DAIRYING IN MID-CANTERBURY.

Press, Volume LXVI, Issue 13907, 5 December 1910, Page 6

DAIRYING IN MID-CANTERBURY.

The opening of the new dairy factory, which took place at Aehburton on, Saturday last, is an event fraught with great possibilities for that "district. The establishment of creameries ia no new thing in the locality, but, for various reasons,, they have perhaps one: exception—been a& successful as might reasonably have been expected. Much of the land in the district is undoubtedly light, but there is a large area quite suitable for dairying purposes, and with land at its present high price the small farmer cannot afford to neglect so lucrative a branch of his calling. Providing that the shareholders aiud suppliers do their plain duty, the. new venture should hare a considerable measure of success, for it has been launched, under the most favourable auspices. The buildings and plant are adequate and up-to-date, and the management' have at command what their predecessors lacked— the accumulated of years of work by other factories, both in the North and South Islands, They should thereby be saved from mistakes that might lead to financial disaster. There can be no doubt as to the solidity of the dairying industry as a whole in the Dominion, in spite of all set-backs ■; a reference to statistics shows that the value of tho butter and cheese shipped out of the Dominion in lJ)02-3 was approximately £ 1,450.363, and the vast increase in the business from that time until 1909-10 is plainly proved by the figures for the latter period, which aro £2,822,081, or an increase of considerably over a million and a. quarter pounds sterling. Unfortunately one of '.tho obstacles that those who are trying to increase the prosperity of the country havo to contond against is the Government which, one would ''think, would do all it could to foster the growing industries As was mentioned by a speaker at the opening ceremony at Ashburton, the trend of our legislation seenu to foster the idea that the capitalist ia the sworn enemy of labour, bent 011 making the workman a slave. Nothing can be more ridiculous. Capital and labour are mutually dependent and neither is of any us© without the other. As a recent writer put it, " Capital must come out and earn its "living, and in that process it must ;, confer benefit* on tho workers." Every new enterprise in which capital is invested means a new channel of employment for the worker. "If, there"fere, tho workers are wise, they will "do everything to encourage plenty of "capital to compete, for their labour." Tf their own oommonsense does not convince the' workers of the soundness o£ this argument, we confess wo do not soe how its truth is to be brought home to them