SOUTH ISLAND DAIRY ASSOCIATION.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LXII, Issue 144671, 4 May 1915, Page 4

SOUTH ISLAND DAIRY ASSOCIATION.

ANNUAL REPORT

The annual report of the South Island Dairy Association has Imen issued. It states that when the war broke out it was thought hy many that shipment of produce would be impassible, hut continence was returned ami thereuvre plenty of buyers at from lj.’ t d to Gpl f.o.b. for cheese and 11 Ad to Is for butter. In the South Island, as usua'.. factories decided to sell. “None of our factories grudge the buyers the profit they made, ns they recognise tho risk in buying was considerable, and that the price paid to them was decidedly good. The buyers at Home did not anticipate these high prices, and most, if not all, sold at once at very moderate profits. In tho past tinned meats have been a main army ration, but in this war Hie army use fresh and frozen meat, and cheese, and very little tinned meat in comparison. American and other tinned meals, instead of booming, have slumped and gone lower' and lower, and .some specula lops must have fallen in badly on these lines. They recovered in price later. There is no doubt that Hie choose will t-bmimie at u-high pl us' as long as the war lasts, and probably for a considerable time afterwards, and fito prospects fur both cliocsc and butter are bright.” Referring to the .shipping space .shortage t-he report say.s:—“Up to the end of February, despite war conditions and the use of many insulated steamers for transports, our dairy produce was sent away well, ami more.dairy produce: was sent awa\ up till then than in the corresponding six months ofjhc previous year. During March and April, however. dairy produce lias not been going so well, and at the end of April we shall have some 15,000 crates of clicese awaiting Hiiprnent at Bluff, Dunedin and Lyttelton, that should have gone in April. This will be all got away in May, it is expected. Two causes operated latterly to cause the shortage in space for dairy produce first, the British Government decided to buy all the frozen moat, and tlio Government look tlio whole refrigerated space The National Dairy Association and the South Island Dairy Association urged the Government to give adequate space to the dairy produce, and after one or two .shipments this was done, but the shutting out of dairy produce at first in some steamers Ims caused a considerable accumulation of cheese, which it will take a little time to overtake. The other cause i.s tho congested slate ol the London docks, causing great delay in the return of our steamers to this Dominion. The Xew Zealand and .Shaw, Savill and Albion Shipping Companies, under contract with the two associations, decided not to suspend the contract in so far as rates of freight were concerned, as could have been done under tho war clause in the contract. But they were obliged to suspend it in so far as regular sailings arc concerned. They have carried out tho work satisfactorily and it is a ■good thing wc had a coni met, as freights in nil other countries have considerably advanced, and tbe cost of running steamers, in increased cost of coal, war risk insurance, etc., is considerable.”