Oroua & Kiwitea Counties Gazette. ■Published Daily. FRIDAY, JAN. 25, 1895. THE DAIRY INDUSTRY.

Feilding Star, Volume XVI, Issue 176, 25 January 1895, Page 2

Oroua & Kiwitea Counties Gazette. ■Published Daily. FRIDAY, JAN. 25, 1895. THE DAIRY INDUSTRY.

*- • ] It is difficult to know whether to take the Taranaki farmers seriously or not. i After taking an active part in urging i the Government to pass a Bill last '< session to regulate the manufacture of 1 butter and cheese, to provide for the purity of milk, aud to have a person : appointed who shall, prior to ship- ' ment, inspect and grade each lot of : butter, we were told by telegram, ( which we published in our issue on Monday, five hundred of them had signed a petition to the Government protesting against such grading, and ( asking the Government to suspend the operation of this clause. We are decidedly of the opinion that the : Minister acted wisely iv refusing to accede to the request of the petitioners. A great injustice would hare been ' inflicted on every dairy farmer in the ; colony, and an act of weakness com- J ' mitted for the benefit of the few. It j ' is well known that the hemp industry was ruined for want of supervision by experts who could class the bales ' t before shipment, and the quantity of , inferior butter carelessly made and bally packed hitherto exported froia the colony has done almost iirepar able injury to the dairy industry, wbich is now, we are pleased to say, making somo headway i;to the good opinion of the English consumer. No factory making a good article need be afraid of the working of this part of the Act. We admit that it may for a time press hard oa pome few farmers who are either careless, unskilled, or, perhaps, too well skilled in " the tricks of the trade ;" but in the end even they must benefit by the admirable provisions of an Act which was to all intents and purposes drawn up by "farmers for faimeis," who surely understood each other's ways and customs. In order to show of what value gradiug must ultimately be hy equalieingthe standards we quote from Messrs Weddell nnd Con circular, dated November 30th, 1894, theptices for New Zealand butter as follows: — Choicest factory ... 108s to 110s Besfc factory ... 1003 to 100s Secondary ... 80s to 90s aud ou the following week — Choicest factory ... 104s to 108s Best factory ... 96s to 102s Secondary ... 75s to 90s We direct the attention of our readers to the remarkable difference whicii exists between the several values aud the drop that took place in the prices in the short space of one week. Had this butter been graded before ifc left the colony we do not believe such a fall would have been possible unless under very extraordinary circumstances, and anyone who knows even the rudiments of commerce can see at a glance tbat it would have been better for the dairy farmers if the class of butter denominated " Secondary " had never been allowed to leave the colony at all. Putting such rubbish on the market injures the reputation of the first and second classes the difference between tbe values of which is already sufficiently marked. The dairy industry is of too much importance to New Zealand just now for the Government to allow the Act passed for its regulation to be suddenly changed for the temporary convenience of anyone.