9

H.—34a

Penarth Dock. Near Penarth Head, between Cardiff and Barry, is situated the Penarth Dock; but particulars supplied to me show that it is used almost exclusively for loading coal. The depth of water on the sill of the dock is 35 ft. 9 in. at ordinary spring tides and 25 ft. 9 in. at ordinary neap tides, Graving-docks. The Mountstuart Dry Docks at Cardiff include the following: —

At Barry there are three graving-docks, as under : — Commercial Graving-dock,— Ft. in. Total length ... ... ... ... ... ... 867 0 Width at entrance ... ... ... ... ... ... 60 0 ~ of dock at top ... ... ... ... ... 113 6 ~ ~ at bottom ... ... .... ... ... 100 0 Depth on outer sill, high water, ordinary spring tides ... ... 26 8 ~ ~ neap tides ... ... ... 18 4 The dock can be divided into outer and inner docks of the following lengths respectively ... ... ... 366 ft. and 483 ft. Graving Dock Company's graving-dock,— Total length ... " ... ... ... ... ... 778 0 Width at entrance ... ... ... ... ... ... 60 0 ~ of dock at top ... ... ... ... 113 6 ~ at bottom ... ... ... ... ... 100 0 Average depth on sill, spring tides ... ... ... ... 248 ~ neap tides ... ... ... ... 16 4 The dock can be divided into outer and inner docks of the following lengths ... ... ... ... 355 ft. and 405 ft. Graving Dock Company's single graving-dock,— Total length ... ... ... ... ... ... 623 0 Width at entrance ... ... ... ... ... ... 70 9 ~ of dock at top ... ... ... ... ... 709 ~ ~ at bottom ... ... ... ... ... 65 0 Trade in New 7 Zealand Produce. Opinions of Merchants. Butter and Cheese. —The head of a firm doing a large business in New Zealand dairy-produce had a complaint to make with reference to butter containing 7 per cent, more water than it ought to contain. His firm bought the butter from individual dairies in New Zealand —not from factories— and sold it to a London dealer, who in turn sold it to a retailer. The retailer was prosecuted and fined in June last, and to make up for his loss the speaker's firm had taken 10s. per hundredweight off the price. (The firm's manager,-•'Speaking to me apart of the same incident, expressed the opinion that the Government of New Zealand should pay the fine and costs, as it was evidently through laxity on the part of the graders that the butter in question was passed.) Continuing, the principal of the firm said that Dutch dealers bought some New Zealand butter this season at 105s. per hundredweight, but, being unable to do anything with it, sold it back to his firm at much less. He wished to draw attention to what he considered an error in nomenclature. New Zealand exporters call their creamery butter " factory butter." What British dealers understand by " creamery butter " is butter made from cream supplied by the different dairies, whereas " factory butter " is butter made by the dairies and mixed by the factory. What British merchants call " factory butter "is designated " milled butter "in New Zealand. Butter from Canada and the United States is described in the terms familiar to British dealers, and the confusion of nomenclature is apt to cause injury to New Zealand produce. New Zealand milled butter, he remarked incidentally, is bad—much worse than Canadian or English. If New Zealand milled butter were treated in the manner pursued in Irish factories—selected and classified, instead of being all mixed together—it would command l|d. to 2d. per pound more. At present New Zealand milled butter is hardly used for anything but pastry. He had written to the New Zealand Agricultural Department, suggesting that butter from that country should be treated on the Irish system. New Zealand would then have three classes of butter—(l) creamery, (2) factory, and (3) milled —thus corresponding with the classes of butter and methods of treatment familiar in England, There are, he said, 2—H. 34a.

Name of Dock. Length. Width. Entranoegates. Depth of Water, Ordinary Spring Tides. o. 1 Dock ... o. 2 Dock ... o. 3 Dock ... Ft. 440 420 550 Ft. 70 105 85 Ft. in. 52 6 52 0 66 0 Ft. in. 26 0 26 0 28 6