BUTTER EXPORT.

Taranaki Herald, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 8638, 26 November 1889, Page 3

BUTTER EXPORT.

THE AUCKLAND SHIPPERS IN A MESS.

The unfortunate position which the dairy industry of this colony has been placed in through the engagement by the frozen meat export companies of all the refrigerating space on the English steamers, is referred to by the Auckland Star. It says serious loss to the colony is involved by the fact that tons upon tons of butter prepared for export must, in the absence of shipping space to carry it away, remain here to glut the local market, or lie unsold while surely deteriorating in quality. The shipping companies can only reply, "We cannot help you ; the space is engaged, and the matter is thus out of our hands." This unfortunate state of affairs was not realised by the butter exporters until too late to make arrangements for a special vessel in time to be of any use this season. The butter shipping months are December, January, February, and March, and there is already a large and ever advancing amount of butter awaiting shipment ; such, at any rate, is the case in Auckland, and no doubt the same is true of the other, dairying centres throughout New Zealand. To show how our production of butter has increased since the business has been systematically worked through the medium of creameries and factories, we may point to the fact that for six months of the year that two butter-making firms in this district will alone turn out an average of a ton per day each, or something like 350 tons of butter, roughly speaking. The important point now is how to get over the difficulty with which butter exporters find themselves. It appears that the only hope is in the public J spirit and generosity of the various meat ' exporting companies, who, wo think, might be prevailed upon to give up a certain amount of space in each steamer to enable the colony to send away to a profitable market some of the enormous surplus of butter we shall have this season before it loses half its value by storing under more or less unfavorable conditions. ! From enquiries made, we believe that about a ton and a quarter measurement of space would be sufficent to take a ton weight _ of butter, including packages. Now, this space would, we believe, only accommodate ten or twelve carcasses of mutton ; therefore, forty tons of Dutter would only displace about 500 sheep, which would be a very small proportion indeed of the whole cargo of frozen mutton. Surely, under the circumstances, it is not asking too much of the frozen meat shippers to make this little sacrifice on behalf or a sister industry likely to benefit the agricultural classes so largely. When the export trade has been once firmly established, it is also to the interest of everyone connected with the export trade in food products that the dairy produce trade, amongst others, should become an assured success, for with larger amounts of freight offering, the rates, doubtless, will be reduced by the shipping companies. We trust that the meat exporters may see their way to help the dairy people out of their very serious difficulty in this matter, and that the profit on large quantities of valuable articles like butter may not be lost to the eoleny, and a promising agricultural industry severely shaken, when 4 little concession snch as indicated on the part of the freezing companies would go a long way to prevent such a misfortune.