EXPORT OF PRODUCE.

Taranaki Daily News, 22 December 1923, Page 5

EXPORT OF PRODUCE.

REMARKABLE EXPANSION. DAIRYING IN TARANAKI. THIS SEASON’S OUTPUT. The part played by the dairy and meat industries in the development of the port of New Plymouth brings into prominence the expansion of the export trade of the'Dominion in recent years. With this expansion, particularly in the dairying industry, Taranaki has developed in a way that has placed it as the leading dairying province in the Dominion. It is an established fact that this province, with its dual plants at the dairy factories, can alter the output of cheese or butter by 10,000 tons a year, a sufficient quantity to affect the dairy produce markets of the wc/ld. Each season reveals an increase over L the previous season’s output of produce. From July 1 up to December 19, the i of butter •in Taranaki ha* been boxes less than in the corresponding period of last year, when 129,722 boxes were exported. The decrease i& due principally to the number [of factories which have confined their operations so far to making cheese. In this commodity there has been an increase of 92.88 per cent, in the output so far this season, the total number of crates put through the freezing works at Moturoa being 77,466, as against 40,161 in the corresponding months of 1922. BULK GOES TO BRITAIN. The bulk of the Dominion export ol dairy produce is shipped to the British, market, which, it is interesting to note, incidentally, consumes approximately 225,000 tons of sea-borne refrigerated butter each year, and nearly 140,000 tons of cheese. These enormous quantities represent only about half of Britain's total consumption of dairy produce.

There was a record increase in the importation of butter to Great Britain last year, whsn New Zealand led the Empire producers with 63,169 tons, thia quantity representing a remarkable increase of 20,435 tons.

Modern trade in refrigerated meat necessitates a colossal slaughter of animals every year. In the Southern Hemisphere there are nearly 100 freezing works with a combined capacity* of 4,000,000 cattle and 60,000,000 sheep and lambs per year, excluding Sundays. These works do not, of course, reach anything like then- full capacity of output. The number of freezing works in New Zealand is now 46, with a killing and freezing capacity of 4430 head of cattle and 148,400 sheep and lamba daily. It is estimated that if all these works worked 1 at full capacity simultaneously they could deal with a yeax’a output in 50 days. The output last year amounted to 2,098,77'3 carcases of mutton, 4,824,811 carcases of lamb, and 266.302 quarters of beef. In 1915 there were 33 freezing works in the Dominion with a total capacity of 1300 cattle and 87,000 sheep.

REMARKABLE FIGURES. As things are to-day, making full &]« lowanee for the depreciation of the freezing industry in New Zealand and Australia, there is from the Southern Hemisphere an endless procession of dumb animals pressing on to slaughter at the rate of 25 a minute, day and night—a single file 8500 miles jn length. In a little over 40 years the refrigerated meat trade to Great Britain lias increased from a sample shipment of 40 tons to an annual output of over 820,000 tons. The total number of cattle in the United Kingdom last year was 12,061,625 head, sheep 23,701,021. compared with 3323/223 head of cattle and 22,sheep in New Zealand. It may be noted that Britain is having a bad time as regards serious epidemics of disease among her herds. In the early part of last year there was an exceptionally severe outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease at Hull, and it spread over a large part of England and Southern Scotland, entailing wholesale destruction. The present outbreak is even more destructive,- involving the slaught-* er of 70,000 head of cattle already to combat the fell disease. This Dominion is exceptionally fortunate in respect to the health of its herds, but experience in other countries just now should encourage New Zealand dairymen to guard jealously the fine condition of their cattle.