HIGH PRAISE

Southland Times, Issue 23024, 19 October 1936, Page 8

HIGH PRAISE

Cleanliness In Factories GOOD IMPRESSION ON A VISITOR DAIRY PRODUCE QUALITY DISCUSSED “It wasn’t news to me to find that you had a very fine quality of cheese and butter in New Zealand. I have known that for years, but it was a tremendous privilege to me to see your dairy products for export being made , in such first-class, orderly and clean 1 < factories,” Mr F. W. Parsons, a mem- i ber of the Empire Chambers of Com- ! ' merce delegation, said to The Southland j ) Times on Saturday. Mr Parsons knows ■ , what dairy produce should be. Formore I, than 40 years he has been engaged in i• London in importing dairy and other I. produce and for years has handled big > i quantities of New Zealand goods. j ’ Mr Parsons said that he had been )’ much impressed with the cleanliness of 11 factories, machinery and factory staffs 1 in butter factories. He had been al- | 1 lowed to sample for himself milk and ' j cream and as an expert in these mat- ;. ters he had been delighted with their ' - very high quality. He had several times been asked, Mr ; - Parsons continued, of the effect on | 1 New Zealand agriculture of the quota i ’ system in England resulting in a sur- , 1 plus of cheese which would not be 1 wanted by the English market. One ( answer to that was that New Zealanders i j might eat more cheese themselves. He ; j did not know why, but New Zealanders ; seemed very poor cheese consumers. ; A tremendous amount of it was eaten 1

by all classes in England, but New i Zealanders he had met in hotels seemed always most lukewarm in their liking for a really good food, of high nutrition value. He suggested an “Eat More Cheese” campaign, and his final word on the subject dealt with the effect of immigration. “If you double your population, and I expect you will, you need have no worry about disposing of dairy produce surpluses,” he ' said. England’s Oldest Industry. “Our friends in New Zealand some- i times seem to forget that agriculture is i England’s oldest and probably still her i most important industry. We are bound '

to help our farmers and increase the . sale of home products and their quality, I while at the same time not forgetting 1 I the high quality of goods—which we I | like and want—made in the Dominions.” ■ 1 Mr Parsons said that in his many chats with farmers in the Dominion he had noticed a feeling of nervousness about the new marketing arrange-j ments. As one connected with the ■ trade, the suggestion he gave was that the system must be given a trial, and then, from results, it could be seen how it would work out. On his re- ' turn to England, Mr Parsons said he , would certainly be glad to tell his 1 friends of the quality of the goods he • had seen. Mr Parsons spoke of his own connection with the ■work of the London ! Chamber of Commerce, particularly as ’ it affected the interests of produce im- ■ ported from the Dominions. He is the ' chairman of the Provision Trade Sec- I ■ tion of the London Chamber, a com- . mittee which deals with all the in- 1 : terests of the trade—of exporters, im- . porters and merchants. His own trip i 1 to New Zealand had been full of in- i terest, he said, and he had welcomed < the opportunity of acquainting himself with the New Zealand end of a trade :. he had been engaged in more than 40 | years. —~ i.