Untitled

Timaru Herald, Volume LXXVI, Issue 11688, 22 February 1902, Page 3

Mr Sinclair, of the Victorian Agricultural Department, has prepared a report on the Victorian butter industry, in winch he states that the total number of cases of butter received in England from Australia and New Zealand since July Ist is 222,200, as against 333,786 for a similar period last year. The deficiency of 111,586, Mr Sinclair adds, under-estimates the Australian falling-olf. because New Zealand has slightly increased her exports this year. Referring to the fishiness. of which complaints have been made in former years, Mr Sinclair says that there has been a marked improvement this season. He names some brands, however, which are not yet all that could be desired in this respect. A syndicate of silk-merchants lias been formed in New York for the purpose of introducing spider-silk as a commercial commodity into the American Continent. It is stated that no difficulty has. been experienced in acclimatising the most prolific species of African and Brazilian spiders, some of which weave webs from eight to twelve feet in diameter, and quite as strong as the ordinary silk of commerce^

I in colour, and so like the product of tiie silkworm that is can scarcely be distiHg : uished from it. A popular society fad is to possess gloves woven from the silk.. They command exorbitant prices, as much as from fifty to a hundred dollars being paid for a single pair-