OUR DAIRY PRODUCTS AND THEIR REPUTATION.

Akaroa Mail and Banks Peninsula Advertiser, Volume VI, Issue 546, 7 October 1881, Page 2

OUR DAIRY PRODUCTS AND THEIR REPUTATION.

In the North Island, some few years ago, when people wanted a really good cheese and were prepared to pay a long price for it, they always asked for " Port Cooper,." that is, Peninsula cheese. In those days they knew what they were buying in these cases, but now they do not, for finding a magic in the name, it was generally adopted by dealers, and the unsaleable product of the skim milk of half-starved cows running on the poorer parts of the plains, where shingle and tiny tussocks predominate, has many a time been sold as the rich product of our magnificent Peninsula pastures . As a natural consequence our products are not so highly esteemed as they were, though they are still held in the highest esteem by connoisseurs, who take care, however, to get the genuine article. If behoves us, therefore, to endeavor to hit upon a plan by which it can be made clearly apparent to the great bodies of consumers that inhabit our lnrg-.-r cities, that our cheese and butter, thanks to our exceptionally genial climate, abundance of water, and succulent grasses (unsurpassed in the world), are infinitely superior to those produced elsewhere in quality and flavor.

To prove this to the public we must adopt some plan not hitherto pursued, for if this cheese passes into the hands of merchants, as at present, it will of course be mixed with other kinds, and so lose any special value it may possess, being very likely used to pass off inferior descriptions.

It has been suggested to us by one or two of our leading farmers that the difficulty might be overcome by establishing shops in Christchurch, Dunedin, and elsewhere, for the sale of Peniusula cheese and butter solely. If our local merchants would join with our farmers in doing this, we think great benefit would ensue to both. It is almost needless to say that only really excellent samples should be sent, and for these a fair price should be demanded. In our opinion, if this idea were carried out, the superiority of our dairy products (now only known to a few) would be speedily established, for their own intrinsic merit would soon place them first iv public estimation. We also think that this scheme could be worked so as to bo directly remunerative. Leaving* that out of tho question, however, and only allowing it to pay expenses, fancy what a boon it would bo to the Peninsula if by this means the price of its cheese were raised a halfpenny, or even a farthing, a pound.