THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. TUESDAY, OCTOBER 5, 1909. COLONIAL DAIRY PRODUCE.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 9612, 5 October 1909, Page 4

THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. TUESDAY, OCTOBER 5, 1909. COLONIAL DAIRY PRODUCE.

. Messrs W. Weddel and Co.'s annual ; review of the colonial dairy produce ' trade is as usual full of interesting information to those engaged in the important dairy industry. One of the most striking features of the year, so far as colonial produce is concerned, appears to have been the complaints that have been made re garding the quality of New Zealanl and Australian butter, the principal grievances being excess of moisture ] and a large increase of "fishy'' butter. However, steps have been taken by the New Zealand Government to check the practice, thac was evidently growing, of adding to the water content of butter, and probably there will be less ground of com plaint on that account during the ensuing season. Messrs Weddel and Co. make a suggestion that might be worth considering, as having a bearing upon the quality of our butter, and that is that the grading should be stiffened, either by raising the percentage of points for each grade, or making an extra section above first quality, for'superfine butter. Tn regard to prices, Messrs Weddei nnd Co. point out that those factories which sold last year were much better off than those which consigned their outputs. The losses sus tained by buyers, however, have apparently made them cautious this year in making forward contracts, and advice from Auckland states that they have had to increase their offers from lOd to IOJd per lb. But few sales even at the' latt-'r figure are said to have taken place. Last year the opening offers were at IOJd, and the price was forced up to lljd, at | which many factories closed, and thus made fine season the most profitable one for sellers experienced since the trade began. With regard to supplies of butter, New Zealand improved by a little over 2,000 tons upon the previous year's total, but was not up to the totals of 1904, 1905, and 1906. Australia, which, on account of i,ts varying seasons, is irregular in its supplies of butter, fell off by (5,000 tons, and shipped less than half her exports of 1907. The Argentine supplied some 4,475 tons, or nearly double the exports of the year before, but only equal to her supplies of 1904, so that it appears as if the butter industry was not developing very rapidly in that country. Russia is, however, coming to the front as a bitter producing country, and her imports into the

Udted Kingdom are steadily increasing, the total for 1909 being 32,612 tons, or mure than double the quantity received from New Zealand. The total quantity of butter received by the United Kingdom last year was 32,197 tons from colonial sources, and 178,378 from foreign countries, making a grand total of 210,575 tons, or 9,641 tons more than the previous year. This quantity has, however, been exceedei in three previous years, the highest total being 219,277 tons in 1907. Australia, in the present favourable season, should make a considerable recovery h her exports to the United Kingdom, and New Zealand should also make an appreciable advance, seeing that the season has opened early and under must favourable auspices. New Zealand is expanding in its export of cheese, and now occupies second place to Canada among the countries shipping cheese to the United Kingdom. The total imports from Naw Zealand in 1909 were 16,572 tons, which is four times greater than in 1905. The quality of New Zealand cheese, Messrs Weddel and Go. say, is improving, but only in exceptional cases is it yet equal to Canadian, and, as pointed out, there is no reason why these exceptions shoulJ not become the rule.