Jan. 16.] THE NEW ZEALAND GAZETTE. 169

7. Any manufacturer of cheese may despatch from his factory to a Government grading store in the usual course of trade any cheese duly marked (in manner required by the Director of the Dairy Produce Division of the Department of Agriculture) as consigned to His Majesty’s Government, and in such case the consignment shall become the property of and shall be at the risk of His Majesty so soon as it has so left the factory, and any such despatch of cheese so marked shall constitute a contract for the sale and purchase thereof in accordance with the terms and conditions herein set forth. Cheese so purchased shall be paid for on shipment and the delivery of the bills of lading, specifications, and grade-notes, save that if by reason of insufficient shipping-space or for any other reason it is impossible for the seller to effect shipment thereof within one calendar month after the receipt thereof in the Government grading store, ninety per cent. of the purchase-money will become payable on demand made by the seller at any time after the expiry of that month, and storage will be paid for by the Government from the expiry of that month until shipment, subject, however, to the following provisions. The storage so payable by the Government shall be at the now current rate not exceeding three thirty-seconds of a penny per pound per twenty-eight days, or a proportionate rate for any lesser period, and the aggregate amount so payable by the Government in respect of any consignment shall not exceed nine thirty-seconds of a penny per pound. Any storage which may become payable in excess of the above amounts shall be payable by the seller. Notwithstanding anything in this paragraph it shall remain the duty of the seller in all cases to ship the cheese free on board, and in the meantime to use all due care for the safety thereof, in the same manner in all respects as if the property therein had not already passed to His Majesty and as if no payment therefor had already been made.

8. All cheese is to be properly packed by the seller with scale boards in new export crates of thoroughly seasoned dressed white-pine timber, properly secured, each crate to contain two cheeses of the usual export size, with dividing board not less than three-quarters of an inch thick between the cheeses, the crate ends to be bound with wire or hoop-iron, and the battens to be double nailed to the dividing boards.

9. The crates are to be branded in such manner as may be directed by the Director of the Dairy Produce Division of the Department of Agriculture.

10. Cheese is to be white or coloured as the said Director may from time to time direct, but in default of any such directions the cheese may be white or coloured as the manufacturer thinks fit.

11. Cheese is to be free from any adulteration whatever, and shall be manufactured not less than fourteen days before packing.

12. The crates shall be marked with the actual cheese weights, which shall be checked by the Government grader, and payment shall be made on such weights less 2½ per cent. for shrinkage.

13. No cheese will be purchased by the Government except from the manufacturer thereof, nor will any cheese be purchased which has been manufactured elsewhere than at a factory in respect of which an export license under the Order in Council of the thirteenth day of October, one thousand nine hundred and sixteen, is in force at the date of the purchase.

14. No cheese will be purchased by the Government which is the subject of a contract of sale and purchase entered into by the manufacturer before the date of the aforesaid Order in Council of the sixteenth day of January, one thousand nine hundred and seventeen, and in force at that date, until and unless such contract has been cancelled by the consent of the parties thereto, or such other arrangement has been made in respect thereof as the Minister of Agriculture thinks just and reasonable. If no such cancellation or arrangement is effected within such time as the Minister thinks reasonable, such cheese will be purchased or otherwise acquired by the Government on such terms as may be hereafter determined, and either from the manufacturer or from the purchaser, as the Government may think just in the circumstances of each case.

15. If such supplies of cheese as the Government deems adequate for the necessities of His Majesty’s Government are at any time not obtained by way of contract of purchase and sale in accordance with the foregoing provisions, the necessary supplies will thereupon be obtained by seizure or requisition in the exercise of His Majesty’s prerogative, or in pursuance of the powers conferred by the Regulation of Trade and Commerce Act, 1914, or the War Regulations Amendment Act, 1915 (No.2), as the case may require.

Dated this 16th day of January, 1917.

W. D. S. MacDONALD,
Minister of Agriculture.