The Stratford Evening Post WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE EGMONT SETTLER THURSDAY, OCTOBER 2, 1913. BUTTER AND CHEESE.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXVII, Issue 27, 2 October 1913, Page 4

The Stratford Evening Post WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE EGMONT SETTLER THURSDAY, OCTOBER 2, 1913. BUTTER AND CHEESE.

In liis annual report to the Government on the butter and cheese market the High Commissioner says with regard to New Zealand’s butter that while the flavour has been satisfactory in the majority of brands there seems to be a widening range in quality that even the pasteurising of the ceram docs not seem able to prevent. This range in quality is attributed, in a considerable degree, to the growth of home separation in New | Zealand, and to the practice of sendjihg to Home markets butter that is j made from the butter fat left in whey after the milk has been made into cheese, such butter having been exported under the “Creamery” brand. This latter cause, has, however, been removed as “whey” butter is now exported as “Factory.” Creamery butter of inferior quality, it is pointed out, cannot compete with margarine, which can be sold cheaper, and is preferred to inferior butter. “Fishiness” in New Zealand creamery butter is decreasing, and the body and make are generally giving satisfaction, except when the moisture content is higher than 15 per cent. The constantly recurring instances of excessive moisture, the Hon. Mr Mackenzie says, are a matter of grave import, and have a tendency to create distrust in the minds of those who handle New j Zealand creamery butter. The report on cheese is not nearly so satisfactory, and Mr Mackenzie has found many causes for complaint well sustained. 1 The Christchurch “Press,” however, I

has something to say for the other side, and thinks that even the strong remarks made by the High Commis-

sioner are not convincing that the wholesale condemnation ol this last season’s make of cheese is justifiable. Had the - cheese factories sold their outputs last season instead of consigning them, it is very doubtful indeed whether complaints on anything like the same scale would have been heard. The “Press” continues: As we before pointed out the wholesale merchants at Home made contracts for the season with the retailers, and then proceeded

to purchase the cheese from our factories, offering prices that left them v a fair margin of profit upon their forward contracts. The factories, with few exceptions, refused to sell outright, even though offered as high as', Ggd per lb. Nearly the whole output' was consigned, with the result that the market was “beared,” and hence so many complaints. Instead of receiving over 6d per lb many of the factories only netted about old per lb, and the profit the wholesale merchants at Home made on their forward contracts, over and above the prices they had offered the New Zealand factories at the beginning of the season, must have amounted to a ■ very large sum. If it were a fact that New Zealand cheese had deteriorated to such an extent as has been stated by the High Commisisoner, the natural conclusion would be that the Home buyers would fight shy of the aiticle this season. But what do we find? During the last two months Home buyers, or their representatives, have been scouring the Dominion from end to end for outputs of cheese, and the majority of the factories have—and wisely we thing—sold to them. The price generally paid is 6-Id per lb at the factory, which will give them a much higher return than was netted by consigning last year. We trust that those factories whose make last season was below the standard will profit by the warnings they have received, hut at the same time we quite expect that complaints will he much less during the current season. It stands to reason that the wholesale buyers will not run down the article they have in hand to dispose of.