OUR EXPORT BUTTER AND CHEESE TRADE. AN ENGLISH EXPERTS OPINION. [By New Zealand Mail Special Reporter.] Wellington, Sept. 7.

Te Aroha News, Volume VI, Issue 298, 12 September 1888, Page 2

OUR EXPORT BUTTER AND CHEESE TRADE. AN ENGLISH EXPERTS OPINION. [By New Zealand Mail Special Reporter .] Wellington, Sept. 7.

I iiad an interview on Tuesday night with Mr E. Meadows, who arrived in the Colony by the s.s. Tainui. He is the representative of the well-known firm of H. Tvongrotise anr! Co., provision agents, of London. Mr Meadows, who lias had over 35 years' experience in the provision trade, is an expert whose knowledge is of the greatest value to our cheese and butler makers. For many years past he hns been a personal buyer of provisions in the producing 1 districts of tho United States and Canada; ITe j has visited nonrly nil the celebrated dairy : factories in (hose countries, and may

therefore be acknowledged id be aii expert t>f ho mean calibre. His visit to New Zealand on behalf of his firm is to make arrangements for buying either direct; or with the view of lccci^ing- in London consignments, of butter and cheese, and for that purpose lie will visit the principal producing districts of the Colony. He will be pleased to confer with anyone specially interested in the matter, and is prepared^ it" required, to give addresses in various centres upon the exact requirements of the English market for butter and cheese. In the course of a long interview, Mr Meadows ridiculed the idea of one dairy expert travelling the country to instruct dairy farmers. What is wanted is several expert men who thoroughly understand the actual requirements of the English market at the present time, and would be able to give correct information about weight, packing, colour, flavour, &c, of both butter aud cheese. Up to the present time he considers the people of New Zealand haVe been asleep to the provision trade. They do not, he said, know what an important trade they yvo neglecting", or to what extent it can be developed into. " Yes, sir," said Mr Meadows, " Your people here have a grand industry before them, and it will be their own fault if they cannot make it pay handsomely. Why, as a proof of what you can do lam here to-day. Wo in London know what you can produce,* and I have come to give yon some hints as to what is required. Take butter, for instance. I saw a sample lot of New Zealand butter in London jvisl before 1 left. I gave 117s per cwt for it, and I must say it was the finest butler I ever tasted. It was equal to any ever turno • out in Dorsetshire or anywhere eise. It was a proof you can make superb butf^r. But you have one giievous fault: jour butter is not uniform either m flrtVuUi, colour, or package. Your maker* have* not arrived at that stage of knowle '^c of the Home markets to know the import ance of thorough uniformity. For example : Suppose I want to buy IUOO kpgs. It would not pay me to waste my time in sampling every keg. I want to take, siy, 10 per cent of the number, and rely upon having all the ivsfc equal. Again, I want all the kegs of the same upigi-r. Something like the Danish s >y, IGIb 5 ? tare. You see it is an important it.un. to us to have the same net weit/.it and tare in each keg. We can l»uy iweh easier. If I buy 500 kegs Danish bn^ror t can immediat- ly tell exactly the nefc w°"u/ht of butter I have to pay for. At the same time I must say that owing to bad package and a want of common sense in mixing inferior butter with somd medium to good, I saw one lot of 250 sold at ?>Gs. I uill tell you v/hat your people aro doing by such butter as that.. Well, these 250 kegs were sold for export to Denmark, where the keen Danes niKttipnlntM it and returned it to London clean and pweet a* piiine D.mi^li butter, where it Mild at a jroo'l fiirnro, Of com so the Danes won't object to \ our linkers sen ling inleuor butter to London — they reap the a« I vantage of if.. Now that is wh.it yonr New Z^a'jm 1 makers should do for-themsclvos. 'Ihrn v-ith the kegs s- nt'rom this Colony, t!iey are not satisfj'ctoiy. You 'should take a lesson from the Canadian butter makers. They get kegs made in factories r.ll of one size, pattern, ami weight, and material. The host shaped kecjs for the English market are those wi.lcr at tho top than they are at the bottom. Then the retailer can slip the butter easily out, of the keg on his marble stand, and cut it up without waste ; but in jour present, style of New Zealand kegs the o mount of waste is a serious drawback to the retailer, and, of course, fche prices obtained suffer in consequence. With regard to cheese, I am convinced from what colonial cheese T have' tasted that you have a big future before you in that industiy. I will read you! an extract from a letter I received to-day from the largest cheese buyers in the city of Montieal, in Canada^ The wiiter says : "Do the people of Now Zealand know what a big trade they may have in their fingers, which, in time, looks to us as if it could be made t" equal tho trade of America and Canada," Mr Meadows went on to say : " I have tasted New Zealand cheese in London really superb, I bought some at 56s of remarkably good quality. I may say that in England there is an unlimited market for fine New Zealand cheese aX fair remunerative rates. But yo';r makers appear to work in the dark ; they have not studied the wants of t'l'c English market, either as regard u I weight, colour, or size. The cheese now wanted at Home should be 60 pounds in weight. It should be as fat as it is poc sible to make it. It should be luadf white, light straw colour, or darker, ju. -^ as the different markets require. But to send small, miserable- sized cheese N <\ great mistake. A 60lb chceso mnr^res much better and cuts out to grer»i-r advantage to the retailer. The cheese does well packed in long boxes, with a board between each cheese, aud the sided of the box open sufficiently to let the air circulate freely all round each cheeg<\ Itis a great mistake for your factouVs to store the cheese too long in this Colony. My experience teaches me that che<\ Q e ts best snipped to London when it hag reached 21 days oh). It will mature enough on the voyago, nnd besides, io i* turned into mon»y all the sooner. With regard to the shipment of butter, it should be sent in a. cool chamber, fche temperature not to exceed 40deg\ ; and cheese will do well in the same temperature. My,.. opinion is that you are half asleep in this country over dairy prcdueo, and unless you waken np pretty scon you will have some one elso taking tho trade '* away from you.