CORRESPONDENCE.

Grey River Argus, 28 June 1922, Page 7

CORRESPONDENCE.

UNRELIABLE BUTTER FACTORY TESTS. (To the Editor).

8i r —If I may be permitted to trespass on your space, I will, as briefly as possible, give your readers and dairymen in particular, an illustarfj tion of the urgent need of » ■

rnent dairy officer on the West COWast All other branches of agriculture > pear to be well catered for, wh*] s l dairymen who are factory suppliers .*• entirely at the mercy of tic fmtuiffirv managers. That is to say, the man* gers assess the butterfat percentage 1® the cream supplied, which, incidentally! means the wages of supidiers. Thte.l factory managers often fail to give statement of cream tests, that is -it curate, is generally concmh d. In thenendeavour to better themsolx.sup pliers are known to nurse their gricccnees, and try another factory, for bet-

ter or worse.' Before taking a similar J step, the writer, when having reason to believe that the statement of fat percentage (called the “t. i »...» correct; sot out to gain pi out lluuol. The following is an abbre'iaU rteut of investigations: 1 firstly secured the necessary glassware for cream !.-.<■ ing, to complete my Gerber mill: I outfit. At no time did the appura show a test below 50 per cent, butter fat. At short intervals, two samples of cream were sent to an opposition factory, through two of their suppliers, to bo tested, the return being 50 per cent, fat in one case and .m per cent, in tho other. I then called on om- ol the directors of .the fact: <> "hn the cream was being sold, and alb. I explaining the matter full.', .isim " fl to get a sample tested,, v it bout divulg j ing mv name; this ho agreed to '-'g •and got a written reply from tin | agor stating the cream to be 'I i’jT cent, butter-fat. Notwithstandn file abovo consistency, tho factor' dyiekets, for six weeks wdien passed sljM-ed that they were paying on Mfc per eon', test. To bo specific) £ ought to sa that the sample that registered 50 per cent, fat at an opposition factory, was carefully taken from a can that went to the factory to which my cream was being sold, and is recorded in their books as being 39 per cent, fat (date given). A change of factories was then decided upon as being very essential. Furtlu-r than this, r. mils completely confirmed my anticipations. It is plain such a factory docs not exisi for any philanthropic purpose! In the course of these investigations I wrote eouple of letters to the com in m (potion on this subject, and I was asked to attend their meeting of director-. This I did and minutely laid the i tion bare, and also made a claim for i. alleged deficiency in payment. I supplemented this claim by; putt in fore them, my herd-returns. 'J Ijiadmitted that they wer. onlfc remarking, “You I long in the businest, but yoi reduced it to a science.” In tinsence of their factory manager ' matter was shelved, pending his report, the nature of which 1 was to be m quaintod of later. After two moniln had elapsed, and after two directors’ meetings had been held, the report had not reached me. Then I wrote seeking their reply, only to be informed that )my letter would be attended to later. Havt'g received no finality, upon the subject 1 now foil iw th course at first proposed by nte, i.e., to publish the position for the benetn, or fellow-farmers. Of this I informed the directors at their meeting and their in different attitude left me no alternative. if space permitted I could quota cases on all fours with the above, but in the meantime will burden you with this one only. From information 1 have gleaned re tho dairying business, it seems imperative that there should be some person, in authority, who could assist dairymen in securing a measure of redress for the ills that beset them. In anticipation I thank you for space a! lotted me.—l am, etc., A. WILLIAMS.