220 SIBEHIA 



the weekly output of other neighbouring dairies, 

 which would be about three to six casks ; the casks 

 are branded, one mark, and the whole parcel is sent 

 on to Barnaoul for sale, when not sent direct ;t|o 

 Europe. In winter the butter will keep fairly well, 

 but, in the very hot weather of mid -summer, it is 

 literally boiled before it reaches the refrigerator 

 wagons on the Siberian line, having travelled over 

 700 miles, taking from three weeks to one month, 

 and when the roads are broken by thaw as much 

 as two months to make the journey. 



As a result, the butter deterioraltes los. per cask 

 at least, a loss which is borne by the peasants. It 

 will be obvious that the consequent waste and loss 

 are enormous. The Government would be well 

 advised if they adopted a system of refrigerator 

 vehicles, in which the butter could be conveyed from 

 the dairies to the dep6ts. It would represent [a 

 profit to the Altai peasantry of at least £200,000 

 per annum. It is scarcely to be wondered at that 

 the peasants are over head and ears in debt to the 

 Government, for they have absolutely no means of 

 disposing of the produce of their toil under favourable 

 conditions. £50,000 of the £200,000 saved could be 

 taken by the Government in payment of the cost of 

 introducing the suggested refrigerator vehicles. It 

 would also be well to take the most stringent measures 

 to prevent delay in transit. Thus, the butter should 

 not be exposed to the sun at the different collecting 

 stations, particularly that of Obi. The law should, 

 further, make it compulsory that all butter be carried 

 in refrigerator wa:gons, whether in summer or winter, 

 lest a sudden change of temperature, particularly in 

 the spring, should destroy the quality of two or three 

 train -loads of butter loaded in ordinary trucks. 

 Having these considerations in mind I drew up a 

 petition this year, which was signed by a number of 



