EGGS BY WEIGHT.

Shannon News, 10 February 1925, Page 2

EGGS BY WEIGHT.

NEW METHOD OF SELLING NEED FOR GRADING. Tiie suggestion that eggs should be sold by weight, instead -of by tale, is one that has. long been advocated by those with the best interests oi the poultry industry at heart. It is generally'' recognised as unfair that the man putting first-grade, heavy weight eggs on the market should receive only the same price for them as does the man selling a lower grade article, but so strong have the barriers oi custom and inertia proved, that so far, it lias been found impossible to introduce the change.

Speaking on this subject. to a •'Chronicle’’ representative to-day, a local poultry expert stated that it would greatly simplify the work ot marketing if the weight system could be. introduced. This, Qf course, would involve the grading of the eggs, a work which should be carried out by the poultry farmer when he was. collecting his eggs each doy. By carrying two vessels with him on his rounds he could di|>P the two ounce, or first grade eggs. into one and the underweight eggs into the other. It would require very little experience on the part of the producer tq enable him to distinguish between the two gi ades when he was handling them. In this way, the enormous amount of labour involved in grading the eggs at the collecting agencies would be eliminated, and the cost of marketing, proportionately reduced. EGGS FOR EXPORT.

When eggs, were exported to. the Home market, they were always gradi ed and sold according to weight, so that tiie buyer could tell, merely by S looking at the brand on tbe crate, the quality of the article he was purI chasing. Onlv first grade eggs should be exported, as the cost of transport and marketing ran into approximately a shilling per dozen, so. that only top prices on the Home market justified the expense. Last season the eggs exported from Wellington, of which, by the way, the Levin contribution'formed an essential constituent—realised from its 6d to 2os 8d per crate of ten dozen. The lower figure represented a net return about on a par with the local price at the time, while at the higher figure, an advantage of nearly 2d was "reaped by the exporters. South island producer's, who had noit. taken the trouble to grade their eggs, crashed badly over the venture, ob* ainiug only 17s Gd per crate.