The Waipawa Mail Published Tuesdays Thursdays & Saturdays. Tuesday, October 26, 1897. THE ROYAL COMMISSION ON AGRICULTURE.

Waipawa Mail, Volume XXI, Issue 3668, 26 October 1897, Page 2

The Waipawa Mail Published Tuesdays Thursdays & Saturdays. Tuesday, October 26, 1897. THE ROYAL COMMISSION ON AGRICULTURE.

The Royal Commission on Agriculture appointed to inquire into the agricultural depression of the United Kingdom has issued its final report, and as some of its recommendations bear directly upon the competition of colonial produce in British markets with the home-made article, it may be worth the attention of those in the colonies supplying these products to know what conclusions the Commission has drawn, and what are the recommendations it has to offer for the improvement in agriculture. Regarding the dairy industry the Commissioners declare: —lt is dear from the evidence of witnesses that the effects of agricultural depression upon the dairying industry have been much less marked than in the case of tho other branches of agriculture ; though they admit that foreign competition during the past 10 years by its great increase in supplies has considerably affected the value of the home-made produce. The Commission, however, points out that the importation of foreign and colonial meat has deprecated the price of foreign and colonial cheese, so that foreign competition does not act detrimentally solely to home-grown goods, but it sometimes re-acts on the imported article. There can be little doubt but that the large importation of frozen meat, combined with its great cheapness, has checked the consumption of cheese in England. The report shows that the import of cheese since 1876 has only increased from 51b per head of population to 51b 14az in 1895, while the import of butter per head during the same period has risen from 51b 6oz to 101 b Boz, or nearly doubled. The severity of the foreign and colonial competition in butter and cheese has turned the British and Irish farmers’ attention to the milk trade, which has developed very considerably owing to the farmer finding it more profitable, and involving much less trouble and risk, than the manufacture of butter and cheese. As one of the principal reasons why homemade butter has been unable to hold its own against its competitors the Commissioners say,—“ It is generally agreed that foreign butter, owing to its great uniformity in quality and texture, has materially displaced the home-manufactured productand in discovering the reason for this “ uniformity” they rightly place it upon the general absence of creameries and factories in the United Kingdom. The report says, “ Where ever creameries or factories have been established in Great Britain the quality of the butter has been greatly improved.” Further on, after referring to the “success which has attended the development of the creameries system in Ireland,” the Commissioners declare, “ It is evident that considerable improvement in the quality and uniformity of butter has resulted from the institution of creameries and factories in Great Britain and Ireland,” and they then recommend “ that the action of the Irish dairy farmers in the direction of co-operation should be more extensively adopted in Great Britain, where the conditions are more favourable.” That this recommendation will be largely acted upon is almost certain. The success that this system of co-operative dairying has accomplished in Ireland is getting well known among British farmers, and as they have far more capital and far better conditions for marketing their butter in the large towns of England and Scotland than the Irish have, it will not be long before a very considerable proportion of British and Irish butter will be either creamery or factory made. The Commissioners bring into prominence the confusion of terms which is prevalent in the Australasian and Canadian colonies over the words creamery and factory, and it would be a sensible improvement if the words “ creamery ” and “ factory ” were everywhere understood in the sense expressed by the Commission, The Commission has gathered a large mass of interesting and useful information on all subjects connected with agriculture, and amoDg these the following items relating to dairying may be culled. It appears that the proportions per cent, of the total unnual importation of butter contributed by the different countries in the years 1886 and 1895 are as follows :

In the year 1886 it will bo seen France and Denmark contributed equal proportions, but in 1895 the French contribution fell to 16 1 per cent., while the Danish rose to 4L-4. Dutch and German supplies have fallen from 28*0 and 8 0 per cent, in the former year, to 6 0 and 4 0 per cent, respectively iu the latter. Australasia it will be noted with pleasure contributed in 1895 just over 11 per cent., and was nearly equal to Norway and Sweden combined. Turning to the prices of butter, in 1886 the average price per cwt. of the aggregate imports of butter is given by the

Commission as £5 5s 4d, and in 1895 at £5 Os 9d, while in 1894 it had fallen only to £5 4s 7d. Referring to specific countries for the years 1886 and 1895, the report shows the followinglß96 : Denmark, £5 9s 4d; France, £5 12s 4d; Australasia, —. 1895: Denmark, £5 2s 4d; France, £5 7s 4d; Australasia, £4 lls. Then follows this remarkable paragraph in the report:— 1 “ It will be observed that the value of the colonial butter is lower than that of the Danish and French produce; and a further examination of the value of imports from other sources has shown that the Australasian butter is lower in value than that of any other foreign country named as contributing to the supply.” This is evidently an error in the report, for both the American and Canadian butter averaged during 1895 only £4 Is 2d and £3 18s 9d per cwt. respectively. With the exception of these two countries it is certain that the value of Australasian butter for the year 1895 was less than any other country supplying the United Kingdom.

Denmark 1886 26-0 1895 41-4 Norway ... 11-0 11*5 France ... 26'0 161 Holland ' ... ... 23-0 6-0 Gormany ... 80 4-0 Australasia ... — 11-1