NEW ZEALAND DAIRY PRODUCE.

Te Aroha News, Volume VII, Issue 437, 15 January 1890, Page 6

NEW ZEALAND DAIRY PRODUCE.

INTERVIEW WITH THE MARGARINE MERCHANT. (from our special correspondent.) London, November 29. Numbers 55 to 58, Whitechapel Road not very far from the scene of the famous murders —are the business premises of Mi C. J. Bone, a prosperous and opulent dealer in various kinds of provisions, but known more especially (from the fact of his making a specialty of the article) as the “ Margarine Merchant.” Margarine, I may mention, for the information of those of your readers who don’t happen to have heard of it, is a substitute for butter made partially of that product itself and partially of beef fat. In appearance and taste the best qualities exactly resemble High-class fresh butter; in fact, only experts can safely discriminate between the two. At Whitechapel Road one is surrounded by margarine. Margarine in ffrkins and margarine in kegs ; margarine in small boxes for the village shopkeeper, and margarine in largo cases for the London woikhouses and gaols. All these are plainly marked, in accordance with the strictlv enforced provisions of the “Foods Adulteration Act,” MARGARINE in large blue letters.

“The prejudice against margarine is d ing out,” said Mr Bone, a shrewd and pleasant-looking elderly gentleman who boasts some forty years’ experience of the provision trade. “ People find that good margarine is preferable in all respects to indifferent butter. Now, there (and Mr Bone knocked off the head of an adjacent keg) is a prime quality of margarine.” He here inserted a long knife into the stuff, and giving it a dexterous twist withdrew a generous sample. I can honestly say it both smelt and tasted delicious. This margarine, indeed, struck me as so much fresher and sweeter than the average London butter, that I there and then resolved to try some at home. “ Many people wont on Mr Bone, “ prefer this quality of margarine to the butter they can get in town. It seems impossible, however, to persuade servants to use it. Eliza Jane and Mary Anne would rather anoint their afternoon toast with the rankest so-called butter than demean themselves to margarine.” “'Twas so at first with American beef and New Zealand frozen mutton,’" I interjected; “ servants wouldn’t touch either.’ “Fortunately for us,” continued Mr Bone, “managers of gaols and workhouses are wiser. They honestly rejoice at being ab'e to buy wholesome stuff like this, which the paupers (most fastidious, crea tures, let me tell you) will eat without grumbling. The margarine I showed you just now contained thirty per cent, of real butter, and retails at Is a pound. Now here is a sample containing no butter at all which retails at about 8d a pound.” Once again Mr Bone extracted a sample and dabbed it well under my nose. My bert endeavours wore devoted to detecting some difference between this margarine and the other, but save that the new sample appeared to smell the least bit grea-ier than the other, I could honestly discover none. , “Do you really mean to tell me this is not passed off on people as genuine butter ?" I asked, sceptically. “ A tradesman would risk a heavy fine if he sold it or marked it up as aught but margarine,” replied Mr Bone, rather eva sively. We then went on to talk of the New Zealand dairy produce that had come over here, and its faults and failings. The burden of Mr Bone’s song was that both New Zealand butter and cheese had been heavily handicappod so far by bad packing. “ The butter,” said he, “ should bo packed in firkins (not boxes) of oak with galvanised iron hoops. The firkins should be of uniform size, and (when full) of uniform weight, and contain say from 501 b to 601 b. The" greatest care should be taken to distinguish butters of different colour and quality by separate brands on the firkins. The first quality of butter should be of uniform colour —a full straw is best and contain about 0 per cent, of salt. It would probably fetch Is 2d a pound wholesale. The second quality should contain 4 per cent, of salt, and would realise 8d a pound perhaps.” The highest price Mr Bone ever paid for New Zealand butter was . 116 s a cwt, and the lowest 565; the average runs 90s to 100 s per cwt. Too much stress cannot possibly be laid, Mr Bone considers, on the importance of the New Zealand dairies adopting a uniform colour for. their butter, and (above all) of packing and branding their produce. Hitherto it has been impossible to tell where the butter and cheese came from or to identify it in any way. Mr Bone, though

the largest buyer of New Zealand cheese in London, could not even tell ,me from which province the best qualities came. “ We have had some New Zealand cheese, he said, “equal to the finest English Cheddar. I believe it came from Canterbury, but can’t be certain. Had it been branded, myself and half-a-dozen others would ever after have been on the lookout for that brand. I paid 56s a cwt. for the lot, and thought it cheap.. New Zealand cheese is never sold a 3 New Zealand cheese. It differs too much for that. Retailers class it as Cheddar or American, according to its quality and colour, and it fetches all prices, from 36s to &6a. The finer the qualify, the more readily the cheese sells. There is naturally an almost unlimited market for what folks call • prime Cheddar.’ ” New Zealand cheese, like New Zealand butter, is badly packed. Each cheese should be from 50 to 601 b in size and be exported in a case of its own. In this form Uhey are easy to sell and easy to move about. Between the lid of the cate and the cheese a thin veneer board covering the entire surface of the latter should be placed. This protects the cheese from many dangers, and is technically known as a scale-board. I am reminded that the New Zealand butter should not be wrapped up in muslin, bub merely have a piece laid over the top. Every firkin must be plainly marked “ Pure Butter,’ and, as I have explained, branded. For good butter and cheese arriving in this country any time between October and March, there is practically an unlimited demand.