Report of the Department of Agriculture. 551 



suppliers; fuitlier, as most of tlie creameries in the TJnion are more 

 or less connected with the farmers themselves, and as most of the 

 various boards of directors are composed of farmers, it cannot be 

 imao-ined that they would intentioinilly try to injure one another. 

 ]?ut this discontent amon<^st the su])i)liprs is yearly on the increase, 

 and unless a better spirit of co-operati ui is brou^lit nbout tlie develop- 

 ment of our dairy industry will be jeopardized. 



;'). K.r/Kirt of li)iflcr. — I)uriii<4' Hie year 49,210 cases of Initter, 

 ei|uivaleiit to 2, TOO, 090 lb., were ex])orted to London, and throuo-hout 

 the ])eri()d thai exportation took place everything- pointed to a good 

 export season, but for reasons given abo^e it was broug'ht to an abrupt 

 close. Unfortunately, the nuijority of the butter exported landed in 

 London just at the time when the accumulated war stocks were being 

 disposed of, consequently the market was very (le])ressed and great 

 dithculty was experienced in disposing- of the l)utter at anything- like 

 remunerative prices. One of the g'reatest diawbacks to the establish- 

 ment of an export trade is the inability of creameries to maintain a 

 steady supjtly, and oversea buyers are neve]' certain when the next 

 consignment of South African liuttei' is coming forward. Under our 

 ])iesent state of development this is to a large extent unavoidable, 

 l.ut if the five or six million ])()unds of butter produced by individual 

 effort in the Union, and mostly sold at very unremunerative prices, 

 weie converted into an ex])oit Initter thiough (o-operative action the 

 ])jsition of our ex])ort trade would ini})rove enormously. 



Attention is drawn to the following principal faults observed 

 in the grading' of most of the butter foi' ex])ort this season : — (L Un- 

 suitability of boxes for export; (2) unsuitable g'rense-])roof lining- for 

 same; and (3) shorr weights. 



These faults, and their remedy, rest with the creameries them- 

 selves, but with future consignments o'f butter for export considerably 

 more string'ent action will be taken by the g"raders where such faults 

 are observed. For example, many cases of butter (which, according* 

 to our export condition.^, must contain 50 lb. net on arrival in London, 

 an allowance having" to be made of iialf to ihree-quaiter lb. jier case 

 for shrinkage), have been found to contain only 54 lb. net, and in one 

 or two isolated cases even less. This shows g-ross mismanag'ement and 

 carelessness on the part of the creamery employee responsible for the 

 packing'. In issuing* the certificate stating the net weight of each 

 consignment it is quite impossible for the g-rader to weig-h every case. 

 In any case tliis certific;)te of weig-ht is not final on the oversea 

 markets, in view of the " Foreign Produce Fxchang-e " rules reg'arding" 

 landed terms of butter sales, which clearly lay down that packages 

 containing' net weigdit of more than :!() lb., and \\\) to 00 11:., are to be 

 weig'hed within ha.lf a ])oun(l, or, in other woi'ds, all b.ixes of butter 

 must weigh 50^ lb. ncf. It is hoped that in future creameries will 

 give serious attention to these points. 



4. Clieese-makinfi Industry. — The out])ut of cheese during the 

 year amounted to 5,337,203 lb., of which appro s:imately 149,200 lb. 

 (uily weie exported, the prices oversea not being considered sufficiently 

 remunerative. Although production has been fairly g'ood, there is 

 far toj g'reat a percentag-e of indifferent cheese. The primary cause 

 of this, in most inj'tances, is lack of experience on the part of cheese- 

 makei's; in many cases also a clieese-maker who does know his work 

 leaves it to the native attendants, often at the most critical stages 



