AUSTRALIAN CHEESE.

Otago Witness, Issue 2785, 31 July 1907, Page 6

AUSTRALIAN CHEESE.

It is only a few years since the New Zealand exports of dairy produce exceeded those of Australia, but for the year which ended on June 30 the Australian export of butter amounted to 33,169 tons, as against 15,416 tons shipped from NewZealand in the last statistical year ; this colony, however, exporting 8146 tons of cheese, compared with an insignificant quantity from Australia. New" Zealand has hitherto, next to Canada, been the principal supplier of imported cheese to the British market, and the substantial profits which have been reaped by the producers for the last few years have set Australian dairymen to consider whether they cannot be as successful in the production of cheese as of butter. Encouragement has been derived from th« favourable opinions on Victorian cheese expressed by Mr James Sawers, of the New Zealand Government dairying service, at the Melbourne -.how last autumn, and by the London dealers on the same cheese. Queensland cheese has also been favourably reported upon in London. The Victcrian Government dairy expert declares that the conditions of his State are suitable, with the use of proper appliances and processes, ?or the production of Cheddar chees;? of the highest quality; and he quotes Mr Sawers on the larger profite which are made from cheese than fiom butter-making, and on the superior advantages which some districts in Victoria present for the former. He has placed before the dairymen a full calculation of the comparative results in Virtc ria, showing approximated l^d per 1b of butter-fat in favour of cheese-making. He further quotes cases in -which cheese would have returned ljd per 1b more than was realised for the butter, and instances of farmers who made chee.°e averaging 30s to 50s per cow in the 6eason more than their neighbours who separated the n'ilk. Farmers, however, ore not advised to give up butter-making (or separating), but the advice ii givon that every milk-receiving factory should have a cheese plant, and manufacture a few tons at certain times of the year. The New Zealand experts

deprecate the dual-plan*- system; contending thnt the uncertainty' of the future prices of the respective products is ko great that by the time a cheese plant had been added to a creamery or butter factory the present position might be reversed. One thing is "certain : that other countries will make a larger quantity of cheese under the stimulus of the h.gh prices, and the resuli may easily be a glutted market and a collapse of valf.es, such as has been experienced before now. The Victorian expert does not place this view before his constituents. The probability that Australia will become a cheese-exporting country need not alarm our dairy farmers, but it should add to the reasons for caution before committal to the change from butter to cheese and the erection and equipment of the necessary factory. It may be taken as certain that Queensland wili push the making of cheese ; and that West Australia, where our ex-commissioner (Mr J. A. Kinsella) is installed as expert, must be regarded as. cnother probable competitor. It is well that steps are to be taken without further delay to improve the- quality of the New Zealand product.