LOCAL AGRICULTURAL NEWS. THE DAIRY INDUSTRY.

Otago Witness, Issue 2565, 13 May 1903, Page 17

LOCAL AGRICULTURAL NEWS.

THE DAIRY INDUSTRY.

Although several parts of the district report that grain is still in srtook or uncut (say-3 the Southland Times), it may be said

tint tho harvest of 1903 in Southlnnd is ] practically gathered. The quaiitit^N^ stook oiiuno t be a great deal in comparison with th-e whole, and the season is now so far advanced thrvt unripened grain may be given up for lost. It can hardly be expected that late crops will bs favoured with ripening suntshi no within six weeks of the turn of the year, and it is to bo feared that the green patches will cither na-vo to fee cut as they are or thrown open to stock. What tho farmers have now made safe is all that can safe-! y be reckoned on for this harvest. It is apparent from the general tenor of the reports published in the jiffcrent districts of Southland that the harvest is below the avore-ge both in yield and in quality. . . . Then, again, -\ large proportion of the grain will hardly reach the standard of fp.ir average quality. The camples now coming to hand show that Jie grain o! this year will be much inferior to that of former seasons. Of A grade oats there will be few, if any; while It would appear as if even B grade will be scarce. It is significant thai the brokers are quoting for B and C grades, and that Ais rarely mentioned. The Southland farmers, therefore, will have to accept with what grace they can a much less prosperous year than 1902, for while the quantity of grain to bo disposed of will be j less the prices will also be considerably ! lower than' he rates tbart ruled last year. j The prices at which business was commonly : done last season — viz., 2s to 2s 4d per ! bushel — wero due to abnormal conditions I that are wanting this year. i This season's grain (sayvs last Friday's Winton Record) is being rapidly sent away, the | daily delivery of bags at the principal TailI way stations n the district :anging from I 500 to 1000 per day, and -this is expected to ! increase shortly to 2000 per day. Sir Joseph Ward has informed Mr T. C. Thomson, M.H.R., that he :annot see his way to make any reduction in the rates for conveyance of sheep on the railways. Sir ■ Joseph says:— "The rates for live stock were very materially reduced in 1695, and are now very low for the services performed. A special! concession ie made in the case of large lots ot store sheep, which are carried at £1 per truck less than irdinary rates, and is at tho present time largely availed of by G-.nterbury buyers, -who regularly send large consignments of store sheep from Southland and Otago to all parts of Canterbury."

| COMPETITION WITH DENMARK The Auckland Herald publishes an interi view with Mr A. Busck, formerly connected with the Government Dairy Departi ment. He expresses a decided opinion about going to Canada for a dairy expert. ! "On 1..c face of it," he says, "it seems absurd to expect a man from Canada to j improve the value of our exports, when ! Canadian butter is bringing several shillings per cwt less than New Zealand butter. When tho Canadians cannot increase the value of the butter in their own country, ' how can they do it in ours? Until New Zealand adopts the system in operation to clay in Denmark, we will never be able to compete with Denmark. Now Zealand must cither bring her chief experts from Denmark or send one or two of the best men she has in the butter industry to Denmark for a few years to get training there. "New Zealand is now years and years behind Denmark. A good deal of that is due to the impression having got abroad that we have reached something like perfection. Sometimes articles are written which praise up the quality of New Zealand butter a little too much, with the result that those responsible do not make the same effort to raise the standard as they otherwise might. "There is no doubt about the superiority of tho Danish butter. The prices in the London market indicate that pretty clearly. This year the best New Zealand has averaged about 123 a cwt lower than Danish. It would pay Kew Zealand handsomely to give £1000 a year, or even £1500 a year, to an expert if the result was to raise the quality of the- butter up to the Danish - standard, and bring an additional 12s per cwt in to the producers. We have had strong proof during the year of the superiority of the Danish butter. This has not been a good year, and tho press quotations have frequently been cabled, ' Colonial butter down 4s, Danish unchanged.' That shows that Danish butter is holding its price with a large quantity of butter on the market and small demand for it. The Argentine, has been taking men from Denmark and placing them in charge of the leading factories there. " If New Zealand is to go ahead in butter production, Mr Kinsella's successor should certainly come from Denmark. To" show tho folly of going to Canada, I may state that Professor Robinson who is the leading man connected with the Canadian butte<r industry, said the Canadian butter was not much better than Siberian. When their own leading man says that it shows that they don't really know much about it."