TT.-29

10

Quantities of Butter and Cheese forwarded to Grading-stores for grading.

Value of Exports. The Customs statistics of the value of exports of dairy-produce indicate a very satisfactory position. It may bo accepted that the export of dairy cattle has largely come about through the advertising which the Division's testing of purebred dairy cattle has made possible. Including the value of these exported dairy cattle (£10,140) with that of butter, cheese, dried milk, casein, condensed milk, milk-sugar, and butterfat, the value of New Zealand's exports relating to the dairy has attained the splendid total of £16,217,193 for the year ended 31st March. Butler.—- Butter-quality has been satisfactory throughout the season as regards flavour and make. Some districts report improvement, and at all ports the quality has been well maintained. Reports from the United Kingdom and United States of America have been very satisfactory. The grading of cream and the farm-dairy instruction have been responsible for considerable improvement in the product of a number of factories. A good deal of difficulty has been occasioned by dairy companies manufacturing butter which occasionally contains a water content above the legal limit of 16 per cent. When it became known that some Now Zealand butters were being found to contain a water content above the legal limit in the United Kingdom arrangements were made to do more testing at the grading-ports. This prevented a number of boxes from being exported which might otherwise have caused trouble. Considerable quantities of butter have been returned to the dairy companies for reworking ; other butters have been reworked at the owners' expense but under the supervision of our staff; and in three instances legal proceedings have been taken, with resultant fines ranging from £10 to £25. The engagement of additional assistance for the purpose of checking more samples of butter for moisture has to a limited extent afforded the opportunity to increase the number of samples tested for content of salt and fat. The range in the percentage of salt in our salted butters is too wide, and in many cases too low. For the general trade not less than 1| or more than 2 per cent, of salt should be incorporated. With the moisture and salt content more even a more uniform fat content is assured. Cheese. —The comparatively cool season has been in the interests of better quality in cheese as well as butter. Cool nights mean better milk, and this causes fewer difficulties to arise in connection with manufacture of milk into cheese. Cheese from practically all districts has evidenced improvement. There has been some difficulty experienced in connection with the colour in coloured cheese. It was at first considered that the colouring was faulty, and in some instances the trouble disappeared when the colouring-material was changed. In other instances colouring-material which when used at one factory produced inferior-coloured cheese was used without any trouble at an adjoining factory. It would appear that some milks have a reducing effect on colour which does not obtain with other milks. Some bacteriological work has been done at the Wallaceville Laboratory in connection with this trouble. This season several factories situated in districts where the temperature of insulated curing-rooms runs to over-65° F. during the summer months have installed mechanical refrigerating-machines to reduce and control the temperature. The effect on the flavour, the body, and the condition of the cheese has been beneficial, and an undue loss of weight has been avoided. The process of pasteurizing milk for cheesemaking continues to extend, and the factories which adopted the process this season have had the satisfaction of turning out cheese far superior in quality to those hitherto made by them from raw milk. Packages. Some complaint has been received respecting breakages in butter and cheese packages prior to delivery into the importers' warehouses in London. Some of these packages have been made of timber which was too thin to ensure satisfactory nailing. The regulation-stipulating the size for butter-boxes provides for timber \ in. in thickness ; the ends should be at least |- in. thick. Considerable improvement has been effected in the boxes for a number of factories this season. There is still room for considerable improvement in the packing of cheese, many crates being filled too full, while others show too much unoccupied space. A number of companies use centre boards and battens which are too thin for the purpose. In some districts certain factories arc using boxes made 0 f boards -ft in. and in others jj in. in thickness. A number of the latter were in use before the war, and the trade would probably be highly pleased if they again came into use. A number of cheesefactories have adopted the method of wire-binding the centre of the cheese-crate as well as the ends. This strengthens the case very considerably, and it is to be hoped that the method will sooner or later be general,

Year 1922-23. Year 19! M 22. Port. Butter. < heese. Butter. Cheese. Auckland. . Gisborne . . New Plymouth Patea Wanganui Wellington Lyttelton.. Timaru . . Dun (din . . Bluff Cwt. 707.146 19,045 132,303 58,381 ■11,815 252,429 54.079 12,301 38,397 27,250 Cwt. L68,127 Cwt. 490,646 11.172 90,301 26,838 22,188 157,119 42,557 1,748 24.812 14.972 Cwt. 176,180 188,927 238,166 19.416 312,350 28,673 11,358 43,426 190,886 197,008 254,346 15.540 300,447 36.001 7.759 43,113 175,947 Totals 1,343,146 1,201,,329 882,353 1,206,341