THE DAIRY INDUSTRY.

Auckland Star, Volume LVII, Issue 129, 2 June 1926, Page 9

THE DAIRY INDUSTRY.

MAGIC FLOW OF MONEY. TREMENDOUS STRIDES IN RECENT YEARS. WHAT IT MEANS TO NEW ZEALAND. It was in 1882 and 1883 that dairying began in the South Auckland province by the establishment of several small cheese factories and bacon companies. The first recorded was at Te Awamutu, but it was closely followed by other plants at Rukuhia, Kihikihi, " Whatawhata, Paterangi, Cambridge, Pukerimu, Waihou, Tauwhare, and Matamata. These factories were, however, before their time, because proper facilities for the manufacture and transport of cheese did not exist. Invariably, therefore, these factories either went out of business or were converted to the manufacture of butter, and it was not until the years of the Great War that the production of cheese was revived to any extent in the Auckland province. The butter business began with manufacture on the farm and the dispatch of farmers' butter to the storekeeper and merchant. By these people it was "milled"—that is, the different lines of butter were put through the "worker" and thoroughly mixed together, salted heavily, and sold where possible. Next came creameries as introduced by Mr. Beynolds at Pukekura in 1886. To these the farmers delivered their whole milk. The development of the industry on these lines was limited by the distance which it was practicable and profitable to haul whole milk, and consequently numerous creameries or skimming stations had to be erected. In the very early days dairying was regarded as a side line, and not as a mainstay and specialised industry, as it is now. " Times then were hard. Money was scarce. Gonditions were rough. Milking was not allowed to interfere with the regular farming operations. Consequently the farmer's family would be up at 4 o'clock, the cows be milked, and the milk delivered to the creamery, breakfast be over, and everything ready to start the ordinary day's work at 8 o'clock.. From the manufacturing point of view, the initial trouble was the small supply. For long enough Mr. Eeynolds struggled to develop a payable business with a supply yielding little more than half a cwt. of butter a day. Miserable prices were the jule, but the industry could not stand more. The pioneers of those days had no conception of the bright future awaiting the industry. Financiers did not foresee the gold mine awaiting development, and assistance for dairying was difficult to secure. To-day How Different. A survey of the South Auckland province to-day shows that the side line of the past has become the mainstay of the present. With whole-hearted faith in their future, the farmers of this district have concentrated all their energy upon one thing—dairying. The natural advantages 'of the district in soil and climate have hastened this development. With a warm and kindly soil very amenable to treatment, and with a steady surety of rainfall, which is the one supreme blessing of our insular position, our pastures remain green and succulent practically all the year round. By comparison with European and Continental countries our winters are mild. Housing and stall feeding of cattle are unknown. Kugsing is very little practised; and for the summer weeks when pastures lose their freshness, easily grown fodder crops maintain the milk" flow until the warm autumn rains revive the pasture in growth frequently as succulent as that of spring. A Dairyman's Paradise. With these advantages it needed only energy, ingenuity and skili to develop a dairyman's paradise. Laboursaving appliances on the farm —the milking machine and the_ home separator —enable a man and his wife, or a man 1 and a boy to effectively handle herds of 50 cows, and do all the necessary farm work pertaining, to them. This is so common that it can be described as the effective unit from the labour point of view. This contrasts sharply with conditions ruling in European countries where far fewer cows can be handled by each individual. Contrasting the past with the present, we see that to earn 20/ in the 'nineties, over 100 gallons of milk had to be drawn from the cows by hand and carted to the factory. To-day that same quantity of milk, comfortably extracted by" machinery, with very little hand labour, separated, and tbe cream placed on the roadside for the carter to pick up, nets a return of approximately £3. Effective Factory System. Efficiency on the farm lias required efficiency in the factory to keep pace with the growing output of dairy products. Therefore, to-day, in a comprehensive survey of the South Auckland province, we see a uniform and standardised system of factory equipment and management that is unrivalled elsewhere in the world. As a natural evolution from the struggles of the past there has emerged one single company operating and controlling 60 factories and creameries. So we see scattered at intervals over its territory of approximately 150 miles in length by 6Q miles in width, 14 centralised butter factories, with a fifteenth in prospect, 17 cheese factories, two large Glaxo factories, three large factories manufacturing whole or separated milk powder, one central casein factory utilising the by-products of 24 precipitating stations and creameries. We see the main industry served by a box factory and tin-making plant effectively operated to cheapen manufacturing costs. We see a coal mine in full operation to lower the fuel bill and return to the producer a further fractional saving in manufacturing charges. Magic Flow of Dairy Money. With £18,000,000 flowing into New Zealand in payment of the output for the 1924-25 season, the magic nature of' the flow of dairy money to this country may be appreciated. Of this sum, the Auckland province earned practically £7.000,000, and of that total the suppliers of the raw material for "Anchor" brand dairy products received £4,500,000, representing the payment for 22,524 tons of butter, 4626 tonp of cheese, 3981 tons of milk powder, and 657 tons of casein. The effect of this inflow of money upon the lifejpi the community is miraculous. Comparing the present with the past, it can be seen that the whole civic life of the countryside is wrapped up in dairying and the transformation that has. been witnessed in this district in the past 40 j

years is nothing short of miraculoufc T Probably about £ 100,000,000 has been circulated in this district alone in that time, and by its beneficent distribtuion it leaves the countryside to-day dotted with flourishing farms and smiling homesteads. It leaves Hamilton a prosperous and growing centre of some 16,000 people with an assured future. It leaves at intervals throughout the Waikato and Thames Valley areas smaller towns with solid buildings, sound trade and bright prospects. _ "._>£ ?»•