Butter Export.

Feilding Star, Volume XVII, Issue 240, 15 April 1896, Page 2

Butter Export.

The samples of butter sent to London packed in glass boxes covered with plaster of Paris were opened by Mr Sinclair (who was sent to England to look for new outlets for Australian produce). These samples were taken home by Mr Robert Reid, M.L.C., and were sent in the ordinary hold. The plan of packing is to place the butter in a glass box, the the edges of which are pasted, and the whole package is then covered with a quarter of an inch of plaster of Paris, and a paper wrapper gummed over all. This should keep the butter air tight and unaffected by heat. The samples taken by Mr Eeid, however, turned out a failure, as when the packages were opened the butter was found to be rancid. It had also shrunk away from the top of the box and showed signs of having got heated on the voyage. Mr Sinclair thinks that the cause of the failure was that a piece of string was put into each case for the purpose of opening it. The end of the string protruded through the plaster of Paris, and pulliDg it served to cut the plaster all round and so open the box. The idea is an ingenious one, but it is possible that the protruding string prevented the hermetical sealing of the box and allowed air to penetrate to the butter.