IRISH BUTTER

Waipa Post, Volume XXIV, Issue 1682, 5 November 1925, Page 7

IRISH BUTTER

SERIOUS ALLEGATIONS.

ADVICE TO STOP SPECULATING.

Messrs Carton Bros., Ltd., who are large wholesale dealers and importers of butter in Dublin, have published in the Irish public press an open letter to the creamery managers of Ireland under the heading: “Irish Creamery Butter being Ruined by Speculation.” The following is the text of the letter: —

“ Irish creamery butter is being marketed in a disgraceful condition. There are, of course, some exceptions, but, generally speaking, the creameries in the country are holding over their butter until it is stale, comparatively unsaleable, in fact; in hundreds of cases ‘ green mouldy.’ Many managers, instead of working hard to try to build a name for their farmer shareholders for quality, are, instead, doing the lazy thing in trying to make profits by holding over their butter and speculating on the market. Instead of marketing the butter as soon as it is made, they frequently hold it over for one, two, and three weeks; in fact, in many instances, as long as a month, jn the Jiope that they will gain an extra price.

“ This is not good enough. Not only does it denote ignorance but it shows great lack of business principles. ‘lt is most unfair to the rest of the country or to other people who are trying to* market their stuff properly. It causes a slur on the whole name of Irish creamery butter. “We have an unpleasantly large number of letters from people who used to handle a fair proportion of Irish butter. It is lamentably clear that Irish creamery has recently fallen into very bad repute. Buyers in England (this country’s principal market) find that it is almost impossible to please their customers with Irish butter. Not only are the people passing it over, but they are agreeable to pay as much as £2O per ton more for New Zealand butter, which is made thousands of miles away, but which is made better, marketed better, and is consequently more palatable than Irish butter.

“ Some people in the trade seem to think that Ireland is the only butterproducing country on the earth. It is one of the smallest, and, considering its comparatively perfect location in relation to where it sells its stuff, one of the worst. These are unpleasant statements, but they are not exaggerations. The truth is sometimes very displeasing. “ The public pay for, and are entitled to get, their butter in perfectly fresh condition. In England, if they don’t get Irish butter in this way, they simply buy Danish, New Zealand, or Canadian. They leave the Irish to ‘stew in their own grease.’ “ The consumers in Dublin at this time of the year depend practically altogether on Irish creamery butter. Conditions are so bad, and the difficulty of getting satisfactory stuff so great, that many are thinking of discontinuing selling Irish butter and, instead, turning to the New Zealand product. “The European war upset the minds of many of the younger generation of creamery managers. Supplies were then extremely scarce, with the result that, comparatively speaking, any kind of stuff would sell. Not only that, but sell well. The war has ended long since. They should try to get it into their heads that quality and honest service are the only ways of building up or keeping trade. Let them cease to do the ‘ smart thing,’ and, instead, settle down to hard work, for which they are paid. “ Let them turn out the butter in a. way that will be a credit to Ireland. If they do, they will find, after a few years, that the buyers will-again begin to have faith. Trade can never be built up by giving faulty stuff, and, as a result, having to dodge about, as it were, from Billy to Jack in trying to dispose of it. “It is a disgraceful thing to have to admit that we here, when handling and classifying butter for our customers, have to open up and unpack practically every box. Further, we regret to have to say that a very great percentage of the butter has to be rejected as unsuitable. This has to be done with butter made only a few miles away, When New Zealand, coming from a great distance, can be sold as it arrives, without any fear for the future. “ Stop speculating in Irish creamery butter. Cease holding it over. Make it properly. Market it as soon as it is made. Dairy produce is one of Ireland’s principal industries, and it is your duty to your country to carry that trade. on properly. If you are not prepared to do this, get out and' make room for those who are. It will take a long time to wipe out the effect of this year’s ramp.” COMPLAINTS SUBSTANTIATED. A Dublin corespondent writes to the Grocer: — “ The foregoing strongly - worded warning appears to be to a large extent substantiated by prominent wholesale and retail butter merchants in Dublin. Inquiries made in trade circles elicited the information that the prac-

tice prevailing in Ireland for the marketing of butter was not similar to that adopted in Denmark, where, it was said, the butter was marketed immediately upon its production, and it was invariably the absolutely dependable freshness of the Danish product which assured it its commanding position in the British market. It was added that 80 per cent of the butter produced in Ireland emanated from thecreameries, the other 20 per cent being made - in factories or dairies.

“ A prominent merchant engaged in the butter trade in Dublin, who did not wish to disclose his name to the public, endorsed the views expressed by Messrs Carton, and read extracts from letters received by him from wholesale importers in a number of centres in Great Britain complaining of the condition of the creamery butter consigned to them from Ireland. One of the largest English importers of butter stated that Irish butter in Great Britain was meeting, and had all the season met, with very poor support, A lot of the stuff making its appearance there had undoubtedly been held oyer for some time, and allegedly fresh parcels of butter when received showed mould. That was shaking the confidence of buyers. Apparently the Irish creameries and merchants had not realised the competition with which they had to contend. “ A large distributor of Irish creamery butter in the home counties of England remarked that his firm was getting a great deal of trouble with Irish butter. ‘A very big broom,’ he wrote, ‘was required ;in thte Irish creamery management, and in many cases a couple of good scourges, wielded by two big men who would know how and when to use them.’ ”