of full-cream cheese was a leading article in The Times, r The triumphal reception of which Hay’s wharf, hard by London Bridge was a' day ot two ago the scene would have done honour to a victorious general coming home from the war (the writer of the article remarks). Even a popular film star from overseas might not have disdained to be welcomed on his arrival in London by the admiral of the port, in the person of the Lord Mayor, accompanied by the cheriffs, a fanfare blown by the trumpeters of the Royal Horse Guards, a guard of honour from the Arethusa,_ and a bevy of curtseying English dairymaids, wreathed with emblematic sashes, and supported by a chef, a brewer, and a rhyming toastmaster with a pretty taste for light verse. As it happened, the hero of the reception ceremony was neither a brass hat nor an exquisite of the screens, but a barge-load of cheeses from New Zealand, which were formally introduced to the Lord Mayor and the rest of the assembly waiting on the wharf by Sir Thomas Wilfqrd, High Commissioner for the Dominion, as the cargo of the first ship of its main cheese fleet to come to London. In the inspired language of the toastmaster, these brethren of the curd (complete with vitamins) had come “from creamy pastures drenched in sun, to fight the fight, as you yourselves, for British cheese for British shelves, and malm it every day much harder for foreign rinds to fill the larder.” With these brave words ringing in their ears, the company sat them down, in the good old British fashion, to a frugal luncheon of British cheese and British beer, enlivened by the Lord Mayor and others of the guests with eloquent speeches urging them to “Buy British” and to drink to the success of the New Zealand cheese industry. AN EXAMPLE TO BRITISH FARMERS. The occasion, it should be said, was fully worthy of the cheerful and impressive dignity with which it was celebrated. Last year New Zealand supplied this country with nearly twothirds of its total of about 155,000 tons of imported cheese. But it means to do better still. With the establishment of its special cheese fleet it • will be able during the next 12 months to ship to these shores 120,000 tons of British cheese and 180,000 tons of British butter. The barge-load honoured by the Lord Mayor brings us, iu fact, a day’s march nearer to the time when, given the true spirit of mutual good will throughout the Empire, the basic foodstuffs of this country will be produced, though in different parts of the world, on British soil. That, as the Lord Mayor said, is the ideal conception, and New Zealand enterprise well deserves to be thanked for helping us on towards its realisation. At the same time New Zealand will be doing a further and peculiarly useful service to Great Britain and its farmers if its example stimulates them to make more use of their surplus milk by increasing their own output of home-made cheese. For the cow? and pastures of this country are second to none in the world, and the value of the cheese brought from outside last year and sold in the home market was well over £12,000,000. The Times had already fully described the ceremony at Hay’s wharf on the previous day. “ THE MITEY ATOM.” The Evening News also treated the sub-, ject editorially under the heading “The Mitoy Atom.” The Lord Mayor of London, in robes of state and accompanied by sheriffs, trumpeters, a marine bodyguard, and other trappings of pomp and circumstance, marched down to Hay’s wharf yesterday and gave civic welcome to the first consignment of New Zealand cheese. . , ~,,, . Far be it irom us to belittle this happy event. We are for New Zealand and long may it wave. Figuratively we kiss the hands of the New Zealand dairymaid, who, led by the High Commissioner, momentarily wedded beauty to commerce and youth to industry. We shall even overlook the effort of the Mansion House bard who, in something more than poetic frenzy, made “sun” rhvme with “ come.” But shall we, when 1 o clock strikes, hurry round to our favourite restaurant and demand New Zealand cheese? Even if we have steeled our patriotic hearts against Brie and Camembert and ■ Ivocquefort and all the other insidious products of the agricultural alien, shall wo forget our ancient allegiance to Cheshire and Wensleydale, to Blue ymnev and Double Gloucester and btilton ! Well it all depends on how good New Zealand cheese is. Let the Antipodeans impress us by the quality of their caseous exertions and we shall impress them in turn by our patriotic example.