The Ashburton Guardian. Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit. THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 1888. IN ITS INFANCY.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 1943, 13 September 1888, Page 2

The Ashburton Guardian. Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit. THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 1888. IN ITS INFANCY.

The butter and cheese trade between I New Zealand and the United Kingdom is still m its infancy, but yet those who watch its growing proportions hare faith that its dimensions will, m a few years, be notable all the world over. Gold and wool were at one time the only products setdownin the geographies as being exported from Neiv Zealand, but now frozen mutton has to be added, and cheese and butter will ere loDg represent a very large tonnage and value m the list of exports from this colony. The growth of the trade is being watched at Home with more interest than is generally imagined. The consumption of dairy produce by the millions of London and Great Britain generally, is enormous, and New Zealand is likely soon to be one of the largest, if not the largest, supplier of the ever increasing demand. The demand for finest cheese and butter is always good, and it is only low and secondary qualities that are slow of sale at irregular pricei?,' Apart from the English make of cheese and butter which is very large / the enormous importation evejy y^ar into Great Britain can hardly be credited, and. yet there js no surplus. Dairy prodoce is selling m London at a price that pays the farmer better than any other product of the farm. To give some idea pi the extent of the trade, the following 'figures which are official will be of interest : — ln 1887 the imports of cheese from all countries into Great Britain were 1,834,467 cwts., representing a money value of £4,508,937 ; of this quantity 75P,463 cwts. came from tho United States, and 63J,837 cwts. came from Canada. Holland sent $5 2,0 14 cwts., France 30,260 cwts., and other countries 50,893 cwts. The butter imports were m 1887 2,788,000 cwts., the value being £11,886,717 j from the imports of butter has to be deducted 1,273,095 cwts. of butterine, now called margarine, and under the new name the consumption has largely decreased. Of butter and butter substitutes England imports the produce of not less than 1,400,000 cows— nearly 86 per cent, over and above the number of cow 3 kept ! m the country — and tho quantity is still increasing, when it is stated that the n,umbef of cows m the United States m 18&0 was 12,443,000, and m Canada m ' 1881 there 1 were 3,5"14,989 cowg, yet m ' 1887 Canada gent 631,837 cwts. of] ] cheese against 759,463 ' cwts. from 1 i Aj#erj[a.a, thus showing the superior 1 moke and preference given to^Canada, | and there is every prospect of a ejmilar i §ttentjon bejjig given, to $<? m^e pf\ \

cheese and butter m Australia and New Zealand. Tho excellence of the best qualities of cheese and batter has been a surprise to many, and with an improved factory system, and prompt shipment m cool chambers, before any old flavour is shown, it is possible that New Zealand will rival all other countries m the magnitude of her freights of dairy produce landed m London. The amount of cheese and butter shipped from the colonies from Ist November, 1887, up to June 30th, 1888 — eight fmonths — was as follows : — New Zealand, 16,017 cwts. of butter and 28,320 cwts. of cheese ; Australia — New South Wales, 7,771 cwts. butter ; Victoria, 3,012 cwts. butter, and during the period mentioned I only 137 cwts. cheese, 94 cwts. of which came from New South Wales, and 43 cwts. from Queensland ; but when one Home firm alone turns over more than 60,000 cwts. of cheese from Canada and the United States, apart from Oontinentalbutters, &c, and when we find that the estimated consumption of cheese m Great Britain is now about 61bs per head, as against 21b iu c . 1860, and still increasing, ■ there is a market m the United Kingdom for all the fine cheese and butter Australia and New Zealand can send there.