RAILWAY BUNGLING.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1388, 14 March 1912, Page 8

RAILWAY BUNGLING.

MALTREATMENT OF CHEESE. The "Wairarapa Daily Xc«V prints some interesting ami instructive correspondence between Mr. W. C. Buchanan, M-.1'., and tho Agricultural Department respecting (he way in which tho liailway Department treats Wairarapa eonsisiilnt'iits of chee.'C. On February 'J Mr. Buchanan, wrote as follows to tho Minister for Railways, sending a copy of his letter to the Agricultural .Department at tho Miino time:— "I,ast week my attention was called by two dairy-fanners in Carterton to the manner in which cheese consignments for export were dealt with by tho Railway Department. I accompanied them to the Carterton railway station, and found there several trucks loaded with chee.-c standing alongside the. railway sheep yards full of dust composd of filthy sheep dun;,', which would be driven with the prevailing westerly wind straight into the open trucks. On the eastern side of the cheese trucks were trucks loaded with ox hides, plentifully infested with maggots, and emitting an odour which certainly would not improve .the flavour of the clicsse. There is obviously no necessity for placing dairy produce in such n. position at Cnrtertoji, because there is ample siding accommodation iu other parts of the yard. 1 have mentioned the fact that the cheese was ■iu op_>n trucks, and the only protection for the cheeso from sun and rain was a tarpaulin too small to cover tho entire surface. Tho enebsed cutting . fairly describes the result in excessive, temperature and otherwise to the cheese. Tho writer of the letter is well known to be one.of the very best dairy factory managers in the district, and I was satislied by a conversation I had with him yesterday that every statement in his letter is simply a relation of unfortunate facts. My visit to the ra.il ;vay station was on Friday, and 1 was credibly informed that the cheese then in the trucks would probably not leave until tho Monday, and that such a detention was finite a common thing. I can only say that it is a difficult thins to use moderate language in making comment upon such an inexcusable and scandalous state of affairs. Dairy farmers, engaged iu what is from many points of view the premier industry of the Dominion, are surely within their rights in demanding that during tho summer season at all events no dairy produce shall bo carried i;\ opert trucks, and that arrangements should be made under which such produce should be carried in enclosed trucks by special night train on dates to be arranged for passing the prodiico stnight into the ship, as is the cn«e with frozen meat." The clipping Veferred to was a letter from a factory manager, who, after complaining bitterly of the deterioration of the Wairarapa. railway service, proceeded: —"There'are some 200 tons of cheese in (ho South Wairarapa to bo railed to 'Wellington -very fortnight. This demands an evening train, so Mint it could be taken away as .soon as loaded, and be at the grading port next morning. At tho present time the only train taking cheeso leaves Carterton at 9 a.m.. this means two days on tho trucks before reaching Wellington, and when it arrives on Saturday night, as most of it has been doing lately, it has still to wait in tho sun. I took the temperature inside two of these tnrpaulin-coveral trucks loaded with cheese at the Dalefield siding. It was at 9 a.m. and tho thermomenter stood at 80 degrees. While there the train cm me in from Carterton with several similar trucks loaded with cheese from various factories in tho district. I wont inside each and took tho temperature, which ranged from 7G to 78 degrees. This is most disastrous to our cheese, as matured cheese should not. bo exposed t.) , a temperattiro over GO degrees." •■ Tho Minister for Agriculture replied to Mr. Buchanan on March I. Ho said: "My officers report that there is very little room for complaint as to the condition in which, dairy produce arrives at the ports of shipment throughout the Dominion. In regard to cheeso from the Wairarapa, the use of uncovered trucks for carrying this product is not entirely satisfactory, but I am given to understand that tho real cause of the trouble is tho want of a proper cheese store in Wellington. Owing to this fact, it is not always possible to send forward cheese regularly. The quantity coining forward is dependent on the loading of the steamer that is to take the produce to the- market. Consequently, at times more cheese is sent to be railed than Hie, insulated trucks available can liold. I understand tho Wellington Harbour Board if shortly to provide a suitable store for cheese, and when this is available there should be no more .trouble in regard to the conveyance of cheese from the Wairarapa." In his reply, cm March 'J, Mr. Buchanan wrote as follows:—"I regret, exceedingly to find that yon are apparently disposed to rest satisfied with your officer's report, 'that there is very little room for complaint as to.the condition in which dairy produce arrives at.the ports of shipment throughout the Dominion.' You could not possibly have accepted your officer's statement had you taken the trouble to read the. grave indictment against tho Railway Department contained in the letter signed 'Factory Manager , which I forward to you. Damage to valuable produce is inevitable under the maltreatment described in that letter, and 1 take leave to say that it is tho duty of tha Aqriculural Department to insist upon radically different treatment, of settlers' produce or disprove 'Factory Manager's' statements, corroborative evidence of what is going on is to bo had in abundance. On March 1. for' instance, a large consignment of cheeso went through Featherston in oi-cn bucks in the sweltering heat of that rt.ny. and a well Itnoini dairy factory official desoribed the butter-fat as fairly oozing out of a lot of cheese just lately railed to Wellington from the- West Coast. The remedy is simple and inexpensive, by carriage at night in insulated box trucks and shipment right away the nrxt day in the ocean steamer without tho expensive storage in Wellington which you apparently wish to saddio on the dairy-farmer. Special night trains and well insulated trucks are rightly furnished to inland meat freezing works tn dates specially arranged to admit of immediate discharge into tho hold of the Homo steamer. On .behalf of the dairy-farmer, I ask why similar facilities should not be available for his perishable produce? You may possibl.y ask why not address • myself to ih? Unilw.iv Department? My answer is that I addressed them a month a»o on ths subject, as I , have already stated, but have not yet had the courtesy of a reply. Indeed, I" do not expect one for at least another month or so."