DANES NOT BLENDING

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 2, Issue 381, 16 November 1932, Page 2

DANES NOT BLENDING

STRATFORD MAN SAYS DANES NOT FAKING RUSSIAN , BUTTER THE GENWINE ARTICLE The allegation that the Danes purchased Russian and Polish butter at very low prices, blended it with' their own, and sold it as a Danish article was entirely incorrect, stated Mr. Ian McMillan, of Stratford, on his return home after having spent seven and a half years in Denmark specialising ,in the manufacture of dairying machinery. •. : Mr. McMillan said there were about 2000 dairy factories run either privately or co-operatively, but the majority were smaller than the average New Zealand factory. The Dominion factories numbered between 500 and 600. "That is where the Danes" have progressed beyond us," Mr. Millan stated , "The farmer there attends solely to the production of milk and leaves manufacture to the factory. There is no home separation in Denmark, as the Danes would rather build a small factory than separate, and send the cream over a distance. I spoke to managers of Auckland and Waikato factories about this on my way home, and they think they could make better butter if they received the milk direct," he said. The Danish" butter had a fine aroma, whereas the New Zealand product had none, and its texture, taste and spreading quality were superior to the Dominion's butter. However, the Danes had a great advantage in that the market was only 24 hours away by sea as compared with six weeks in the case of New Zealand.

A Difficult Time. Denmark was, like every. other country, having a difficult tjme, Mr. McMillan said, as the prices of the staple products, butter and bacon, were so low. When h'e left for New Zealand the Ottawa* Conference had not been held, but its probable result on Danish exports to Britain was being considered, and the motto of the Danes was to buy British goods before any other foreign article. Most of the dairy factories and manufacturing firms were buying British coal instead of German or Polish as in the past. Most of the farmers had about 10 aeres on which they kept five or six eows in addition to pigs. They could get a living from such sections which would be considered inadequate in New Zealand. The income of the small farmer was about £100 a year and imposts on his income were heavy. Those who were paying income tax were paying an amount equivalent to five quarters a year, and increased duties had been plaeed on all imported luxuries. The duty on benzine was 30 per cent., but even at that the retail price was lower than in New Zealand « Th'e Danes, he continued, were won derful farmers and obtained remarkable production^ per acre, but up till recently all the butter produced was exported, while the Danes used a. very fine margarine which, when used with jam, was indistinguishable from butter. Now, however., the low price for butter in Britain had caused the factories to compel suppliers to use a certain amount of butter.