FARM AND DAIRY.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 302, 15 May 1913, Page 7

FARM AND DAIRY.

■** THE BUTTER INDUSTRY. ' HOME SEPARATION CONDEMNED. A business man, well kown in the London produce trade, writing under date March 1!) to Mr. J. R. Scott, secre- j tary of the South Island Dairy Association, draws a comparison between the prices being realised at Home for Australian and New Zealand butter. He says: "Last week the top price for New Zealand salted was 120s, whereas the very choicest Australian could only command 112s, a difference of 8s per fc'wt., or nearly Id per lb. New Zealand butters have always been handicapped by the Australian' butters. With the exception of the.output from a few Western district factories of Victoria, the Australian butters ... go a long way to pulling down the prices—not only of their own best butters, but also of New Zealand. For this unaccountable rea- ! son there is a section of those interested in Australian butter who have fought I strenuously against having their butter 1 graded; the result is that at times the market is Hooded with all descriptions of I inferior Australian butters which have a j detrimental effect upon all colonial butters, and New Zealand in particular. New Zealand butter, as a matter of fact, is in a class by itself. . . The winter, which has been very open, especially in the South of England, has now taken a change, and instead of getting spring weather, we are having a real taste of winter. Snow has fallen, especially in the north; this may have the effect of keeping up prices longer than otherwise would have been the case." Commenting on the information contained in the foregoing, a director of a leading butter factory told an Otago. Times reporter that in the opinion of those who ought to know, the inferiority of some Australian butters was in a large measure the direct result of home separation. It was with a great amount 1 of fear for the future, of the industry in New Zealand, too, that he had noticed a growing tendency to follow the example set by the Australian fanners, and to go in for home separation. He eonsidcr- , ,ed that by following this practice great harm would be done to the future of the butter industry in the Dominion.