THE DAIRY INDUSTRY 69 



has, during the last year or two, had the honour of 

 losing the most money in the trade. 



This is one of those truths which are stranger 

 than fiction, and the cause of such a state of affairs 

 is to be looked for in the insane competition of the 

 purchasers, thanks to which, the peasant dairy-farmer 

 has them entirely in his hands, and, notwithstanding 

 his reputation for ignorance and stupidity — which 

 should rather be taken to mean business tact and 

 ability — is enabled to squeeze the highest prices out 

 of them. As an illustration I may point to the fact 

 that, as I write, there are 7,000 casks of Siberian 

 winter butter being delivered on the London market, 

 5,000 of which were bought at prices running 4s. 

 and 5s. per cwt. higher than this week's London 

 market price. It must, however, be remembered 

 that there are only about eleven firms engaged in this 

 interesting and exciting pastime, and of them we can 

 say, as we say of the Australian Cricketers, that they 

 are an excellent eleven and play a splendid losing 

 game. I do not wish it to be understood that all 

 provision merchants act in the same way. There are 

 " elevens " in the trade who can play a waiting game 

 and come on the market at the eleventh hour with the 

 air of men " who know," favouring the importer by 

 picking out his best qualities, and smiling com- 

 placently as they pocket his sale-note at 4s. to 6s, 

 below cost price. There is no standard of quality in 

 this line of trade, and buyers are frequently able to 

 persuade the importer (who is eager to cut out a 

 competitor) that they have been offered equal butter 

 at 2s. and sometimes 4s. below the price fixed by 

 him. If the buyer is not a very good judge of butter, 

 or is in the habit of forgetting the quality of the lot 

 he has just inspected, and the importer is aware 

 of the fact, he sticks to his price ; but, if it happens 

 that the buyer is an adept in the gentle art of per- 



