NATIONAL DAIRY ASSOClATION.

Taranaki Daily News, 27 December 1915, Page 8

NATIONAL DAIRY ASSOCIATION.

LONDON REPRESENTATIVE'S REPORT. Writing on November 3, Mr Ellison, th« London representative of the National Dairy Association of New Zealand, Ltd., says:->-Manures.—The supply of 'both basic slag and superphosphates is, for some time, going to be very much restricted. It,is almost impossible to get supplies of superphosphates from this country in eny quantity. The very heavy increase in sea freights, more particularly on the phosphate rock, which largely comes from Tunis, is one factor, but the main reason is, I believe, the difficulty in procuring sulphuric acid for treating the raw material. The Imperial Government are, for the time being, absorbing Buch large quantities of sulphuric acid in the manufacture of explosives that the manure manufacturers find difficulty in obtaining what they require. The quantity of highgrade basic slag is in very small compass, and is likely to remain so. The export of this manure has been prohibited to neutral countries. This does not, of course, mean prohibition of shipment to the British Dominions, but has (been introduced with the object of keeping sufficient supplies for the farmers of. this country, if possible. There is, however, an ample supply of the lower grade slags 10 to 12 per cent, phosphoric acid; some of these lower grade slags have, from experiments made, proved very valuable, provided they have a high solubility test. It has been customary hitherto to draw from Germany much of the raw material for the manufacture of the higher grade slag,' and in fact a very extensive export trade existed between Germany and the British colonies. This is now a thing of the past, and the only immediate solution of the difficulty appears to be the substitution of the lower-grade slags. I understand that already shipments of slag of this quality are being made to our Dominion, and if any quantity is required, I see no means of supplying except in the lower grade, which will, of course, be comparatively cheaper, except that the same rate of freight attaches to both qualities. Cheese.—Cheese has further advanced in price; two large firms here in particular are credited with the desire to see still higher prices, no doubt on account of their large holdings of both Canadian and New Zealand' stocks. There is threughout the country a very good demand for cheese. This will continue so long as the iretail prices are not advanced. Cheese is, no doubt, taking the 1 plaee of meat to a large extent, and would continue to do so to a greater degree if there were some means "of bringing its value more prominently before the consuming public. The retail price at present is from lOd to lid per lb. Should it be advanced to Is or Is Id we may look for a repetition of what happened when the prices were forced up to 100s. The public simply will not pay the price, with the inevitable result that the market will break and prices fall to 70s again; this may happen, and against it we have no remedy; we are simply at the mercy of those who hold the power of influencing the situation. Those who have followed the butter market during recent weeks will have noted the result of what exceptionally high prices are responsible for. Danish butter which a fortnight ago was quoted as high as 209s has fallen to 160s, and I know of a quantity having changed hands at 160 a last week. The retail price in the north has reached 2s and 2s 2d per lb. It was simply overdone, the public made up their mind to leave it alone, and we saw the result—a slump of 50s per cwt, This is the invariable result of extreme prices, and we might witness a repetition of this as regards cheese. It \is the retail price that we are interested in; this more than ever is the determining factor. During the months of January to May our cheese dominates the market to a large extent; our imports represent 70 per cent, of the total cheese coming into England during these five months. .When this frightful war is finished it will become more than ever necessary to organise a better system for marketing our cheese; in short, a system whioh wil] give the retailer a fair margin of profit for his risk and labor, and.at the same time afford us protection against I the inflating of values to an extent whioh breaks the market, and we are forced to accept lower prices than ii really necessary, It is not an easy matter to get factory directors interested in the future during a period whin prices are on such a high level, but we should flot lose sight of the possibility of our having to face a series of, low prices after the termination of the war and the necessity of some better control. Butter,—.Those responsible for the supply of butter for the troops havt evidently got themselves into a similar trouble, as al] other Government departments do> when they set departmental clerks to take charge of the buying which can only be successfully carried out by experts. Huge quantities of tinned butter have been supplied which has turned out tb bp absolutely unfit for fpod, due to the turning of the Siberian butter, which has been of bad qualify all the summer, This rubbish hats been foisted upon the" unfortunate solders through the greed of the eontractprs pn the one hand find the, incompetency pf those in authority on the other hand- It is now likely that » demand may come alonj,. far New Zealand butter to fill later contracts for tinned butter; if bo, it will help us considerably. The retail prices for butter in London are as follow: Specially selepted fresh, Is lOd; Normandy, Is lOd; Brittany, Is 9d; Irish, Is 9d; Australian, Is Bt}; copking butter, Is Bd, Retail prices for cheese are, generally speaking, as follows For colonial (which includes Canadian and New Zealand cheese), 10d to lid per lb; Aineripan, same price; English Cheddar, Is Id to la 2d. Bacon (streaky), from Is 3d to U M per lbi hams, is 3d to Is 8d per lb. At the moment butter is practically negiectpd—due, in my opinion, to th« accumulation pf inferior Siberian, which is forcing the people to use margarine instead.