THE DAIRY INDUSTRY.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1196, 3 August 1911, Page 6

THE DAIRY INDUSTRY.

SPEECH BY THE HON, T. MACKENZIE, .THE OVERSEA MARKETS. (By Telegraph—Press Association.) Dunedin, August 2. The Hon. T. Mackenzie addicted a meeting of dairy farmer* to-day, and said during last year .tID.-SG,) had been exPonded in agisting dnirv farmers, and in i controlling the dairy indu.-try. A staff of -I afliccrs was employed, including grader.* and instructor*;' besides which there were a number of men employed in clerical work. Tho scop? of the division included instruction in butter and cheesemaking, grading dairy produce, herdinspection ot dairy farm premises, instruction in handling milk, inspection and control of all dairy factories, skimming stations, organisation of newdairy companies, supplying plans of factories and cowsheds, testing milk, creamtesting, butter and . cheese moisture—in fact every branch of dairying work received attention from the officers of this division. Instructors in butter and cheese-making were always available for dairy companies in need of assistance. Perhaps the most important duties of the officers of .the dairy produce division were the grading and classification of buttor and cheese for oversea markets. Every consignment arriving at tho port of shipment was carefully, examined, stamped with the official grade, and a grade certificate furnished to the factory showing, the number of points allotted to tho butter or cheese, with special remarks as to defects (if any). Two years ago the first cow-testing association was established un- . der Government control,with a membership of 27, owning 700 cows. It proved eminently successful. Last year three additional associations were formed, and the records of 415S cows had been compiled. Tho movement was well received, and there .was every prospect of extension. Two new associations were to bo' a running order .for the coming season, and the total number of cows to be tested would be in. tho neighbourhood of 6000. In giving instructions in the handling and care of milk on dairy farms, some 1000 favm£ had been visited for the purpose of helping tho settlers. Many hundreds of new floors being put down in milking- j sheds on the advice of instructors, and hundreds of milk-stands had been moved to better positions. More than 75 per cent, of tho factories adopted tho pasteurising of cream for butter-making. The speaker went on -to enumerate other w.ays in which the Department helps larmers, among them being the organising of new dairy companies—27 for cheese and 8 for butter being started during last year. Ho dilated, on the, advantages of pasteurisation of milk and of by-products. Quite a number-of dairy companies had this matter- under consideration, and it was likely that the coming season would see a large number of skim-milk plants in use. The Glen Oroua demonstration ran tho whole season; the result being carefully checked. The" net result was that tho efficacy of proper pasteurisation was conclusively proved. On the one hand all pigs. fed entirely oh pasteurised milk remained perfectly free from tuberculosis, with the exception of 22, which were found on investigation to have been exposed to direct infection , either from badly-diseased pigs or diseased cows. •Theso 22 were distributed among only tix suppliers to the factory, the whole of the remaining suppliers, 19 in number, getting oft' without a single pig fed on wholly-pasteurised milk being in any degree affected. On the other hand pigs from the same immediate neighbourhood, which were fed partly or wholly on milk which had not been pasteurised, showed a very high percentage affected with tuberculosis. The following were tho figures :—Number fed wholly on pasteurised milk, 331; number found affected, 22 [O.GI per cent.). For some time it had been considered that an advantage would accruo to tho dairy industry by specially marketing as "superfine" all butter scoring 1J points or over, it being considered that the range between the quality of butter below, that standard and that'considerably above-it was too wide. If this could bo brought into force, it should bo an incentive to dairy companies to strive to improve the quality of the lower first grade, so as to obtain the distinction of the suporfms market. It would also bo a guarantee-., to the merchant or buyer that the butter shipped on contract would be of prime quality, that is to sav, if the con-, tract was for the superfine article. We referred to the iniDortance of the port industry, aria spoke or the metnous -to prevent contagious abortion, and dealt with poultry. Ho also referred to the efiorts of tho Department to improve the dairy herds. Regarding the nosition and prospects of New Zealand, he said they heard a good deal about tho flight of capital, the indications of a period of depression, and the evils of borrowin" etc. They- had recently heard that the position of tho Dominion was very serious because there was'a'lessened margin between imports and.exports, but they .had to look not only to the imports and exports, but to tho internal development. U hat a splendid history ' the country showed during the past ..21 years in internal accumulation arid external • trade. It was undoubted that in a country like this they required a surplus of exports to be on the right side, and tho position had entirely altered in their favour in recent y f TS ~s 19 >' oars P"°r to 1889, wlion the balance was on the wrong side namely, a surplus of .£12,000,000 imports ? TC !"n l n X ? 1 orts ,' , wlle rcas.for tho years 1889 to 1910 the balance had been overwhelmingly on tho other side, namely .£61,500,01u ol surplus exports over imports—(ap-plause)-and concurrent with that export valuo there had been an internal accumulation at the rate of ,£10,000,000 vearlv or a total of .£211,000,000 during these years It was contended by some that this internal development was largely an increase m land values, and in part that was so, but on the basis of sales that had taken place the land showed an average ot 30 per cent, above these valuations. (Applause.) Regarding borrowing thev must bo careful, but, properly expended, borrowed money electrified and revived every industry in the community, and was tuc means by which we applied accumulated wealth to oth,r parts without requiring to wait through a long period ot years to gradually accumulate, if such were possible within ourselves. He mHit mention that in connection with the Department'of Agriculture operations, the cities were being considered as well as other portions of New Zealand, and every t'Uort was being made, to improve the supplies and bring them up to the highest possible level. Jt would be interesting to those present to know that in connec" hon with the bacteria test of milk in Dunedin, tho milk of some 50 herds in the vicinity of the city had been tested i "f n m s i'? sle S!unplc ua<l bee " demned. This spoke volumes for the f D 1' hmlS '" the nci S hbo "rhood