Minutes of Evidence p.1401-1509 - Parliament of Victoria

1491
Henry Berry sworn and examineti.
50378. B:y JYh. 1rfirams.-vYhat are you ?-Salt merchant and salt manufu.cturer.
50379. How long have you been a salt manufacturer ?--Since 1872.
50380. Where is your factory situated ?-Lake Cundare.
50381. How many hands are you employing at your factory ?-Directly and indirectly from :fifty to
sixty, perhaps not quite s:::J nmny now we are not so busy.
50382. That is your usual number, :fifty to sixty ?-I think so, it has been, but I would say it is
something less now.
50383. How many do you employ in your business as a salt merchant ?-I tlo not know, I could not
say. In Melbourne alone we have a dozen, I think.
50384. How does the duty upon salt affect you ?-It induced me to start this industry.
50385. vYonld any reduction of the duty act against your interest as a manufacturer ?-I would not
atl vocate by any meuns, as a salt manufacturer, that the duty Le taken off in my own interest, but I would
say tllis, that there are so many who are prejudiced against a colonial article tha,t I would not oppose a
reduction in the interests of the cnrers. O:f course, I am not studying my own interests, I know that, in
saying so, bnt, if you wish for an explanation, I can explain it to you by showing you various samples of
salt, and sbo~wing you the reason.
50386. You would not oppose a reduction in the interests of the curers ?--If it could be shown they
suffer as they say they do. They will not use colonial salt, however well manufactured. .
50387. They prefer the imported ?-They prefer the imported, particularly the Black Horse brand.
Would you like to see samples of the various sorts which I have here? Yes, the best sort that we get, and I
think that is manufttctnred in the world, is manufactured fl·om this basis-[p;·od1&cing a sample of ctear ~ohite
1'ock satt]. It is found in the earth in Worcestershire, the only place where it is found.
50388. By tl~e Cltairman.-What. do you call it ?-Rock salt. It is found hundreds of feet below
the surface of the ground.
50389. By J£1· •. llfimms.-Roek salt does no~ pay any duty ?-No. This is the other article that is
found in Cheshire-[ Produciug a sample. J The Cheshire sa~t is nmnufacturecl from this. It is a much
inferior article, and the salt is never so good. The experience of bacon and meat curers genera1ly is that the
salt that is made in vYorcestershire is much more valuable for curing. In making salt there is much delay
and increasing expense. .All En:.slish salt is manufactured from one sort or other of rock salt being dissolved
in water an•l evaporated in pans; they are continually letting brine run into the pans ; the water is pumped
up out of the earth in a clear state and evaporated, and they have simply to take the salt out of the pans,
that, is the case both in Worcestershire and Cheshire. The difference which I :find in the colony is this.
Our colonial salt contains very many impmities, and we have to go through a chemical process, and it takes
a long lime, and it is costly, so that having laid out, as I have done, some £8,000 or £10,000 on thisindnstry,
I fail to find the public appreciate it as I thii1k they ought to do. I will show you the article I make.
Though I have been led to speak as I did just now, I have very little feeling in the matter; as the_ curers will
not use colonial salt, I will not oppose taking off the duty. This is the sort that I mannfacture-LpToducing
a sample ]-and that-[pTOducing another sample ]-is the celebrated Rlack Horse brand, which is the
favorit.e now throughout the whole world; and even in France, where the duty is very high, they will have
this salt.
50390. By tl1e Clwi1·man.-Is there any property in the one as compared with the other to
distinguish it ?-Yes, I think the one is about as chemically pure as the other, though there is a difference
in the constituent parts.
50391. There is a greater preserving power in the one than in the other?-Yes, the bacon makers
say so, but the butter people like my salt. .
50392. One is a whiter salt than the other ?-Yes, there is no use trying to compete with it, we
cannot do it. Even the Liverpool salt makers, who turn out much more salt than Corbett does (turning
out over 6,000 tons a week), cannot compete with Corbel.t in colour or purity.
50393. If the duty were taken off you would turu yonr a&tention to the imported article ?-Yes. I
have no doubt I should make as much money at it; you will see at once t.lutt from the nature Of the two
classes or basis that competition is impossible. This man (John Corbett, Esq., M.P .) happened to pnrchnse
this large tract of country in >;v orcestershire, where there was this large bed of rock salt, which had no
colouration and no impurities.
50394. If this duty were removed, would it h~tYe the effect of closing your factory?-Yes, I think so,
decidedly.
50395. Your factory would be closed then on the one haml, and the duty wou1d be lost on the other
hand ?-I have often been to the Commissione1· of Customs in the interes~s of my customers, because it has
been made capital against me by opposition men, that having a factory it was to my interest to have the
duty on against the interest of the men I was selling to, and I have gone to }tsk for the duty to be removed,
and the answer was, "we want a revenue."
5039G. Suppose the duty was lowere(l to !Os. a ton, would that shut up your factory ?-I think
possibly it might.
50397. If the duty were reduced to 10s. and the import was no larger we should lose half the
revenue ?-:My brother reminds me that for some kinds it might stop our work. Will you kindly put the
question again, I am a little deaf.
50398. Suppose the duty were lowered to 10s. instead of 20s. a ton, wouhl it have the effect of
closing yom fn,ctory ?-Yes, it would for best kinds.
50399. Is the most of tl1e trade in best kinds ?-In manufacturing my salt it unfortunately happens
that we cannot do it without having a lot of second-class salt with it, which we have to take out either at
the same time or afterwards upon the same day, and this salt is unsaleable here. .At home they have
nothing of this, they merely let the water in at one end, and evaporate it, and tlLke out the salt at the
other.
50400. What proportion of the salt u~ed in the colony do you manufacture at Lake Cundare ·?-I
suppose one-fifth.
50d.Ol. Not more than that ?-No, certainly not more.
50402. Are there other An.H nJfllfUffLctnrers in the cn+ony '?-Th0re lmye been seven.tl, fl.nd they havE~
ne:lJrl;Y l'lll f.mme to grioe,
Henry Berry,
9th J;Iay 1883,