THE GRADING OF PRODUCE.

Otago Witness, Issue 2722, 16 May 1906, Page 6

THE GRADING OF PRODUCE.

With the representatives of certaininterests in Australia the grading of produce for export is not ir> favour. ,fXhe objection to this step is, we gather, most pronounced on the part of the exporters of dairy produce. As we have learnt by cable, a conference, which has been sitting at Sydney to consider regulations proposed to be issued under the Commerce Act, passed b} the Federal ' Parliament last year, has affirmed the conviction that the compulsory grad- . ing of "butter is opposed to the first principles of commerce. What is precisely meant by the expression " first principles of commerce " in this con- 1 •nection is not very clear. The grounds of objection recently taken to the State-grading system by the representatives of a number of dairy , factories in New South Wales are more intelligible : '* the compulsory grading of butter by Government ! officials," it is declared, '" is unneces- : sary and an undue interference with an important industry." But we are tempted to think that this objec- j Aion is akin with that occasionally j ."urged by some exporters in this j colony to the practice of branding butter boxes with the name of the creamery from- which the butter was ; purchased, and that the interests of j the industry as a "whole have weighed less strongly with the objectors than selfish considerations have done, j For, if it be the case, as we believe £t to be the case, that the institution

of a system of grading by competent ; 1 Government officials facilitates the j transaction of business between the , i exporter and the buying houses in , London and tends to produce an ' improvement in the quality of the article, and, as a result, to secure ! batter prices for the product, it must '• be apparent that the interference is so beneficial to the industry as to be completely justified. The success of the grading system necessarily depends to a very large extent upon the qualifications of the graders and ( the character of the grading. In New Zealand, the importance of obtaining j uniformity of grading — a matter of , considerable importance, but where ( there are several ports of export , obviously of no little difficulty — has . been recognised by the Daiiy Com- J missioner, and the device has been advantageously adopted by him of ■ periodically summoning the graders together with the view of testing j their judgment on butter of different } quality. In Australia, where there ( are fewer ports of export than there , are here, the attainment of uni- i formity of grading will be a much simpler matter. And if there be a rigid system of grading, it is impossible to believe that the industry will J not profit materially. Any sugges- j tion to the contrary will be received , in this colony, at anyrate, with j derision. The"' Sydney Daily Tele- ( graph, however, seriously believes j that the grading of butter in Vie- 1 toria has done no good, if it has not , actually done harm. It supports this ' view by reference to a recent cable message which stated that Victorian ; butter officially marked " First Grade" ( was being returned by London » retailers on the ground that it was only worth 18s per cwt less than New Zealand " First Grade."' But this may not be indicative of the unwisdom oi adopting a system of Government gra-ding so much as it may be suggestive of the necessity for the appointment by Governments

of thoroughly expert men as graders. Moreover, though the margin in this instance between the values of the New Zealand and Victorian articles was very large, it is not to be forgotten that New Zealand butter, though it realised, a few years ago several shillings .per cwt less than ! was paid for Victorian, now invari- ! ably commands a higher price. For this improvement in the market value , of New Zealand butter, correspondj ing with the advance in quality, the j producers have admittedly in large 1 measure to thank the system of ! grading which is in operation. Even ; in Victoria, despite the rather *dei pressing experience of which the ' S}*dn9y Daily Telegraph makes '. capital, the benefits of Government ' grading are widely recognised. This ■is conclusively shown by the fact , that, though there has been no comi pulsory grading, the numbei of j factories that availed themselves of i the opportunity of having- their butter graded for export increased, from. 22 in 1903 to 122 at the end of last year, the latter figure representing 78 psr cent, of the number of factories i that shipped butter. In Queensland, j also, whei'e the regulation of the j dairying industry and the inspection j and grading of produce for export are comparatively a new thing, the ' opinion is decidedly favourable to I " interference" of the kind which some of the producers and shippers I in other poilions of the Common- ■ wealth deprecate. Though the grad- j , ing of butter by the officials of that State is only compulsory in the case of oversea shipments, so highly is the system regarded that persons forwarding butter from Queensland to the other States rarely do so now without asking the departments to grade and stamp it. Indeed, it is reported, the buyers refuse to take it unless it is so graded. In other words, the Queensland official stamp has apparently acquired in the Commonwealth 1 a reputation similar to that which the New Zealand stamp j has acquired in London, where the judgment of the graders in the colony has come to be accepted as a sufficient evidence of the quality of the article. " The grading of butter con- ; tinues to give every satisfaction to both buyers and sellers," Mr Kinsella wrote, with, we believe, every justification, in his last annual report upon ' the dairying industry in New Zealand. ''The system is," he added, " now recognised to be on a sound practical basis, and is looked upon k , almost without exception, by those engaged in the dairy business as being of the highest value." With our experience of the results of the system of grading of dairy produce and of hemp for export, we cannot help a feeling of some surprise at the ' strong opposition which is being offered to the proposals of the Federal Government, alread)' sanctioned by ] legislation, for the compulsory adop- - tion of such a system in respect to ■ certain of the exports from Australia. ' ]