THE DAIRYING INDUSTRY.

Otago Witness, Issue 2810, 22 January 1908, Page 9

THE DAIRYING INDUSTRY.

SUGGESTED RETAIL' SHOPS IN ENGLAND. OPEGSED BY MB W. J. BOLT. IMj W. J. Bolt, business manager of the Taieri ' and Peninsula Milk Supply Com- I pany, who has ' been on a visit to London, j arrived bacE hi Dunedin -recently after an absence of nine months. In the -course of an interview with a Daily Times reporter • Mr Bolt^ -said the great idea •of I "airymen in New Zealand, »ras that they

[ should enter into the retail business at ' I Home. It 'was mainly with the object o£ gauging' the probable outcome of such an undertaking by the Taieri and Penin- i | sula Company that he went to England, ! and he returns firmly convinced that any j such 'course of action would be quite Futile- unless, there was a ( complete union | of the export produce trade of New Zealand. For the factories' of New Zealand, I or any section of them, to enter upon a- retail trade in London would be> merely to court disaster. It- would be* found that there' were- infiuenceß at work that would defeat the end.^ that was- desired to be gained. One important factor that would operate against our entering , into the- re- , tail! trade- would be- th© great number of afiops- at present run by "certain firms. ' There' was one> firm alone ' which' had? no fewer than 500 retail' shops in- v-ariouff parts, of Great Britain, and* there were two other firms whose retail grocery establishments numbered several hundreds. These- places were all retailers of butter, as well as of general groceries, and if we went into the trade it would be necessary to open a large number of shops also, and Mr Bolt doubted very much whether such a scheme would be acceptable, and, if^ it were approved, whether- i* would pay. Butter and cheese would- be- New Zealand's sole commodities; and te» d© any gpod at all the trade, in that would hay© to be concentrated. In a place like. London, xhie would be a big qrdeivand the. chances were largely against its being done. Peorpte are always willing; to* buy a good" articlethat they require if there are financial inducements so to do, but Mr Bolt's experience has. been that they' are not prepated to travel a long^ distance merely to save a halfpenny on *, pound of butter., New Zealand butter,, aa 6uch, said Mr Bolt, was not known to the retail trade in England. Butter at the present time is sold at Home as "best butter*' * irrespec- i tive ol where it is made. Not only is this so, hut Mr Bolt is. convinced that all . fcutter is manipulated after arriving in London. At 1 one establishment, wheore he was on friendly terms with ' the manager Mr Bolt. saw New Zealand butter" being taken out of/ the boxes for mixing with other butter/ He endeavoured "to ascertain how the butter was handled, but they would not let him into that part oi tli© j secret. ' • I In London, Mr Bolt 'met Mr Duddicl:, Chief Pairy Commissioner for the Dominion oi Canada, and- formerly /head of the dairying section of the- Nevi' Zealand Department of Agriculture and they discussed the matter very fully. Mi- Ruddock expressed himself -as oi the opinion that it was utterly useless for the colonies to try and do business on. their own account. The stock-jobbers the trade, and the best position that could be- won was for these jobbers to take up a particular brand of butter and nush it. The 'British grocer took no interest in the hutter of any special ccmntry. He cold to* his customers that which paid him best. As showing to what an extent manipulation goes on, Mr Bolt was informed by a man largely interested in the trade that not one-sixteenth of the butter which is sold in England as English butter hae its origin in England. Another obstacle to the success of New Zealand shops at Home, mentioned by Mr Bolt, is the fact that we only send butter to England for five months in the year, leaving a period of seven months in which our travellers would have no stock on which to work. The market at Home for New .Zealand produce vas a steady one, and Mr .Bolt docs not $fek that the competition against us is as Esen as it once waa. Canada, for instance, instead of exporting butter, was actually making arrangements tor suppues from London, this beine attributeb c to the fact that great additions had lately been made to the population of that Dominion, and the new settlements were not yet self-supporting. New Zealand produce was as srood as anything that went on to the Home market. There was no doubt, continued Mr Bolt, that our butter i was just as good as -Danish the only thine against New Z«dand beingr, 'that it was not available all the year round, wh»reas Danish was. The Danish butter, too was cent to London under strict supervision, whilst in New Zealand each factory I was practically on its own. Mr Bolt expressed the opinion that it I was a Rood move on the part of the tactories of the North Island to- combine m sending Mr Mackay Home to lcok after their interests. Mr Mackay would be right in touch with the markets, and the information and advice that he would be able to give to his New Zealand principals would be of great advantage. Mr Bolt had much pleasure in meeting Mr Mackay in London, where they discussed business and worked together as much as possible. Regarding the "handling of the shipments of butter at the docks and cool stores at London, Mr Bolt says the system is quite satisfactory, and is not calculated to affect the quality of the article. The future outlook for the dairy industry of New Zealand, concluded Mr - Bolt, was quite satisfactory and the tendency was for the Continent ±o become more and more a market for our goods, and to be less and less a competitor against us m the English "market. The Atlantic telegraphic cable was first ! laid on August 6, 1858; ceased to work, I September 1, 1853; successfully laid,. July | 27, 1866. % ■ Cheap Bulbs for present planting. See Nimmo aitd Blaze's advertisement, page t& of this issue, for sa««aaUT **?*«ap V""*u of Tulips, etc.