ROAD BOARDS.

Globe, Volume XXIV, Issue 2498, 10 April 1882, Page 3

ROAD BOARDS.

MANDEVTLLE AND RANGIOBA. A meeting was held on Thursday, 6th April. Present —Messrs A. Parsons (chairman), “M. Duncan and C, Dampier Orosley. Correspondence was received from the Under Secretary of Public Works, asking for certain returns to 31st March to be furnished. From Mr Long, re contract on Basterbrook’s road. From Mr G. Bartrum and others, asking that a culvert on Maori run should be replaced. This the surveyor had seen to. From O. Maynard, making offer for Road Board houfee. Clerk to reply. The surveyor’s report was read and approved, and instructions given to call for tenders for work* required, and to report on mill bridge at Waikuku, also to see to the carrying out of the dam at Harrison’s creek. Tenders were opened for works as advertised, and the lowest in each cas? accepted. Accounts amounting to £lB-1 ;7s 5d were passed.

CHEE3E PRESERVING.

We taks the following particulars from the pap«r by Mr G. F. Boatmen, published in the Journal of tho British Dairy Farmers’ Association »

It »eems a vary remarkable fact that although inventions have been made for preserving Dearly every kind of food, yet up to within a very short time no effectual method of preserving cheese from the ravages of mites and decay has been discovered. The waste of obssso by these two enemies so to speak of thru class of food is really most appalling, when you consider She amount of capital lost, especially in that description of cheese known as Ktilton. The following statistics will ehow the reality" of the facts. One bundred cows will make about sixty cheeses a day (Stilton), this during a period of 200 days, or a trifle over sis: monthswould give just 13.000 cheeses; estimating the waste of each cheese from mites, <fco., et the low rate of 21b per cheese, w» have a gross loss of 24,0001 b ;■ that at Is per lb will give the very largo sum of £I2OO actual loss in a monetary point through the lack of some efficient method of preserving. There aro extant many processes whereby cheeses are for a time preserved to a csrtain .extent, such as salting, condensing, borme- , ticaily sealing, and the Dutch as a practice ' scrape their cheeses several times to keep away the mould, and ultimately color Ihem with tournesol, aniline, and other colors ; but these are not altogether effective met bads, besides being very costly, and in some cases 1 not even practicable. Some continental descriptions of cheeses, and especially the Swiss, are occasionally met with enclosed in skins or bladders, but these are only found in small quantities, and the system would not answer in the case of Cheddar or Gloucester cheese. The Boquefort cheeses are alwaye encased in tinfoil as a preservative against thedamp atmosphere that they are subjected to during their storage in the celebrated caveo from which they derive their name; in thisinstance, perhaps, this is the only effective and necessary covering or preservative that this class of cheese requires; bat other and more common kinds of cheese, being moresusceptible to decay, &0., require other means less costly and mere permanent to preserve them. The most simple, and from the results ' of three or four years’ crucial test, the most effectual, and decidedly the cheapest method is one invented by Mr A. P. Van de Water, of Haarlem, Holland. He has just patented : his process, or the fluid which, be uses in - the process of preserving, and has given it the name of “Septon,” which means preservative.

The principle of the Septon is to form an entirely new and impervious crust over the oheeso, thereby rendering it impregnable to mitea and mould ; at the same time the interior of the cheese is not affected in the least. The most important feature of this new process is the rapidity with which cheese already in a state of decay can be stopped and preserved against further loss. The Stilton cheese, perhaps of all cheeses, is the one most susceptible to decay of all descriptions, as well as to the ravages of mites. The only objection to the Septon in the ease of Stilton is that it imparts to the outside of the cheese a smooth or greasy look, which is rather objectionable to the eye ; bub the appearance of the outside of the cheese ought to be quite a secondary consideration to the result gsined in keeping it free from mite. By the application of Septon, immediately the cheese is made, a crust is formed in two months equal to the natural crust which takes seven or eight months to perfect; this again, is a decided advantage, as the cheese will so much the sooner be fit to bs moved. If the crust is hard a little soda may with advantage be put in the water. Cheeses such as Cheddar, Gouda, Gruyere, Eidam, eto., which form crust fast should be placed in a mixture of, say, six gallons of water and one gallon of Septon ; they should remain in this mixture about ten minutes, and when taken out dried with a cloth. This process should be repeated once every week for three weeks, after this they will be fit to be stored away for ordinary use. If the cheese gets damaged by mice, or in any other way, the damaged part should bo washed over with undiluted Septon, when the cheese is taken out of the mixture. Stilton and Gorgonzola require rather more careful manipulation, and should not bo dipped too often—about once in every ten days, and not more than three times It is essential to keep the cheese in a dry place. With an occasional addition of fresh Septon the mixture will, if placed in bottles or casks after each time of using, remain good for almost any length of time.