OUR EXPORT BUTTER TRADE.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1050, 13 February 1911, Page 8

OUR EXPORT BUTTER TRADE.

a'phase worth considering.

I ■ The'subjcct of the'w'nteV'content of export butter- js rone; \vhich.";J{cjv' • Zealand Inrmcrs ought to fnce as a problem well worth tackling. 'The m'aximiiin amount of water which can bo- incorporated iu butter-is sixteen per cent., bocaufe Great Britain has fixed tint as tho legal limit, but thore is no reason why a legal limit should bo accepted ns a final guide to the manufacture of the best export butter. If the article can bo improved it ought to be", and. any.; improvement in quality would almost certainly result in greater monetary., returns. . in the past much hasueenheard about'percentage of water in.- better, but littlo has resulted from all which has been■' said "and written. The fixing of the legal limit at sixteen per cent.iwas looked upon.by some manufacturers as a signal to put in not more than sixteen per cent or thereabouts. Any return' which could be got for water was, of course, very profitable. Any linn whioh", pripr,.to the oxtousion of the six - - teen per cent, limit to local butter, put in, say, twenty-two per cent, of wafer, in sold with , every pound of butter about, a quarter of a pound of water at tho rate of (say), a shilling a pound. That was a good temporary profit, but did .the trade la«t?" "Itis not going 1o be said hero that the butter' should not contain sixteen per cent, of" water, but it, is tnid emphatically that those interested in the dairy business should thoroughly delvo into the subject,-to find out tho water, content most suitable' to.our Export trade., Nothing will;standjto the , business liko ; good Equality. £ They examploXof Victoria .\rilbtelp.-to -nlSke-that'Tiuvibnl. When dairy factories were much newer institutions- than jthoy, are now, Victoria had thef.reputatipn-in Enßla'nd of rnianai'actur-lnßc-a splendid ••'aHicle. Subsequently :packing with moisture was resorted to. \Vher6 is, tlioljepiitation to-day? The present reputation may bo judged.from the" prices obtained and from the London reports'.-The nrice;is on an nverago five shillings a hundredweight lower than New Zealand, and tho reports on" the . largo ■ iftcreaje'uiTthe'amount ot "fishy" butter.in the shipments,'and on'tho exccssivo' moisture content. Tho two reasons havo been'connected by. many who hold that■ Jishiness- is,duo , to too milch moisture.-.... ...'.. .-:.".'

Tasmania sterns likely;.ta.b.6 guided-into safer paths if she follows her State Dairy Expert (Mr.-'A; Cqnlon)i'.who (having,' no doubt; studied Australia's", varying status in the'butter world), surrcsls that a few boxes of biittpr, with varyinj amounts of moisture : (as ascertained by analysis), but lnado.undor precisely'similar 'conditions, should bo forwarded to London; and ' examined critically, a report and theobutter rei.liiprcd ' to Tasmania for''(f-fmnl : examination -there." This te«t. lie. thinks, would prob- . .ably give', valuable results as to tho influence of moisture on the keeping qualities""of: butter under the ,nctual commercial condition's;6f transit:-'; '".lri 'att article in-.'Tho Agricultural 'Gazette of Tasmania," Mr. Conlon , f.3,v's:'p- i ''Thoro is no getting;away from • H-;.ie this cravinß for irioreafed "profit \vliieh has led-to-tlie'-Wfr.'overruniCaJid inoi'turc perenntaces of Australian butter to-day. .""■. . This'-'is where the real danger'lies!and thfs system/of forcinj ,an overrnVi will sooner or ;lntpj-, have very ccrioiis. results for AnHrtlian dairymen.". : .:■•. This hetion V'ffill. .ultimately foros, on 'legislation.'wlierwiy -the* limit of "moiftiirj b» 'fixed-at-a-sitfticiently-low--standard to ensnro.the. British huyer gettiris, what lie -*The,jstron»e<t ■ pa^age-'iti Mr. , Conlon's vartjclb is the 'following^."The buttcr-m'sker"" of to-dav has learnt the pernicious art of 'controlling' the- moisture- contents in butter. :■ This",siinply',,.meanfvthat:mHl?r compul- . sion,"and with a.view of comhlYJnj; with the demands of liis'employors! , ]h reports to brine-salting, , lusher .tsijinfiratuves for churning nnd wash waterage.,' for tl>e purpose of ■ manufaptnrins an artificial overrun, by increasing tho water contents of his butter. The contention that u dry butter is difficult to-Tvork into 'print' tform, and gives tho, butterfakers, .undno opportunities/ will' not'hold ..water when' it> is remembered > that to : increa«3 the moisture it is necessary to follow a "method.-of-manufacture that never ;IH.'and;never will,- produce, a really high- ' »gradc. '. ' :, ■';