COLONIAL DAIRY PRODUCE.

Otago Witness, Volume 06, Issue 2899, 6 October 1909, Page 21

COLONIAL DAIRY PRODUCE.

REVIEW FOR THE YEAR.

GROWTH OF FOREIGN COMPETITION. (Faoic Oxm Own Correspondent.) ' LONDON, 'August 20. Some years ago Russia as a butterproducing country threatened to become a ! keen competitor with New Zealand in the • London market. But even the most opti- . mistio on Russian account little dreamed ' of the rapid expansion in its export of. butter to this country. In a decade it has j almost quintupled itself, while, in the same- < psriod New "Zealand has scarcely doubled ; iui output. For the year ended June 30, [ n00,n 00,- ' Russia sent to the British market '. ;.88; .88 tons an<T New Zealand sent 7949 tons ; ! for the year ended June 30 last .Russian imposts aeoohed 32,612 tons, and , New Zealand- imports 13,631 tons. . Russian figures have °been , on a steadily increasing scale ; j New-. Zealand figures have fluctuated, . for J the years 1904, 1905, 1906, and ,1907 all | showed big£?&r totals tihan for the year ' ended June 30, 1909 Messrs Weddel and Co., in their report, state. tJbat-the supplies of colonial butter to British markets for the last four years have j been disappointing to everyone connected j with the trade, as they show, a decrease of 25,075 tons in contrast to the increase of 24,647- tons of the previous four years ; the imports from the colonies for the past year were practically tKe same as in- 1901, while I in contrast to this the imports from foreign j countries totalled 34,464 tons more than in • 1901. Messrs 3 Wed<i«i remark that of the j three sources of colonial supply, New Zea- j land exhibits the greatest steadiness, Aim- ; tralia has been very 'spasmodic, while j Canada shows a great* falling off. The ex- j pansion of the New Zealand export butter i trade was checked by the sudden rise m i the price of cheese, which made it pay relatively better than butter. '•(Throughout ihe last four years this rise has averaged s about 10s per cwt. highei\than during the previous four years, due mainly to the deficiency in the Canadian supply. Dealing with the important subject of the j quality of New Zealand and Australian : butter, which has not registered mtich im- i provement. during the year, Messrs WeoVkl have some stringent comments to nak<». They write: "There have been widespread complaints concerning shipments from both thoso ( sources, though no doubt these were .«oiiie- . what exaggerated by the condition of +ho I market. Traders who had bought forward \ at very high prices — so high that they established a record — and found heavy losses attaching to their enterprise, naturally were led to examine their goods *n a more critical spirit than if the enterprise had been profitable. These ' market' faults, however, have a good substratum of truth. The two general causes of complaint made by buyers were ' fish i ness' and excessive • moisture, beyond the experience of former \ years. The second of these conditions s i one over which butter-makere have com- ; plete control, and it behoves every butter ; factory in Australia and New Zealand to j take drastic measures to prevent the legal ( limit of 16 per cent, from being exceeded, as this year it has been in a good many ; -cases. So long as the moisture is kept : below the legal limit in this country no j jus_t complaint can be made by the buyer, ; unless he has by previous experience, or j by contract, been led to expect some limit j below that fixed by law. " Many buyers this year have discovered that 9oine brands of Austalian and New Zealand butter contain more moisture than j in previous years, although not in excess ; of the legal limit. New Zealand butter ; had gained a reputation for its dry ness and j good quality, and buyere who purchased it i largely because of these characteristics are j naturally led to complain when they find j drymees conspicuous by its absence. The I importer .has undoubtedly a just ground | of complaint if, after buying a certain ' brand expecting ft to be exactly as he had j previously found it, it proves to have | largely changed its condition in wsoect to the amount of moisture it carries. Those merchants who buy forward for the spa?on, and who wish for a specially drj butter, can, by arrangement, secure the amount of moisture suitable to their requirem-ants. Confidence on both sides is essential to satisfactory trading, and if definite and extensive tests were made so as to discover tho exact amount of moisture most suitable for keeping butter in perfect condition for . the longest time, as was sug-g-ested in 1905. ft satisfactory settlement of this question

would be easily attained. The Governments of Australia and New Zealand are in a a better position than private people to carry out tibese tests, and the sooner" the investigation is made the better it will be for both manufacturers and customers. In the meantime the Government of New Zealand is fully alive to the danger of excessive moisture, and for the coming season has appointed analysts to examine every brand before it is shipped. " There is a general opinion among buyers in this country that the large increase in the amount of fishy butter this year was directly due to tifoe increase in its moisture. The mere coincidence of "these two facts, however, by no means demonstrates that th« one is the result of the other. But fche losses yearly incurred by ' flshiness ' in butter and its unknown causes render it most desirable that some thorough investigation should be made so that a satisfactory remedy may be applied. Generally, up to now. this objee; tiomable flavour has been attributed to the working of some form of bacteria. . . The character of occasional appearances is more in fatour of it being a bacterial rather than a chemical change." It is mentioned tha,t fishiness is a very rare fault with Canadian butter, the main defect of that description being an acidity and that due to the cream not bein.g delivered daily to the factories. Dealing with prices, Messrs Weddel regard as the outstanding feature under th ; s t head the great loe3 made by those fac- j tories wii-ich ' preferred consigning their output to selling it Australian butter generally* comes on consignment, while New Zealand shippers mostly follow the practice of selling forward, and consequently the season for New Zealand I butter* was a very profitable one to tho«-9 ! sellers — in fact, the most, profitable ex- j perienoed since the trade began — in conso- j quenca of the high c.i.f prices secured. \ A very > prominent fea.ture in thfi Aus- j trajasian butter trade is ,t.he difference in j prices between the value of Australian and j New Zealand butter, which is year by year'j widening. * j It is well known that while 97 per ' cent, of New Zealand butter is classed a<3 first grade, a considerably less percentafro ' of Australian reaches that, standard. If j the New Zealand standard of grading were j followed in Australia not much over 80 per j cenit. of the latter would be placed in the ! first grade. - ) Messrs Weddel are of opinion that tHo time has come for a stiffening up of t.he grading- in Net* Zealand, either by raising , the percenta-ge of points n€co«w»ry for : each j grade or by making an extra section above > t%3 piresent " first " and calling it " first | extra" or "superfine." Wih-on so much] as 97 per cent, of butter is good enough I to reach the "first grade.!' there is ample j room for more stringency, so as to enable ' the. best butter-makers to secure 'a premium. ' for their more perfect product. For' tlw» year end n <l Jutii^ \a.*l iEe export j of 'chwe/ie from New Zealand was four rimes as mucxi as it w»s ir> 1905 ; the Dominion ' now holds second place amoner th« ooun- . , tries shipping chee*e to tn« T'nit-ed Kin«r- i S dom, Canada or-enpvinT firpfc plac>. So | recently «« WO7 Hollan.rl V."V' seoo-r/! pl*»oo • and tho TJnit<vl Bt.ttes third, while N^-.y j j Zealand was fourth New Z-palon-d in- | [ creases for the last four vear= have bow j [ 1798 tons, 2727 tons. 4555 tons, ajul 3420 | I tons respectiv<*iy ; the tot.il import for j ! 1900 was 16,572 tons, a-rainsi 3975 t-->"s \u j I 1900. Five years ago New Zealand sv.p- j plied only about 4 per c?ni\ of rh<* r^lonU-l and about 3 per .eon*, of the i o i 'f. ! irrp-irs lof cheese. To-day th« n?w Do=r : - ion nspI plies 20 nor cent, of rh* on 'on in! and nearly 15 por cenj-.. of rh« +ot,' I ir.~- ' I ported. Ten veavs ago Ho1!si;h1 "u.--',>li*<l . i 17.019 tory;, rk;<s year onl->- 24 f-fi.T Jo?J o? «• - ' i 10 years ago the United States- supr^icct • i 32.183 tons, this v<var only 3765 tons.. i Very rapidly New Zealand rhtysi i« - 'losing • that "hornv'* l < \tiir« ai"> I sheepv flavour which li-ive nr^vin-ly "'is: 1 - , i acteriserl it. Durinsr iho py* yea** ilisvc ■ I two features have n^rly vanifhr-!. Af tho j | lome time there i« yet mo'-e to '•■o rJo^e j before tho gener.) ! finality reaches the j high ■sra.ndq-rrl of Canadian chfe-o. Messrs ; Wrddel ad.mir that in oyv»ptional ea-es it is fully equal to Canadian, aiyl th-n-p is no reason vihv the*:-' cvfvjitions no1 become th? rv>K T. al! Rf v: Hie dan^ j ! of tW cne-sp-m %';:•->••. Oonsk'o- able ■doubi" j i is he'd by importer- in this e-.untrv a-- r~ . , the best ' len-M-seratuvo r.<- wHen steamer? should carry it. The !a-,i f < w sn:pir>e-Ls have, come -it a Mtrher t-enipers ture <bsit> | at the bcgir.nj'ijr of the <wa.=op, and t> 1 s chanze has not h^p alf^eeTVi- succ^fn' i Next yc-rv it wo sV !>• :i X i-nb l^ tn try a.; I t"mpe>ra.r-jre of abriit 50'lejr Vr.h , and ! after rom- ercm-!' w< *'• tlai frxi're rai=e : ! it gradually a.-vl i."° ;f; f > mov fa\ ou^ablf temperature <-annot }.-> difovcr^J. If th^ temperature lv» ra««^ much al-ove 50doc? Fah. fboiv.upr' 1 - vn'ilation of the chamber is absolutely nec^avv in prevent nama«re from a fiatura.t-r.fi atmosphere. The New Zealand Governnier.J Iwl° every fari'itv for carrying out a t'lr.roujrblv «cient:fir and practica.l invc«ti<ration, ar.-i M^«sr« WVdd-'l suarpost that tho re.-ul>' would b^ more j beneficial to the cheese industry of that i nominion. During the pa-=t yea-r New' ! Zealand cheese avoraged an increase of Stl | ncr cwt. ma-inly <3ue to the better prices of j the last four month?I Tho process of coatinp cihre«e witn i ;>araffin wav ha-= n-ot \et been m-ifje a pev- . f«ct sucee---'', but with further evpe-ri' nee the ! proccs.3 will doubtle"; be much immrne<l. It. I nre.vents evaporation and reta'.xls rinenii*-,?. 1 but it interfere-, wth tbat particular for1 mentation which develops thp best flavours. j and in all food^ tldvour should be the most ! cts«ntial considorarion.