THE DAIRY.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 10756, 30 April 1913, Page 2

THE DAIRY.

NORTH ISLAND NOTES.

[Feom Otjr Correspondent.] WELLINGTON, April 25. The Te Kuiti Co-operative Dairy Company has been fined £5 for attempting to export butter containing ever 16 per cent of moisture. It is quite refreshing to read in the "Australasian" that home separation is mot all it is cracked up to be, in fact, the following admission is made: —"lt is believed that if the use of the home separator extends to the few factories which have hitherto resisted its advance we will have no longer for export that high grade of product which has earned for Victoria the excellent position she occupies on the London market." If home separation is the cause of the deterioration, how is it that the decline in quality is only evident now, seeing that the bulk of Victorian butter is made on the creamgathered system? The truth of the matter is home separation dn the, whole milk system notwithstanding,' Victoria, as indeed the whole of Australia, is without the great assistance of the excellent State instruction, and grading New Zealand dairymen enjoy. The Australian factory manager is'a law unto himself.. There is no such thing as a uniformity of system in manufacture and a common conception of the requirements in manufacturing a high-grade article, which is happily the case in this country, owing to our splendid system ,of official grading, and the State expert being thereby able to place his finger at once on the weak work being done at any factory in the country, a weakness, it may be remarked, which is at once rectified by the visit of a qualified expert who is invariably despatched with promptitude to the scene of the trouble. There are only two concerns in the dominion, I understand, where the State expert is not heartily welcomed and where the exceptional knowledge of the expert is not availed of, but it is significant that these two companies are losing more money than they should be; in fact, are living on a past reputation. True, home separation is proving successful in the north, but if it were being conducted under Australian conditions it would be just as unsatisfactory as it is proving in the Commonwealth. As with our whole milk' factories the managers of the homeseparation factories are guided in thenwork by tho State experts, and the system benefits in consequence, except in those unfortunate cases where tho manager is practically forced to accept cream which he knows should be rejected.

The " Australasian " makes the very good point, which New Zealand dairymen ■would do well to heed, that if it comes to a choice between good margarine and bad butter the former will score every time, especially as it is being consistently improved, while butter ("Victorian that is) is 021 the down grade. Speaking of margarine calls to niimi that a South. Island paper contained a statement from » reputed meat authority the other day that tho meat iompanies were increasing their shipments of fat for margarine manufacture in Britain and Europe. As a matter of fact, tlie margarine people are finding animal fat too expensive for their purpose, niul are introducing vegetable fats (extracted from nuts). One of the chief weaknesses in the Australian system of co-operativ< dairying is the great weakness of our system, for it is declared that large Victorian factories are boldly robbing the smaller ones of suppliers, so that, where all should be working to one end. there is rivalry and bitterness, and knowing that a rival will immediately secure the cream a small manager dare not turn any away. This black spot on co-operation is, unfortunately, the rea son for much of the unsatisfactory butter and cheese we export, principally the latter. It is safe to say that without a common understanding among our daily companies to reject really inferior milk the butter and cheese of this country will never be of the uniformly high standard it should be.

Complaints are rife of the unsatisfactory nature of the quality of the milk sent to the factories in not a few instances during the current reason (says the '' Hawera Star "'). "We are assured, on what .wins to be excellent authority, that a Government dniry inspector working in the Taranaki district lias found that in a. number of ciiw. people are not nearly as clean in their milking operations as they should he; also that the cowsheds and niii'<ing utensils should have much more attention than they are apparently receiving at present. Factory m aliases complain very bitterly of this want of cleanliness on the part of some, si ppliers, and say that part ol tlie milk sent tii the factories arrives in a mo-,t unsatisfactory state. This, they point out, is a menace to the whol_e in<lli>tiy.

and is particularly unfair to those farmers who are careful to send along pure milk. Tho factory managers, we learn, aro of opinion that drastic regulations should be enforced, and that more Government inspectors are required to regularly visit ill© individual dairies, and insist on cleanliness about the yards, tho cowsheds, the buckets and cows, and especially the milking machines It is an absolute essential that these machines should bo kept scrupulously clean, and every part should be. very carefully washed after each milking. Recognising tho supreme importance of tho industry to Taranaki, it requires nc argument to show how vitally important this aspect of the question is Any element which might m ;J .--tate against the very best rwr.lt being obtained should be met and overcome if possible. Any want of cleanliness must prejudicially affect tho milk and to a greater or lesser degree the quality of tho whole output of cheese. The industry must not bo subjected to any such risks, and it is unfair that the interests of the many dairy farmers; should, be injured through the neglect of a careless or indifferent few.