PRODUCE FOR EXPORT

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 862, 4 January 1930, Page 9

PRODUCE FOR EXPORT

FINEST G-ADE MUST BE MAINTAINED LORD CRAIGAVON’S OPINION Press Association WELLINGTON, Friday. That disaster will follow any attempt on New Zealand’s part to supply oversea markets with any other than the finest grade of butter was the opinion emphatically expressed by Viscount Craigavon, Prime Minister Northern Ireland, in an interview today. "One thing of which I am quite confident,” said Viscount Craigavon, “is that any suggestion 'that a slightly lower grade of New Zealand butter than the present standard will suffice consumers at Home is entirely erroneous. New Zealand butter holds pride of place, because of its quality, and any proposal to make a greater profit in New Zealand by supplying an article not quite up to the best that can be produced would be a fatal policy. “Lo.oking on the heart of the British Empire as I do, and observing the strenuous efforts being made by foreign countries to work their way into the arteries of trade there I can realise that the slightest relaxation in the excellence of primary products from New Zealand would lead to untold disaster. Every trademark should read ‘superfine’ or ‘excellent.’ " New Zealanders, added Viscount Craigavon, were inclined to lose sight of the competition which existed. Competitors were watching like hawks to pounce upon markets now supplied by New Zealand butter and cheese. Knowing the great and alert machinery of the Danes and other nearEuropean countries, he could not help thinking that New Zealand would make a fatal blunder if it imagined that any other than the finest grade of dairy produce would suffice.