Our Imports of Dairy Produce. 



15 



margarine will be obtained by a comparison of the net 

 receipts of these articles with the estimated population. The 

 following statement shows the quantities of imported butter, 

 cheese, and margarine retained for food annually at intervals 

 of five years since 1876. 



Year. 



Butter. 



Margarine. 



Cheese. 



1876 

 1881 

 1886 

 1891 

 1896 



Cwts. 



1,636,000 

 1,983 000 

 1,481,000 

 2,071,000 

 2,980,000 



Cwts. 



■H- 



870,000 

 1,225,000 

 914,000 



Cwts. 

 1,486 000 

 1,800,000 

 1,685 ooo 

 1,976,000 

 2,192,000 



* Included with butter. 



If butter , and margarine are taken together, a calculation 

 based on the above figures shows that the supply of these 

 articles available for consumption has increased from 5-5 lbs. 

 per head in the earliest year to in lbs. per head last 

 year. Foreign and colonial cheese has not met with a cor- 

 responding demand, for the net imports per head have 

 increased by only one-fifth, viz., from 5 lbs. to 6*2 lbs. per 

 head. Prior to 1886 the entries of margarine were not 

 separately distinguished; between that year and 1892 the net 

 quantities entered rose from 27 lbs. to 37 lbs. per head of 

 the population, but they have since steadily diminished, and 

 amounted to only 2*6 lbs. per head in 1896. Butter, on the 

 other hand, has reached our ports in annually increasing 

 consignments, the net imports during the past decade having 

 risen from 4J lbs. to 8 J lbs. per head. 



From the above figures some idea may be obtained 

 as to the number of cows which would be required to 

 furnish the supply of imported butter and cheese. Our 

 aggregate net imports of these two articles last year 

 amounted in milk to about 1,157 million gallons, and 

 this would represent, in this country, the produce of 

 2,892,500 cows, assuming that the yield of milk from an 

 average cow, allowing for differences in the period of 

 lactation, amounts to about 400 gallons per annum. At 

 the same rate of production the total yield of milk from 



