H.—29

24

milk in the countries visited. It is also understood that the New Zealand rights for certain processes in the making of powdered milk have been secured by the companies concerned. The building of three additional dried-milk factories in the Waikato is already under way, and provision is being made to treat large and increasing quantities of milk. The immediate intention is to prepare skim-milk powder only, as it is claimed that a higher net return can be procured by separating the whole milk for the manufacture of butter and then drying the skim-milk, for which a, good demand is believed to exist. It is obviously impossible to forecast what extra profits, if any, will ultimately be obtained from the sale of milk-powder as against that of other dairy -produce, as everything depends upon the market price of these products, together with the cost of preparing them for the market. This matter is of such importance, however, that the Department must be prepared to give instruction and advice to those engaged, or about to engage, in the drying of milk, on similar lines to that adopted regarding other branches of dairying. Hence the necessity for sending an officer abroad to gather full information on the subject, as recently arranged. Grading op Dairy-produce. One of the most important activities of the Division is the grading and classification of all butter and cheese intended for export, ft calls for the closest attention, for not only does the decision arrived at by the grader determine the price to be paid to the owner of the produce, but the manufacturer is practically compelled to accept the official grade-note as an intimation of the need for improvement when faults or irregularities are detected in any consignment at the time of examination. In view of these facts it will be recognized how essential it is to maintain a uniform system of grading at all shipping-ports in the Dominion. Every effort has therefore been made to compare the grading as between the different ports as frequently as possible, and these comparisons have proved that the decisions of the graders are made upon a uniform basis, thus protecting the interests of sellers and buyers alike, as well as doing much towards the regulation of a more equal quality in the products from the various factories. During the year only two written protests regarding the classification of dairy-produce by the graders were received at this office, and when these were investigated it was found that the consignments referred to had been correctly classified by the officer concerned. The grading of casein has also been continued by an officer of the Division in accordance with the arrangements formerly made with the manufacturers.

Table showing the Grading-points scored by the Butter and Cheese graded throughout New Zealand for the Year ended 31st March, 1919.

Butter. Cheese. Grading-points. Number of Boxes. Percentage. Number of Crates. Percentage. 76 77 784 80 8H 82" 82| 83 834. 84 84* 85 854 86 864 88 884 89" 894 90 904 91914 92 924 93 934 94 944 95" 954 116 204 414 116 20 146 240 469 481 2,884 3,017 5,262 9,400 23,285 6,444 8,573 23,089 45,277 55,702 86,286 87,434 109,715 90,691 78,077 41,865 41,277 22,978 21,576 7,676 5,246 135 0-0150 0-0263 0-0574 0-0150 0-0025 00189 0-0310 0-0606 0-0622 0-3730 0-3902 0-6806 1-2158 3-0117 0-8335 1-1088 2-9812 5-8549 7-2047 11-1667 11-3091 14-1910 11-7304 10-0988 5-4150 5-3389 2-9720 2-7907 0-9928 0-6785 0-0187 90 1,217 54 495 270 520 433 2,143 3,348 7,132 9,795 19,714 12,998 31,309 38,368 78,449 94,093 123,611 118,473 96,362 68,297 52,722 26,968 16,511 3,268 411 0-0111 0-1507 0-0066 0-0613 0-0334 0-0644 0-0536 0-2655 0-4148 0-8837 1-2136 2-4427 1-6105 3-8794 4-7540 9-7204 11-6588 15-1924 14-6791 11-9400 8-4625 6-5326 3-3415 2-0458 0-4049 0-0509