10 July, 1917] The Cheese Indiislry in Victoria. 437 



developed. It is estimated that 12| lbs. of cheese is consumed per head 

 of population in Great Britain. 



A Cheese Pool, 

 The anount of cheese now produced in Australia is much in excess 

 of requirements. If it were not for a good proportion being exported 

 there would be a glut, and prices would be unremunerative. When 

 sjjipments have been arranged for in previous years in order to relieve 

 this market, the prices locally have risen above London parity. Those 

 who exported did not receive as much for their cheese as those who did 

 not export', and thus were placed at a disadvantage. It was only by 

 some exporting a considerable amount that better prices could be 

 obtained on the local market; then why should one section of the pro- 

 ducers receive an advantage by the sacrifice of another section. It 

 would be fairer if the cheese were pooled as the butter has been, and 

 only the necessary propoi-'tiou of the output fron- each factory kept here 

 to supply the local demand. The Queensland cheese-makers have had 

 some such arrangement amongst themselves for some time past. The 

 number of cheese factories (including farms) in Victoria are about 23 

 co-operative and 147 proprietary and private — about 170 iu all. 



Payment for Milk for Cheese Making. 

 The Pairy Supervision Act provides thati all milk purchased fcr the 

 purpose of manufacturing into cheese shall be paid for according to its 

 butterfat contents, as ascertained by the Babcock or Gerber test. This 

 was decided alter very exhaustive inquiry as to the most equitable basis 

 for payment. It is, however, very difficult to get some people to realize 

 the wiisdoir of this provision. In all countries where cheese is manufac- 

 tured on an extensive scale, this has been a much debated question, 

 much investigational work has been done, and the system generally 

 adopted is the butterfat test. Another system, more complicated, but 

 more thorough, was perfected in America by Professor Hart, known as 

 the Hart Casein Test, in which both the fat and the casein are esti- 

 mated, fat and casein being the two pi-incipal ingredients of cheese, but 

 i'. has been decided that the fat test is quite satisfactory. To demon- 

 strate the difference in value of milk of different quality for cheese mak- 

 ing, a series of experiments were undertaken by Mr. Geo. Sawers and 

 myself, using irilk of different quality. The results given be'ow should 

 be convincing. 



Should milk for cheese making be bought on its butiierfat contents or 

 bv the gallon ? 



The answer is given by the six cheese referred to above, particulars 

 of which follow: — 



Nos. 



Weight of milk, lbs. 

 Pcrcpntngo of fat . . 

 Weight of cheese . . 

 Value at 6il. per lb. 

 Equals per galloi of milk at. . 

 500 lbs. milk at Is. per lb. 



butterfat . . . . 27s. 23s-. fid. 2Is. 20a. 10s. 13s. 



Each cheese was made from 500 lbs. of milk of different butterfat 

 content. For convenience it is valued at 6d. per lb. 



Milk with lowest test, viz., 2.6 per cent., made 46i lbs. cheese, equals 

 29s. 3d., equals 5Ad. per gallon. 



