PENINSULA DAIRY FACTORIES

Press, Volume LXXVIII, Issue 23750, 23 September 1942, Page 4

PENINSULA DAIRY FACTORIES

OUTPUT INCREASED BY 200 TONS Production figures for the six Banks Peninsula cheese factories for the last seasijn show that 200 tons more cheese was made in the 1941-42 season than in the 1940-41 season. This was due to more favourable weather conditions, and dairy farmers throughout the district benefited The actual cheese and whey butter of whey cream sales almost reached the £IOO,OOO mark. The pay-out to suppliers per lb of butterfat, on inilk supplied, was affected to some extent by the fact that some of the factories installed extra plant to cope with the extra supply. In some cases the factories will receive payment for extra plant installed because of the changeover from butter to cheese for the last two seasons. Suppliers will receive the benefit of these payments. The change back from cheese to butter this season will affect some of the factories again materially, and the cheese manufactured in the district this year will be reduced.

The Wairewa factory will be affected most.

The output of the six factories, with figures for 1941 in parenthesis, were as follows:—

Barry's Bay, 330 tons (259 tons); Okain's Bay, 249 (233); Wairewa, 224 (190): Pigeon Bay, 186 (161); Takamatua, 151 (117); Little Akaloa, 80 (66). Total: 1220 (1026).

Cheese sales were:—Barry’s Bay, £25.793 11s 6d; Okain’s Bay. £19‘,344 3s; Wairewa, £17,492 18s 6d; Pigeon Bay, £14,503 4s 9d; Takamatua, £11,741 4s 7d; Little Akaloa, £6261 16s 3d. Whey c.eam and butter sales:— Barry’s Bay, £774 18s; Okain's Bay, £BOB 11s 7d; Wairewa, £477 17s 3d; Pigeon Bay, £490 16s lid; Takamatua. £250 13s sd; Little Akaloa, £127 3s. Butter-fat payments (with 1941 figures in parenthesis) were;—Barry’s Bay, Is 5.7 d (Is 5.98 d); Okain’s Bay, Is 6.25 d (Is 6.25 d); Wairewa, Is 5.50 d (Is 5.75 d); Pigeon Bay, Is 5.84 d (Is 5.50 d); Takamatua, Is 4.875 d (Is 5.125 d), Takamatua Factory

The position of the Takamatua factory supply has now been made clear, and last year’s suppliers will continue to supply A 're factory. When the Minister of Agriculture (the Hon. J. G. Barclay) met Peninsula dairy factory representatives to discuss the changeover from cheese to butter this season, it was reported that if the former cream -suppliers vyere if withdrawn from the factory it-'weuld' not be economical to carry on. The matter was investigated by the New Zealand Dairy Division of the Department of Agriculture and the Transport Department, and last weekend the Takamatua company was advised that no supply was to be withdrawn. The carting of the cream from this district would have meant either one or two extra lorries being employed for this service, and because of the tyre shortage the Transport Department did not recommend this extra cartage.