FARM AND DAIRY.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVI, Issue 297, 19 May 1914, Page 7

FARM AND DAIRY.

,J MELBOURNE liUTTER MARKET. . EXTRAORDINARY STATE OF AF- , | FAIRS. • I A most extraordinary state of affairs - exists in the Melbourne butler market 1• at the present time, says the Age of f April 27. A good season in New Sou'.h j Wales and Queensland, coupled with a i dry season in Victoria, has led to the i importation into Victoria of enormous . quantities of butter from the northern 3 States. Its quadity, moreover, is inferior , only to the choicest brands that Victoria produces, and, as it is being offered in , the wholesale market at 2d to 3d per j | lb. less than the price demanded for Vic- , torian butter, it is being' disposed of ' without difficulty. Such Victorian butters as can be sold at anything like the same price are distinctly inferior in ? quality, and consequently are a glut up•on tiie market. Thousands of eases 5 j have been put, and are .still being put, into cool stores for want of purchasers. B 1 The position lias become very acute, and "(will probably remain so until climatic I changes in the north cut off supplies. • The only Victorian butter comparable in ' quality with that which is arriving from '■ the northern State is the superfine, but " it is so scarse, and consequently cominands such a high price, that it stands in a class by itself. Present supplies s are snapped up at Is 2d per 11). wholes Sale (Is 4d retla.il) and, in fact, much rl more than is now available could be disr posed of at that figure. The outstande ing fact about the business is that Nev/ South Wales and Queensland can soil in ajMelbourno butter at a lower price and ■. of better quality than most of the local 0 butter, and the inevitable conclusion is that local methods of manufacture T are capable of very groat improvement. When the bulk of Victorian butter is raised to a standard of quality at least r as high as that of the butter from the northern States, these destructive periodical invasions will cease. The principal cause of the inferiority (adds our • contemporary) is said to be the pre>l vailing faulty methods of storing, ie handling, and carting cream before it d reaches tho butter factories, and until d effective measures are adopted to ensure ,y that factories receive cream in a fresh J and untainted condition, inferior butter will continue to disgrace the Melbourne il market.