GLAXO FACTORY

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume 47, Issue 2670, 15 September 1937, Page 7

GLAXO FACTORY

PROGRESS IN DISTRICT SETTLEMENT BY SOLDIERS. At the beginning of 1917 the Matarnata cheese factory was opened by the Hon. W. H. Herries. It was the fourth to be started by the Waikato Co-operative Cheese Company, others having been Hairini, November 1, 1915, EastTamaki, December 1, 1915, and Aka Aka on January 1, 1916. The company, be it noted, had nothing to do with the Waikato Cooperative Dairy Company, but was formed to introduce and cause the adoption of the home-separation system which was suited to sparsely-set-tled districts.

These two companies were thus manufacturing the two staple products of the dairying industry. Cheese factories, indeed, were at this time springing up like mushrooms; for in the year 1913 there were only 10 in the Auckland province, but four years later there were 56.

The Matamata Glaxo factory was opened on April 24th, 1917, at a cost of about £20,000. In the year 1916 some of the best-known of the settlers in the Waharoa district were: Mrs G. Hill, and Messrs F. Wright, H. Paton, T. Thompson, J. Thompson, E. J. King, S. E. Mason, J. D. Murray, J. G. Baker, D. McMillan, Casey, Hetherington, Johns, Jones, Tretheway and J. Tyson.

The district was progressing,rapidly. A new flax mill was opened at Tahuna on the banks or the Pia-ko, where was to be found the largest area of green flax in the Auckland province. Mr J. W. Hedley was the manager operating a 20 h.p. boiler and a 12h.p. engine; and two chains away another 12 h.p. engine was erected. The company also secured the cutting rights to an extensive area of flax at Ngarua. The flax was delivered by a 30-ton pontoon which used the river waterway. As was the custom, the manufactured flax was sent to Auckland by launch and river-boat.

The Waitoa creamery, erected in 1912 by the New Zealand Dairy Association, was in operation until 1915 when the settlers decided to supply home-separated cream. A cheese factory was built at Richmond Downs, part of the Walton district. The subdivision of many estates, such as that of 1,000 acres owned by Messrs Wilson and Alexander, followed the factory, and the countryside progressed rapidly. Some of the best-known settlers in 1916 were: Messrs D. B. Hastie, J. Henry, C. Smith, E. Marr, A. E. Gillingham, E. B. W. Cole, whose property formed part of the Landsdowne estate which was cut up about 1911, and Captain Colbeck. Soldier Settlements

The first soldier settlement established by the Government was Kereone in the Morrinsville district. In December, 1916, the land was opened to ballot; and early in the following year the new settlers, who were Main Body men invalided home as the result of wounds or sickness which had fallen to their lot in the Gallipoli campaign or in the 1914-16 struggle in France, took up their residence. The Soldier Settlers’ Association that they formed on March 16, 1917, the first of its kind in the Dominion, served not only to advance their interests as returned soldiers, but also to foster comradeship and further the prosperity of their farming ventures. The land subdivided was the Pakarau Block of the Kereone estate, o-wned by the Aitken family for 25 years. Even to-day the homestead block is still in their hands. As the land, which was now cut up into sections of about 100 acres in area, had been used in the past for grazing only, much ploughing and resowing was necessary before the soldiers could commence dairying. From the small start made the district progressed until a cow to the acre was being carried. Some of the well-known settlers in the Kereone district were: Messrs A.- Cunningham, who twice topped the list of herd averages of the New Zealand Co-oper-ative Herd-testing Association with 452.68 pounds of butterfat in the 1929-30 season and 407 pound from 51 cows in the 1931-32 season; C. Buckley, R. Cochrane, J. Cameron, P. Bruin, W. Gaeth, N. Anderson, W. Bolton, M. Larney, C. A.Basley, O. P. Mortensen, W. P. Trenberth, P. R. Paterson, H. Munro, J. Corkill, C. H. Pitts and A. Wild. The Kereone Soldiers’ Hall was built in 1921, and used as a school until 1928. It is also interesting to note that the football club formed in 1918 has been so successfully carried on by the younger generation that many times has it won the Morrins-

ville senior championship. The chief distributing and forwarding centre for goods is the Kiwitahi railway station.

Before Mangateparu was bought by the Government towards the end of the Great War and cut up into sections varying in area from 50 to 130 acres, it might be described as a sheep and cattle run, 4.400 acres in area and supporting only three workmen. The first years after the ballot, held in March, 1919, were those usually associated with pioneering hardships. The sheep pasture had to be ploughed and resown with grasses suited to dairying; but it is noteworthy that the majority of the farms 10 years later were producing six times as much butterfat as in the first season. On the 60 farms in the district there were then about 3,000 cows.

A new school took the place of the old; and the district hall was erected by voluntary labour and contributions of the settlers in 1924. There is moreover, a domain board which administers in the middle of the settlement a reserve of a few acres, part of which were taken up by tennis courts and a hockey ground. The Hinuefa settlement was smaller than the Mangateparu. Those holding settlers’ sections were Messrs R. Donaldson, J. Harris, L. Hunter, W. Lindsay, H Moore, Rowe, Robinson, W. McNab, J. Siddall and J. Sillvian. Mr McNab was president and Mr W. Lindsay secretary of the Soldiers’ Settlement Association. Six of the settlers were completely without roads. By the end of 1917 most of the new farmers had erected homes, the cost of which had to come out of their £5OO grant. To make matters worse, the timber bought from the Government according to agreement was landed at Hinuera in an absolutely green condition. In another case, a dwelling full of borer was sold to a settler at the Government valuation of £5OO.

The original loan of £5OO, however, was increased by £250, since it was obviously impossible to erect a dwelling and out-houses, not to mention fences and the cost of stock, harness, seed and manures. Many cases of hardship were later to be brought to the notice of the Government.

There was another soldier settlement at Wairere in the Waharoa district. Averaging in area 75 acres, some 14 sections were first settled in this district by returned soldiers on October 30,1918. At the end of November, 1920, five more sections of the same average acreage were opened on the Waharoa side of the former settlement. A large area was covered in gorse, which increased the difficulty of bringing in the land. But their hardships were no worse than those of other soldier settlers—those at Te Miro, near Cambridge, for example.

THE N.Z. CO-OP. DAIRY COMPANY EARLY HISTORY OF THE AMALGAMATION After the introduction of the separator and refrigeration and the consequent intensive rivalry between the various dairy companies throughout New Zealand—especially in the South. Auckland district—it soon became evident that some of the companies would be forced to close or amalgamate with their more successful competitors. Many indeed were the factors that finally compelled t-Ne amalgamatioln of the companies operating in the South Auckland area. Among the most prominent were the unnecessary duplication of buildings and plant and the high cost of every unit "of output; greater transport costs than were necessary over a large area that often gave only a small volume of supply and excessive staffing, owing to the smallness of many of the factories. Moreover, the factory managers were compelled by competition to accept poor quality milk and cream and marketing conditions were so severe that great power lay in the hands of the merchants. Add to this the fact that much social bitterness was engendered between supporters of the various companies contending in the field, and we have a set of conditions which, in as much as they promoted social hatred and economic wastefulness, no community should tolerate.

The idea of amalgamation had been discussed in the Waikato as early as the 1915-16 season. Tentative negotiations were not begun until 1317 and, even then, because of the magnitude of the task involved in uniting three such firms as the Waikato Co-cperative Dairy Company, the Waikato Co-operative . Cheese Company, and the New Zealand Dairy Association, it was felt that no official steps could be taken until the following year. (To be Continued).