THE DAIRY INDUSTRY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LIX, Issue 18222, 16 October 1922, Page 9

THE DAIRY INDUSTRY.

AUCKLAND'S PRE-EMINENCE.

' NEW SEASON'S OUTLOOK. CO-OPERATIVE PROBLEMS. ! [by. oue special commissioner.] No. I. Auckland's dairying season is just approaching its full period of activity. It commenced in September, or earlier in : some districts, and will reach its apex i in November or December, according to weather conditions, and will then gradually taper off, if there are plentiful summer rains, or rapidly fall toward zero if there is a hot, dry spell. So far the Beason has been extraordinarily good. The winter was unusually mild and. feed was plentiful so that cows entered the "lactation period in excellent condition, and the milk supply in most districts was considerably larger than at the same time last year. Aucklanders, whether in the city or in the country, aro beginning to realise that their prosperity is irretrievably dependent upon the humble cow, and upon the price of butter, cheese and other dairy products, but I do not think that they yet realise how much the dairying industry has alreidy done for their rural districts and their province, or how much more it is likely to do in the near future. New Zealand, on account of its favourable climate and soils, is looked on now by experts as the finest dairying country ii the world, and undoubtedly Auckland is the greatest dairying district in New Zealand, and with.all due respect to Taranaki and Wellington, may be classed as the best as well as the largest. It owes this position to three things :—lts average i high temperature through autumn, winter j and spring; its abundant rainfall; and its I great areas of allivial flats, reclaimed 1 suamp, and gently undulating land. No other part of New Zealand possesses these features in the same degree. Even Canterbury, with its great plain, cannot show such a lange proportion of flat or arable •and as Auckland, and is very far behind it in areas suitable for grazing. Our Greatest Dairying Districts. I have just had a run through what may be considered Auckland's chief dairying middle Waikato Valley and the Thames Valley. It -would be more accurate, of course, to describe these districts as plains rather than valleys for neither has .well-defined hill, boundaries, and the extent of fiat land is altogether out of proportion to the hitrh country. I believe that these two valleys or plains, so closely associated that it is difficult to say where one begins or the other ends, constitute the most wonderful dairying districts in the world. I know it ts considered American bocst to make statements like this, but facts will bear me out. So far as is known no other part of the world is carrying so many dairy cows on the same area, or is producing so much butter-fat under the same condi tiens of farming. Moreover, in this district, there has grown up - the largest co-operative dairying company in the world, and there are now operating tho largest butter factories and the largest dried-milk factories in the world. It need not be considered boasting to mention these things; they are known facts and should be.used to convince our own people and intending immigrants that New Zenlanders have already done big things in the way of dairying, and are capable of domg_ still greater thinsrs. It is a matter for legitimate pride that a small population such as-is found in this part of tho Auckland Province should in less than 20 years have built up a dairyincr industry so extensive and so well organised. It should stiffen our hacks wren we hear pessimistic prophecies regarding Argentine and Siberian competition in our butter and cheese markets. A people possessing such soil and such a climate as are fonnd in Southern Auckland aro net likely to he beaten by Russian i easanta in Siberia, or by Spanish and Italian renters in Argentina. The Siberian winter, the long and costly railway journeys to Western market*, are big handicaps, and it will take Argentine farmers a long time to produce a high-class butter on alfalfa or lucerne as a chief diet for dairy cows. The human element, j however, counts in dairying more power- I fully than in almost any other branch- of I sericulture, and I am confident that Auckland farmers, and New Zealand farmers generally, backed By their unsurpassed climate and soils, can hold their own in dairying against any peonle in the world. Have thev not proved t&eir capacity in this direction? Development ol Go-Operative Dairying. To me one of the most promising features in otur New Zealand dairying industry is that its foundations are laid on the safe and sure basis of co-operation. I have had Borne experience of the old individualistic methods and the old proprietary factories and have Been the beginning and the development of co-opera-tive principles, and am convinced that the success our dairy farmers have won already in this direction is a greater tribute to skill and courage and mental capacity than the size and equipment of their butter and cheese and dried milk factories. We could have had large factories and well-equipped factories under private ownership. To have established them under common ownership, to have bnilt up in a few years what is recognised as the greatest co-operative dairying company in the world, is a feat only Tioss ; b l e among a people capable of the highest form of organisation. The cooperative movement in dairying has of recent months been subject to a good deal of hard criticism; it has, I know, some powerful enemies and opponents; it is not perfeot by any means, but it is one of the finest orsanisations Created by farmers in any country, and if it continues on the lines laid down by its originators and develops in the future as it has done in the. recent past, it will ensure the success and permanence of our srreatest industry. It will do this because it aims, not at gain through the loss of. other people, but at union for common i benefit, and because through close co- j operation th* small farmer can obtain the maximum returns for his labour and , products. I have seen the development of New dairying industry almost from its first I know what it was like in the beginning when the farmer depended upon the- proprietary factory. I know what it was like in the early days of co-orjeration when each small company worked on its own particular lines and was often the victim of the | butter speculator. It is only during recent times and under wide co-operative organisation that the dairy farmer in New Zealand has been able to free himself to some extent from the influence of those who benefited by his industry end gave very little in return for such benefits; it is only under extensive or-. ganisation that he has developed his industry on truly scientific lines, making it possible to produce butter of a. uniform flavour on a large scale, making it possible to eliminate a thousand little wastes and to practise a thousand little economies. It is true that the larger organisation entailed heavy investments of capital which as yet have not had time to yield adequate returns, but it is certain that it is only through such investments and through continued organisation that dairying in New Zealand can hold its own against overseas competition. To break away now from the system of general co-operation and return to the individual factory system is just the thing to eive our rivals their chance and to rob the dairy farmers throughout the country of the main fruits of their labour. BARLEY AND COD. From oldest times barley and fieh have been noted for their wonderful food value. In " Maltexo " ("Wilson's M&H Extract) with Cod Liver Oil. you have the concentrated goodness of these foods. " Maltexo with Ood Liver Oil " will booh put you on your feet again, recharge your system with vitality. Chemists, stores. Most economical in 71b. tins, wholesale distributor: O. H. Hooper, 27. Hall of Commerce Sigh St., Auckland,