The Waikato Times AND THAMES VALLEY GAZETTE. THURSDAY, MARCH 22, 1888.

Waikato Times, Volume XXX, Issue 2449, 22 March 1888, Page 2

The Waikato Times AND THAMES VALLEY GAZETTE.

THURSDAY, MARCH 22, 1888.

E.pinUml exact justirn to ..11 m.'n, Oi whatsoever state or persuasion, religious or political.

Jx another column we publish some very important statements made by Mr Murphy, of Canterbury, who has lately 'visited the Australian colonies, showing in the clearest language, that the butter trade between New Zealand and the colonies on the other side of the water has been ruined by the great inferiority of the article, which is described as being only lit for cart-grease. This appears to be not a mere accidental state of the exports, but has become characteristic of the quality of the butter from New Zealand generally, which is now rejected by the Australian markets. The cause assigned for this striking and wholesale inferiority of so valuable a commercial commodity is the carelessness of the makers in this colony, v» ho do not, or will not, rightly comprehend the value of producing a superior article. Mr Murphy declares that there are wide fields in the Australian colonies for the successful introduction of New Zealand butter, provided it is a finished article of superior manufacture. It is most painful, at th» very time we are making great efforts, and devoting our energies towards infusing some degree of spirit into our languishing agricultural industries, to find that one of the chief of these, the dairying industry, has gained for itself an undesirable notoriety in the markets of the neighbouring colonies, solely through the want of care, trouble and system on the part of the agriculturists themselves. Such fatuous folly is incomprehensible. We have been placing our hopes on the dairy as one of the levers by which we may be enabled to regain some of our lost prosperity ; but, if the farmers have not sufficient stamina and self-re-gard in. them to uphold the reputation of one of the leading products of their country, wo fear the cry must be raised that " there is no more hope in Israel." Throughout this colony the desire has made itself manifest to urge forward the development of the dairy industry, for which the climate and pastures of the country are pre eminently favourable. No other of our products is so keenly susceptible to deterioration in consequence of indifferent manipulation as bulter; therefore, it is the more necessary to devote particular attention and careful study to the industry as one of the foremost in the catalogue of our exports, in order to command a welcome place in foreign markets. Want of knowledge of the true art of butter-making, of the science of the dairy, and the chemical history of milk and cream, will, no doubt, account, in a great measure, for the unskilful, or imperfect productions of our colonal farmers. It has been our aim, from time to time, to make our agriculturists as familiar as possible with the most recent improvements in the dairy, and manipulation of butter, which, form the subject of articles in the press devoted to the farming interests in the Old Country and the colonies. The absolute necessity for imparting scientific knowledge and instruction to the agricultural classes has long been recognised in continental countries, and in the United States where schools of agriculture are established under the fostering care of Government ; hence the positive advance in these industrial departments gained by such countries as Holland, Denmark, Franco &c. The shock givon to the farming interests in Great Britain by the sharp competition of superior and abundant foreign products has, at last, roused tho British Legislature to recogniso tho disadvantages under which the British farmer suffers through tho absenco of established means for acquiring tho same scientific agricultural education which their foreign competitors enjoj', and it is announced that a Minister of Agriculture will bo added to tho personnel of tho Cabinet who will be charged with promoting the interests and advancement of the workers of the soil in every way that lays in the power of a wealthy Government assimilating itself to modern ideas and requirements. Our own Government should take steps of a similar practical nature to accelerate the growth of our most necessary agricultural industries in which a spark of vitality remains to be fanned into flame. During the last session of the General Assembly, a report on this subject of the dairy was presented to the Legislative Council, which contained a large amount of valuable information with many useful suggestions. But we need something more than parliamentary reports, which never reach the hands of those whose particular benefit they seek. Schools of Agriculture should be established in the principal and most settled agricultural districts of the colony ; but, in the present embarrassed state of the colonial finances, it is, perhaps, not to be expected that such establishments can be created in any form. In New South Wales and Victoria the Governments have established model dairies, and, if we could find it within our means to provide something in this country after the same plan, an immense amount of encouragement would be derived by the inteiests involved that would, in the course of a comparatively short time, render impossible the reproach of being exporters of train-oil and cart-grease to foreign markets as New Zealand butter.

Wo observe that this subject has been exciting attention in the South Island, and the Canterbury Press, writing on the matter, makes the following suggestions:—"We should like to sec prizes of considerable value allotted for the purpose of encouraging a bettor system of dairy farming—such, for instance, as for Ibe best dairy farm buildings and appliances, for the h«st stock of dairy cows, including the largest yield of butter from a given number of cows, and the highest prices obtained in the open market-. Surely a comparatively small sum of money spared, as first suggested, would be a goxl investment when placed alongside the interests involved, equal in value, to the " pastoral and mining industries combined.' " We cordially concur in the proposals of our contemporary, and are of the opinion that they would be rendered very feasible if, in the absence of organised establishments of their own, the Government devoted ;i sufficient sum of money, which in itself need not be of a large amount, as grants in aid to Horticultural and Pastoral Associations for tlte purpose of offering prizes in the direction suggested by the Press. It must be admitted that the numerous societies of the kind in existence in New Zealand are doing a great deal of good work in the way of assisting the progress of settlement and the cultivation of the soil. Their usefulness would be very much enlarged by the receipt of such small grants, and they would be in a position to materially assist the dairy industry and help in the attainment of proficiency in the manufacture of wholesale and marketable butter.