BRITISH EYES AND OUR DOINGS.

Waipa Post, Volume I, Issue 34, 11 August 1911, Page 4

BRITISH EYES AND OUR DOINGS.

MAINLY DAIRYING.

Interviewed when 1 passing through Christchurch on his way to Wellington from Christchurch, Mr W. F. Crichton, of Manchester, ex-honorary secretary to the British Committee of Butter Importers, said that New Zealand dairy produce would compete under more favourable conditions with the production of Continental nations if a regular supply all the year round could be arranged. He stated that at present where only a season’s trade is possible, buyers are compelled to stock the goods of New Zealand’s competitors for several months of the year, and that when the colonial butter arrives buyers can only be tempted to change by cheaper prices. He recommended the introduction of winter dairying, and quoted the case of Denmark, Sweden, and Finland, where the supply of feed is so arranged that the industry is in full swing all the year. New Zealand butter from the best factories, he said, was as good as any Danish butter, and the low prices realised last year for colonial butter on the London market were explained by the abnormal increase in the exports and prejudice against frozen produce generally. Denmark, being only two days’ journey at most from England, was in a far better position to attract the attention of the London buyers than New Zealand, many thousands of miles from the market. If, however, the shipments were sold immediately on arrival in London, instead of being stored by speculators for market manipulation, the butter would have a better name all over Britain, and would gradually command a better price. The deterioration which arose in cases of, storage of any length did great harm to the reputation of the butter.