Hauraki Plains Gazette With which is incorporated THE OHINEMURI GAZETTE. Motto: Public Service. MONDAY, WEDNESDAY, FRIDAY MONDAY, AUGUST 31, 1931. THE DAIRY COMPANY.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXXII, Issue 2769, 31 August 1931, Page 4

Hauraki Plains Gazette With which is incorporated THE OHINEMURI GAZETTE. Motto: Public Service. MONDAY, WEDNESDAY, FRIDAY MONDAY, AUGUST 31, 1931. THE DAIRY COMPANY.

EVERY individual, every commercial concern, has been faced with increasing economic difficulties during the past few months. The causes and effects are too well known to need reiterating—the fact remains that success achieved under such circumstances is worthy of the highest praise. The dairying industry upon which New Zealand depends for her prosperity has felt the lowering of overseas market prices to a severe degree and only outstanding ability of management and organisation could have prevented greater trials. The “Waikato Times” points out that the New Zealand Co-operative Dairy Company has succeeded, and that it has lessened the shock, as is shown by. the results of the year’s- trading. It has proved that by wise direction, together with the ‘wholehearted cooperation of suppliers and the staff, its costs and activities can be adjusted to meet the perplexities of the times. So much for the past. Another year of trading operations has closed with a record justly deserving the highest commendation. Despite almost every element being against it the company has completed that year in a stronger financial position and improved organisation. The economic outlook for the immediate future is not reassuring. Speaking of the future, Mr Goodfellow has said that the coming year would see the worst of the slump. • That the company is prepared for it with legitimate equanimity and ready to profit by the smallest opportunity is quite evident from the annual report. By extending the scope of its operations to cheese, casein, 'milk powder, and condensed milk it has avoided the precariousness consequent upon confining production to any one of a series of articles dependent on a fluctuating market. The manufacture of condensed milk by the company has now evidently passed beyond the experimental stage and- there is room for important developments. As articles of exchange on a large scale for imports from the East butter and cheese are utterly useless, but there is an ever growing demand for condensed milk, and to a lesser degree milk powder, in practically all the countries of Asia. A great future exists there for the New Zealand article provided that it can be turned out at a cost which can compete with the American product, which at present is firmly entrenched. It means, of course, as it does with all our dairy products’, that costs of production in this country must come down. Time was when by quality alone our butter could always find a comparatively ready sale, but things have altered now and we are faced with competition of an increasingly severe nature from countries which previously manufactured an . article of inferior quality or in negligible quantity. As well it is produced at costs ridiculously low in comparison to ours and has the added advantage of- being nearer the English market. To achieve this essential reduction of costs the closest attention must be given scientific farming, a part of which is. of course, herd testing. At present day prices no one can afford to keep any cow which is not a high producer. Matters which it is essential to rectify are the overvaluation of land and the cost of fertilisers. It will mean a.-great.deal of hardship to attain the desired objective, but it must be faced if we are to escape still greater ones. The need is there, it re.sts with ourselves 'to coue with it. We have many things in our advantage to help us, most important of all, perhaps, being one of the best climates in the world for dairying. Our future, to make or mar, lies in our own hands.