DAIRYING PRODUCTION.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 19959, 30 May 1928, Page 14

DAIRYING PRODUCTION.

PROVINCE IN THE LEAD. GROWTH OF THE INDUSTRY. VALUE OF SHOW EMPHASISED. [BX TELEGRAPH. —SPECIAL EXPORTER, j HAMILTON. Tuesday. A great crowd thronged tho halls when tho official opening of the show took place this afternoon. Rain had commenced m tiia morning and continued throughout the afternoon. Before the president of t!;e show association, Mr. A. K. Alexaider, addressed the gathering Mrs. Alexander presented Mrs. Coates with a bouquet from tho association. Mr. Alexander, in welcoming the Prune Minister, Mrs. Coates, tho Hon. J. A, Young, Minister of Health, members of Parliament and other visitors, said it was expected that the present show would continue the run of records established in recent years. "It is the world's greatest, dairy show," he said. "1 hope Mr. Coates will believe that. Mr. Young has been brought up to believe it." Mi J. R. Fow, Mayor of Hamilton, extended a welcome and emphasised the value of such an exhibition in bringing tcgether the people of town and country. "Greatest Dairy Show in Empire." Mr. * Young traced tho history of the show association from the time when he and others, after seeing tho Palinerston North fixture, set about working for one at Hamilton, with the result that it was launched, with some assistance from tho Hamilton Borough Council, within 12 months. "It is the greatest dairy show in the world, or in the Empire, at least," he said. Alluding to the show's* educative value Mr. Young referred to the intensive manner in which the Government departments exhibited. Regarding the Health Department's bay, he said: "We, too, have goods to sell—our information on health." Education and the advancement of industry, he observed, must always depend for success upon the health of the people. He gladly acknowledged the generous assistance given him by the Government in carrying out a progressive policy. The dominance of the Auckland province in the production of butter-fat and the fashion in which dairy farming here, as elsewhere in the Dominion, continued to advance was emphasised by the Prime Minister in his address. His references in both a provincial and Dominion sense contained many up-to-date statistics and revealed a position imbuing confidence in the industry. Recovery of Pastures. During the favourable autumn, he said, pastures had made a good recovery from the abnormally dry spell and winter was being entered under good conditions. Although butter and cheese gradings for the past three months had shown sub stantial decreases, the Dominion's butteriat. production for the current season up to the end of April was still nearly 2 per cent, ahead of that for the corresponding period of the record 1926-27 dallying year. , , , " Dairy farming in the Auckland province continues to make great strides, and the district is recognised as > leading in the production of butter-fat, said Mr. Coates, when remarking upon the increases shown by the gradings at the Auckland stores. In terms of butter-fat the increase in five years represented 27.65 per cent. " Prices for dairy produce m the past financial year," he commented, " have been satisfactory. Customs figures touching this phase of export show that, including butter, cheese, dried milk, casein, condensed milk and milk sugar values for the year ended on March 31, 1928, 'aggregated £18,590,866, compared with £15,232.471 for the previous year, an increase of £3.358,395. High Quality Essential. " It wasV reported that 11 dairy companies operating the Waikato, lhames Valley and adjoining districts had paid out to their suppliers for the current season up to the end of April £4,009,763, an increase of over £57U,009, compared with the corresponding period of 1926-27." High quality in dairy pinducts was being increasingly recognised as of paramount importance, and a good standard had been maintained this season, a valuable aid being the introduction of compulsory cream grading. Cheese makers had been beset with many difficulties in dry and warm summer conditions, but uniformity of quality had been maintained. Government assistance in the form of reduced freight on fertilisers and lower prices for superphosphates had stimulated top-dressing of pastures, thus contributing to a higher level of production in dairying and general farming. To aid herd testing associations in carrying out their valuable work, the Government had recently granted a subsidy of £BOOO to be paid on completion of the year's testing, and it was expected that the number of cows systematically tested throughout the Dominion this season would be little short of 200,000, compared with 170,000 in the 1926-27 dairying year. Already, said Mr. Coates, the average butter-fat yield of the dairy cows of New Zealand had been raised from 1751b. per annum to over 20018. " I know," he added with a smile, " that there are many dairy farmers in' the Waikato who wouid not'milk cows under a 3001b. test, but there is the general average to consider." In a reference to official herd testing of purebred dairy cows, as introduced by the Department of Agriculture at the commencement of the present dairying season, Mr. Coates mentioned that the scheme was open fo all certificates of record testing breeders and permitted the testing of all purebreds in the herd other than those on certificate of record test. The sunnort accoraed was eprnuraffinc, about 109 breeders, with over 1500 cows, paticipating. POTTLATUTV OF SHOW. RECORD GATE RECEIPTS. [BY TELEGRAPH. —SPECIAL REPORTER. HAMILTON, Tuesday. The exhibition halls presented an animated scene this evening when in spite of very cold weather they were thronged. The exact amount of gate receipts was not available at the closing hour, but the secretary of the Show Association. Mr. W. 11. Paul, stated' they were undoubtedly a record for the first day of a winter show. FARMERS' SPECIAL TRAIN. SUCCESS OF ENTERPRISE. NEARLY 300 PASSENGERS. [bit telegraph.—own CORRESPONDENT. | HAMILTON, Tuesday. The special farmers' train, arranged by the Railway Department, arrived in Hamilton from Hawera at a late hour last night with a. full complement of passengers. Farmers from New Plymouth joined the train at Hawera, and others from the Wellington Wairarapa and Hawke's Bay districts joined at Marton, bringing the number of passengers on tho train at that station up to 280. A few more passengers boarded the train at stations en route. Mr. J. Pringle, the department's Wellington commercial agent, accompanied the special, and did all he could ::'or the comfort of the passengers The arrangements at the refreshment stations were excellent. On arrival at Hamilton Mr..A. W. Wellsted, the department's Auckland commercial agent, met the train and arranger! for the accommodation of the visitors from lists supplied him by tho Winter Show Association. The department's officials ex-j pressed themselves as highly gratified at, the patronage given the special, and described the enterprise as a great success.