PORK EXPORT PROSPECTS.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 754, 1 March 1910, Page 10

PORK EXPORT PROSPECTS.

■;■•-. .'BRISK DEMAND. -' : ' Asked how the pork export business nas getting on, a representative of a local exporting house yesterday said the.troublo still.was to get.pigs." The'percentage• of rejects wa,s generally-so high that it was exceedingly difficult .to get: even shipmients ;of a few., hundred. carcasses together. '; Last .week 418 carcasses of frozen pork: were dispatched on the'- Arawa, and by J the 'Ruapelm ' on March -10 another 588 '.carcasses will .be shipped. This; was ajl ; very,.well in its way, but ; it. was a great pi,ty, that New Zealand sliopld have to miss;the splendid opening for pork that now presented, itself in Great Britain. Only that, morning he had had a cabled in.qmry.for a Hue of 3000 carcasses of pork, but, it was, of. course,.-'quite impossible': to get together 'a shipment of that sizeas; things now stood. , ■; . '

.It appears that in some, cases, the'percentage of rejected pigs . Has- nin, up to 75 per. 'cent., but the average rate,., nappily,' is'nothing like as.high as this. In the.onel/pr hyp .districts whero the dairy factories are pasteurising their skim milk the'results are already stated to be very noticeable, and'in the case of one factory in the. Wairarapa where pasteurisation has been adopted for-the best part,of a year the pigs are rapidly becoming v disease free. Of course, the British import regulations are about the most stringent and severe in. the. world, .and absolute freedom:from disease lias \to lie vouched for by the'veterinary .officers' of tho exporting country.- ; The: least," trace of-dis-ease means the condemnation of the whole pig undor the British regulations, whereas the requirements of most other countries are met. by , condemnation .where the signs of disease are trifling. ' •". Considerable interest, is now being displayed .iii' the. pasteurisation .of whey by the cheese factories, and at'latest advices nineteen "plants had been installed in the North Island and eight ih'the.South. The, following is the full'list to hand:—Ncrth Island; Hawera Dairy Co. : (central factory, and ..four 'branches), ' Lowgarth, 'Ararata, Ngaire, Tariki, Cardiff; Rahotu, Cape Egmpnt; Curies (Meremere), -Alton, Wanganui, Silverleys, Parkvale, ; Managrama, and Kaifciwa. . South Island: Stirling, Woodlands, Wright's Bush, Kerinington; Pukerau, liyal Bush, Pine Bush, and Henley.:... i. •■■ . ... ', -~ -. ■

As. regards skim: milk, the position is different, and the matter is hardly out of the experimental stage... Different devices" for pasteurising have been tried, by the Department of Agriculture and privately, but it is considered that it should be possible to effect marked, improvements on anything now in use,'and the dairy companies nave mostly been hanging back and awaiting developments. As. preyieusly stated, the New, Zealand Dairy Farmers' Union is using a simple pasteurising device ■at ■ some of its creameries. The : cost,.of the apparatus- is only but it is objected ,:in-some,quarters thai the pperating.cbst.is.too high...The pasteuriser -used'. cos£i«ts/.of a 'small. metal cylinder, about two feet loiig and nine inches in diameter,'through which : the skim milk passes' on; its' way from . the' separator to the" skim milk tank, and into which cylinder--, steam, direct ; frorri the boiler,-ls'-.introduced, striking; the. "milk" as it passes So far: as the , pasteurisation "of'; cream, is. .concerned,: it ( is 1 stated that over .sixty -factories; have now got plants, and there is inore. activity iu this dir'ection.'than "ever .before./?'--","

It is:pointed 'out that apart'frbmVthe , ' other benefits derived from the pasteurisation of whey it is. valuable in preventing the spread of ■ mammitis in. dairy cattle. Under ordinary,- .conditions ..nothing is" easie-r thtf for , whey containing mammitis Berms tei.be spilled oh .and thence.transferred to'the cows', teats while inilking.: Pasteurisation by destroying the germs does aVay with this particular, danger; entirely.

The opening for'pork in : 'the.Old Coua-1 try is.so. goad that no doubt New,Zca-. land dairy-farmers .will now begin to con- ; 6ider the different methods of treating skim'niilk—on which so.much depends— much more seriously than in the ..past. The i.niost recent report to hand on «the condition of dhe Home market is that which Messrs. J. B. JlacEwan and Co., Ltd., have just received from their London agents, and which-rnns-as follows:— . "Bacon.—The market .continues very itrong owing to light supplies from, all produc-ag countries: ' .' "Wiltshires-Irish, ; eßs., 725.. . , Danish;.6Bs., 705.■..', •'■ ; -. ... ~ ..Canadian,*'66s., CBs. ': '.' "Cumberland Cut—Canadian, 665.,. 685. , : ■ . ■■.■■■■•■- 64"5.j '665. , •'■-•• "Long Hams—American, 6-ls., 665. Canadian, Ms., 705. , ' ■■'■■■ . '"Lard in 655., 665.. . "Pork.—There has been a fair market. \ We strongly", advise.you to ship porkers '60 to : 701b.. 70,t0 801b., 80 : t6-901b., and 90 to.loolb. They call come frozen, packed exactly the same way as frozen sheep. The average,. weights should be kept, separate under different letters. It is necessary to send a certificate from the'i Government that the pigs are passed for. export. Pork "-Dutch. 6d., 7d.; Endish, 7d., 7id."