THE DAIRYING INDUSTRY.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LIII, Issue 12866, 26 May 1905, Page 3

THE DAIRYING INDUSTRY.

SIR' J. G. WARD tNTERVKEWIfI)

ADUIiTEEiATIO/N' OP COLONIAL

BUTTER.

LOCAL liAIL-TVAY CHARGES.

The deputation, comprising- Messrs Praser. Mew ton King, J. B. Oonnett, foreman and Bedford, representing the Taranaki Chamber of Commerce and Xational Dairy Association,

which waited cm Sir .Joseph Ward on

Tuesday, brought forward a couple of questions of vital importance to the dairying industry of this eoL>ny, tho one having a general significance while the other is more of local interest. ll r King produced a, letter written by "Home buyers pointing out that the Dutchmen had dropped into a tystem of adulteration of .New Zealand and Australian butters whereby they so doctored the article that the weight was increased 30 per cent., and analysis had been baH'ed in an endeavour to 'detect the chemical* used. The practice was to purchase the butter on toha Itiolish markets, thon send !t to Holland for adulteration and subsequently place it on the Home market again in its doctored state and increased weight. Sir Joseph was asked what •Urps the 'Government proposed to lake in order to avert irreparable harm resulting to the colonial indu.s-

Sir Joseph said he was fully alive [o tin 1 importance of intervention in this nmtter. The Covcrnment of ' New Zealand, ho sard, would do all in its power to prevent the adulteration of our exported article. He recognised

that to allow the Dutchmen to continue the practice would seriously affect our trade and the reputation v>e had built on the English market. l>y the Dutch getting hold of Cloo,oo<i of our Nutter they would increase its \alue to £830.000. thus making a fie- ! tit 'oils profit of .I*Bo,ooo on the transaction. Tie suggested co-operation betwira the Hovernment, exporters and pr.vdiKTLN with a view to checking tho i in? odd being made on our butter ttau'f. It was highly desirable that rvM-v I'H'ort should be made to maintain the article as pure as 'when, it 1.-»f l these shores. Our product had trot v. i thin -Is of the price obtaining for Danish, and it was hard indeed on tli" enterprise of dairymen and producers of this country to have, our article subjected to an inocul xti'on "which must be detrimental to it on the market. Tie said if an extract from the letter received by Mr King was spnt to him officially he would instantly causr some action to be tali en in the mat-

'Air Foreman pointed out tnat probably th»y Would not be able to prevent tin 4 Dutch taking- the butter to Holland, but he sugjgcstfd ihat as tlu'rc wa^ a bill before tho ""mperial Parliament dealing with ndultoratpd nutter representation should 'jo marl" Jo have a clause inserted prohibiting the, sale of an adulterated article as pun 1 . Sir .Joseph sawl the point would be taken cognisance of, aud representation ■would be made by the New Zealand Government to the Imperial C»o-\-ernment when the Bill referred to win under consideration. Afr Foreman then brought forward the question of the charye of Is fkl I a ton imposed by the railway autborilio-; for the carriage of produce from 1 ho 'iloturoa freezing works to the ■wharf. It, was pointed out that the di-tanre was uraler a mile and tliat the buMv of the produce had, "before reaching the works, to be carried -omr considerable distance over • the railway line at some expense to the producer. In addition th"re was no expenditure of labour by the railway slali' a-< the loading and unloading was done by the factory consigning, or in the case of the works at GVLoturoa ; the staff there did the wort. The yeneral feeling existed that tho dlvarge should be reduced to Is a f on. Mr C'onnelt. in supporting Mr Foreman's remarks, pointed out t-hal thousands of pound.* were spent annually in convoying produce oict the lines, and even with the Moturoa. Company the annual expenditure amounted to something lL'ke; .C2OOO. i'esides the distance being very short.! the company had spont £450 in providing a siding (which Was being used by others than the company. Sir Joseph, in reply, said while recognising the dairy industry to be one of the greatest, if not the oreatest, in the colony, and therefore entitled to every support possible and reasonable, the system under question affect<"d the whole of the terminal haul ago in Ihe colony. Jt was not confined only fo dairying, Imtr to all classes of fra'fTic, aud therefore required - thorough and careful enquiry. The sajme point as that raised was not an uncommon one, and in come cases the private siding had also been made. It was a difficulty he, as Minister in charge, ihad to grapple with in the administration of a commercial asset belonging to tho people. The point was that in such cases (practically a local train had to be maintained, and as suUicierit work was not availa^llo to keep t>h<> facilities supplied fior the fnill time a charge had to bo made which would defray the cost of tho whole of the y f% a»*. "H f> was ai^ions to help tho butter trade in the colony all "he po«:;ibly could, and he would like very much to see the conditions generally

placed in a more satisfactory position, but in reference to thd request before him he would enquire into the matter and reply later.

Mr Connctt mentioned that in [New Plymouth they were in an extraordinary position. The (Jovernnunt had the approach to the wharf, and -fchius debarred the people getting conveyance of produce at half the price t barg-od on the railway. That point had also to be taken into consideration.

Sir Joseph remarked that at tJie BlulY the position was identically the same, but there the railway charg-e was tibout four times the amount it would cos I to cart goods !.o the wharf by road.