BUTTER BLENDING.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1748, 13 May 1913, Page 8

BUTTER BLENDING.

HIGH COMMISSIONER'S YIKWS. In view of tho attention which has recently boon railed to (lie i|iU'S(ioii of l>lit-tor-blending, the London con'oj.pondonl of tho Auckland "Star" .-.ought tlio opinion on this .-nliiot'l of the Now Zealand High Commis-ioner (tho lion. T. Mackenzie). Mr. .Muckonzio said:--"There call bo no doubt that, properly carried on, the process of blending butters is (|iiite a legitimate prore<>. and butter so manipulated must conform to the Government regulations, in so far that it must not contain nioro (hail l(i per cent of moisture. ''No doubt the process of blending butters has been forced upon (ho provision dealers owing to tho fact that there is such a quantity of butter coining irregularly from different parts of tho world to this market. To enable the merchant to supply customers with a uniform' article at a uniform price from week to week and year in and year out, it has been necessary for him to blend certain butters together. • " "It is claimed that trading conditions in the United Kingdom are such as to make it unreasonable to expect the retailer to sell tho various colonial and Continental butlers under their own names, owing to the great variety which conies to hand from time to timo and the irregularity of tho supply, nl though looking at it from the colonial producer's point of view ono naturally cxpects to see his produce sold for what it is; but it is contended that it is also absolutely necessary to look at this matter from tho retailer's point of view. "If tho Dominions and Continental but-ter-producing- countries could supply tho provision dealer of tho United Kingdom with a. uniform quality of butter in uniform quantities all tiio year round, as the Danes are able to do, there would be much more likelihood of the various butters being sdld under the designation of tho country of origin. I attribute tho great success that the Danes have experienced in the butter market lo the fact that a grocer can rely on having a regular supply of the salne brand ami practically the same quantity all the year round ; therefore, ho can confidently state to his customers tlint he can supply them regularly with Danish butter, but this he cannot do in the. case of colonial butters. The general averago quality of New Zealand butters is so high that 1 should certainly like to see them sold under their own name, if that which I mention later on could be carried out. "With reference to milk-blended butter, 1 the article is not regarded in the sense of a pure commercial butter, and much butler has to be sold for what it is. Tho regulations allow that such mixtures may contain 21 per cent of moisture. With regard to the fraudulent manipulation of Australian butters, that is a matter which Sir George Reid and Sir John Taverner have had in hand, and on which I nm not in a position to offer an opinion; but I have evidence that certain New Zealand butters have been retailed by grocers as the 'best Dorset,' although I nm ljpt prepared to state that this is a general practice. "Referring again to the • blending of butters, that is to .a certnin extent beneficial to countries supplying butter not of first quality, as it enables a very laree quantity of secondary butters to bo sold nt reasonable prices after having been blended with a certain proportion of high grado butters. Were it not for this blending process-, producers of secondary butters would have to accept a very much lower, price for their produce than thoy do at the present time; iu fact, with tho great strides that margarine is making, it is reasonable to. suppose that in a measurable space of time it will be almost impossible for grocers to sell butter of a secondary quality. To put the whole matter in a nutshell, it is necessary for producers of colonial butters to strain every nerve.to supply an article of high erade quality. This is, in my opinion, tho best way to combat continental and margarine competition, and the producers can then rest assured that tliev will always receive the best market values for thoir produce. "In view of what I have stated, it is essential for our Now Zealand producers to aim at supplying only the highest grade butters, and they can do it. In the total of their output they are doing it now. If blending continued hero, then high grade butters will not ba used for working off inferior butters, and will fetch good prices; but more important still, our butter will, I think, rise nearer to first place, and it would, in my opinion, rise to first place were it possible for producers so to organise as to send their supplies more through established channels, if possible, for the greater part of the year, than is now the case. Candour requires mo to say that unfortunately in some districts iii New Zealand there is a slackening of attention in detail, which must be rectified."