OUR LONDON LETTER.

Otago Witness, Issue 2051, 15 June 1893, Page 23

OUR LONDON LETTER.

(Fbom Oub Special Cobbespondeht.) London, April 28. THE NEW ZEALAND PRODUCE TRADE. Fresh proofs are constantly coming under my notice that New Zealand mutton is more and more winning its way in tho English market— in its own name I mean, and not under tho false disguise of some weli-kuowu English designation. Happening a few days ago to be at Rickman worth, a quiet little town of about 5000 inhabitants, some 20 miles from London, I was struck by seeing in the lino of small shops one bearing the inscription iv large red letters on a white board "New Zealand Mutton." I entered into conversation with the manager, a very intelligent man, who told me that this was only one of son,o 200 shops established in various parts of England by Messrs W. and R. Fletcher for tho sale of New Zealand meat. He said the projudjee against frozen meat was steadily dying away even in a small place like that, where prejudices are proverbially strong, and that all the New Zealand mutton they had "went off splendidly," commanding a large and ready sale. No difficulty was experienced in the thawing, and people who once tried it became regular customers. Two superb carcases of New Zealand mutton were hanging outside the door, and might have tempted the most prejudiced to buy and taste. My informant told me that they readily sold the meat retail at s£d to 6£d, the latter price being given for legs and loins. NEW ZEALAND BUTTER. In butter, as I remarked last week, the season is over in England, but much useful information is obtainable as to the trade and its prospects. I had a long and interesting chat lately with Mr Reynelds, of one of the largest London firms dealing in New Zealand dairy produce. He told me that while a small — very small— proportion of the New Zealand butter was of better quality than the bsst Australian, there was a far larger proportion of the best quality in the Australian shipments ; indeed only 15 to 20 per cent, of the New Zealand ehipments were properly up to the mark. It was no use, he said, sending " farmers' butter to the London market, and expecting good prices for it. So long," he said, "as New Zealand continues to Bend Home ' farmers' butter,' bo long will the trade be a failure. It must be factory butter, only you must not call it * faotoy butter,' for in London by that is understood the sort of cheap, made-up butter, composed of all sorts of inferior materials, or even margarine. No, it must be called * creamery ' butter; that is what in England we call the butter made at dairy factories. ThJi is very important. It greatly affects thesil.ableness of the product. Remember, it must be 'creamery' butter to sell well in London." Messrs Reynolds have sent the Field newspaper a sample of prime New Zealand butter, and have reason to expect favourable comments upon it in the next issue. Last week's Grocer had an article on the subject, which may be interesting to those concerned in the trade. Aud I may remark iv passing that tho extent to which New Zealand matters are beginuing to be noticed in London is very observable. Messrs Reynolds also -have arranged with the Agentgeneral to have a display^ of New Zealand dairy produce at the Imperial Institute when that opens next month. Talking with some experts on the question of the colonial dairy industry, they impressed upon me the need of the New Zealand producers clearly understanding, that their butter should be as dry as possible— that is to say, that as much of its water as can be got rid of should be extracted. It has been observed that some of the best New Zealand butter has only 10 per cent, of water. This represents a very high standard of excellence, aa the recent conference of dairy experts agreed that 20 per cent, of water was admissible as a maximun proportion. Still the bulk of New Zealand butter contains much more, and so acquires a bad name in the market as b/eing, of relatively poor quality. One sample of New Zealand only yielded 9£ per cent., a remarkable result. An inquiry reached me from some Auck-Jand-Taranaki producers as to the merits of the preserving compound called "preservitas," and I have devoted a good deal of time and attention to the point. It appears that the importation of butter cured with " preservitas " is absolutely prohibited in Brazil, and this is a matter of importance to New Zealand, as a trade with Rio by means of the direct steamers was looked forward to by the dairy producers. lam assured on good authority — that, indeed, of a high expert— that "preservitas," if the genuine stuff bo used, has no deleterious effect whatever; but, on the contrary, keeps the butter fresh as well as sweet, and that it is used in every ton that leaves Australia. iChas proved a complete success, and is a most valuable preservative. But— and this is an urgent "but" — the utmost care must be used not to confound the real "preservitas" with various cheaper compounds which are freely sold for preserving purposes. These are in some casr s of little use, but the true "preservitas" has been found an excellent preservative of perii-h-able produce, and 1 per cent, is sufficient for the purpose if the butter has been properly made in the beginning. I state this on the authority of one of the most prominent experts in the London trade.

Unluckily I must continue in a tone of remonstrance when I turn to the subject of fruit. Here again I consulted eminent experts in the trade, and received most full and obliging assistance in obtaining information. Tho

verdict on recent importations, especially from Auckland, is unfavourable. "The apples," they tell me, "are unsuitable to the London markets. They are too miscellaneous a lot, not picked and uniform in character, as they must bo to suit the London buyers in the fruit fcrade. They have not been uniform in siae or quality. They were picked too green, and not being properly ripe when gathered lack the full flavour, upon which English purchasers insist. Mr White, of Covent Garden, one of the largest dealers in this trade, said: " Unless your New Zealand growers are more particular to send the best quality of fruit, you will never get good prices in this market." What I find to be the prevailing idea is that the New Zealand growers will not take the trouble to see that they send a really suitable and saleable article; and that they gather their fruit and pack them anyhow and higgledypiggledy into cases, with the feeling " There, that's quite good enough for England, and if it isn't it ought to be." But it isn't, and the English buyers will not buy unless care is taken to meet their wish. I have laid great stress on this point, as I gather on all hands that New Zealand, in this case as in butter, is rapidly missing her prospects of a large and remunerativs trade merely for the want of more care and pains in its management. m Another point in the fruit trade is the excessive rate of freight charged. I have just seen the account sales which will go out by this mail to the New Zealand exporter. The apples were sent in half-bushel cases, and the freights and charges came to £11 12s, while the apples realised only £6 5s Bd, a little more than half the actual cost of freight. It is strongly represented to me that if tbe fruit trade is ever to develop these excessive rates of freight must be reduced to a more reasonable figure. At present the freights come to 2d per lb on apples, which, of course, is prohibitive. NEW SCHEME OF RAILWAY REFORM. A startling and tremendous Bcheme of reform in railway •charges—which quite puts Mr Samuel Vaile's proposal in the shade —is now being advocated by Mr J. H. Wilson, who is travelling through England and lecturing on the subject—" stumping the country" in fact. He proposes that the State should purchase and own and rule all the railways—New Zealand is with him so far—and carry every passenger to and from every station, no matter what the distance, at a uniform fare of one penny! I fancy this outVailes Vaile, doesn't it ? And its advocate makes out a most ingenious case in its favour. He takes the penny postage and works out the analogy most cleverly. He wound up his last platform speech on the subject (at Peterborough) by declaring that his scheme was "10 times bolder than the penny postage scheme of Rowland Hill"—which probably no one will dispute—"and also 10,000 times righter"—as to which opinions may differ. I throw out the idea as a good election cry for the Government — " A universal penny railway fare."

The weather has been so mild in the Wairarapa district that the silver wattle is bursting into bloom.

From To Banks I &s. d. £b. d. Colonial of New Zealand 115 0 1 16 0 National 13 0 14 0 New Zealand (old) ... 4]3 6 415 6 do (new) ... 614 0 616 0 Insurance i National 0 17 9 0 18 3 New Zealand Accident ... 0 9 9 010 B New Zealand 3 11 0 3 12 0 South British 1 12 6 1 13 « Standard 0 16 6 0 16 9 Skipping i Union Steam 8 0 0 8 5 0 Coal i Kaitangata (old) 14 15 0 15 0 0 do (new) ... 1 6 0 17 0 Westport 2 12 0 2 13 0 Miscellaneous t Dunedin C. and S. Tramways 0 0 9 0 10 Milburn Cement (old) ... 10 0 10 6 « • ,d&, d & „ (new > -090 010 0 Mosgiel Woollen 314 0 3]5 0 Mornington Tramway ... 0 9 3 0 9 9 N.Z. Loan and Mercantile 118 0 20 0 National Mortgage (cum T div.) 0 6 9 0 7 3 New Zealand Drug ... 019 9 10 3 Otago Daily Times ... 817 6 9 2 6 Perpetual Trustees ... 014 0 015 0 Roslyn Tramway 114 6 115 6 Trustees and Executors 15 0 16 0 Mining Companies : Big River Extended ... 0 8 0 0 8 6 Cumberland 0 10 0 0 11 0 Exchange 0 0 9 0 10 Globe 0 8 6 0 9 6 Hercules 0 0 8 0 010 Keep-it-Dark No. 2 ... 0 1 9 0 2 0 Lord Edward 0 10 0 13 Lyell Creek , ... 0 0 9 Oil' Progress ' 12 6 13 3 Sir Charles Russell ... 0 1 6 0 19 United Alpine (LyelJ, ex _ div.) 10 6 116 Wealth of Nations ... 8 0 8 0 010 Dekdging Companies : Big Beach 0 5 3 0 5 6 Dunedin 12 6 13 6 Jutland Flat (vendors) ... 0 8 0 0 8 6 Millers' Creek (20s paid-up) 0 5 9 0 6 0 do (contributing) 0 3 0 0 3 6 Sandhillß (10s paid-up) ... 0 4 0 0 4 3 Upper Waipori (10s paid up) 0 4 0 0 4 3 do (contributing) 0 3 0 0 3 6 Sluicing Companies i Island Block Extended (old) 0 3 6 0 4 0 Roxburgh Amalgamated (18s paid-up, contributing) 0 3 6 0 3 9 Fenwick & Logan R. & A. J. Park Thomas Grose Quick & Viyian J. & W. Gage - E. R. Smith Hamilton & M'Kerrow i. R. Scon Brodrick & Chalmer