144 Agricultural Journal of Victoria. 



grades or staBdards of quality, and the method and extent of inspec- 

 tion should be established for the Commonwealth. I do not know 

 whether it is owing to the constitutional independence of the various 

 states being imperfectly understood, or whether it is due to the desire 

 to attach to federation, commercial as well as political cohesion, but 

 there is no doubt that the merchants and importers of Africa make no 

 distinction between the different States when discussing the articles 

 they import, and especially if there is the desire to find fault. In my 

 inquiries regarding butter for instance — and this applies to other 

 articles — I have very seldom heard the expression " Victorian " butter 

 or " New South Wales " butter, it is always " Australian " this or 

 that, whatever the article be that is under discussion. The conse- 

 quence is that I have been severely rated on a number of occasions 

 regarding the inferior quality or ill condition of certain shipments that 

 have never seen Victoria. 



The managing partner of one firm became very angry when I 

 m.entioned butter, and intimated rather curtly he was not disposed to 

 discuss it. " He had had enough of ' Australian ' butter," he had 

 been importing it for years, but had lately been treated so shamefully 

 that he was fully determined never to import another lb. After a 

 time I succeeded in eliciting the information, that the butter about 

 which he was so incensed, came from a neighbouring State, 

 and that he never at any time had imported Victorian butter, but 

 still it came within the scope of his somewhat sweeping condemnation. 

 That, of course, provided me with the opportunity of explaining our 

 dairying system, of commending the high quality of our production, 

 and of soliciting a trial shipment of Victorian, which, as I have to see 

 him again shortly, I expect to secure. 



Instances like this, of which 1 could cite many others, induce me 

 to believe that the grading of all butter for export, and the adop- 

 tion of uniform methods of inspection throughout the Commonwealth 

 could not fail to be of advantage to all the States. 



When a general classification of the standard of quality of Aus- 

 tralian products, such as I have referred to, exists in the minds of the 

 importers here, it most adversely affects those who are producing the 

 best article, as it is only when complaint is necessar}- that the com- 

 parison is made, which, as I have shown, is usually of a general 

 character. When nothing is wrong, then the inferior production 

 profits by the reputation of the better. 



Tinned Butter. 



With reference to butter in tins, I have inquired carefully the 

 opinion of every merchant and retailer I have called upon regarding 

 the weights, and I have only found one prepared to advocate the 

 adoption of nominal weights. The trade generally is emphatically in 

 favour of each tin containing 1 lb. net of butter. The Army authori- 

 ties and the Repatriation Departments of the Transvaal and Orange 



