THE DAIRY INDUSTRY.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1156, 27 April 1894, Page 21

THE DAIRY INDUSTRY.

A CHAT WITH MR J. E. SCOTT OF THE NATIONAL DAIRY ASSOCIATION. (By the Editor of the New Zealand Mail.) In the South Island whenever the dairj industry and its evor increasing importance crops up as) a subject of conversation, it is not long before one hears the name of " Scott of the Association," and truth to tell the references made to that gentleman are ever of a highly complimentary character, it being widely recognised by our southern friends that no small degree of the success achieved by the dairy farmers in Otago and Canterbury has been due to the untiring energies displayed on their behalf by " Scott of the Association," or to be more intelligible, to Mr James 11. Scott, secretary of the New Zealand Middle Island Dairy Association, now The National Dairy Association of New Zealand. Mr Scott is the life and soul of this Association, aud his labours in the way of bringing about proper co-operation and organisation amongst the dairy farmers are now warmly appreciated by a very large circle of members of the Association.

Mr Scott has recently been on a trip to the North Island, visiting the leading factories in the Taranaki district and endeavouring to induce the Northern dairymen to throw in their lot with the National Dairy Association. Passing through Wellington the other day lie was introduced by a mutual friend to the Editor of the New Zealand Mail, and cheerfully asserted to our wish to H sit down and tell us all about your Association and what you think of the prospects of the industry. "' Answering a preliminary enquiry as to the success of his recent mission up North, Mr Scott took a hopeful view of the future. An attempt has been made to form a West Coast Dairy Association, to cover the factories between Wellington and New Plymouth, but Mr »'colt has [jointed out the many advantages to be gained in the way of freight and other concessions through the northern dairymen throwing in their lot with their s mthern brethren, and in assisting to make tho National Dairy Association a colonial institution in the best sense of the word. The facts quoted by Mr Scott with reference to the work already achieved by the N.D.A., and set 1 eforc some of the Taranaki factory pro prietora, will, he thinks, have a good effect upon them, and he considers that after the conference to be held at Dunedin on the sth and 6th of June (when several leading northern dairymen will be present), the membership of the Association will receive a very notable accession of strength from the northern part of the Colony. Meanwhile Mr Scott is only too happy to afford tho fullest information concerning the doings of the N.D.A. The subscription which each factory pays to the Association varies from £2 10s for small factories making under 30 tons of butter, up to £5, which is the maximum amount charged for membership. The advantages of membership are so many as to render it impossible for us to recapitulate them in detail. Ihe most important point is the very material economy in the cost of shipment and freight, the certainty of shipment, and the avoidance of so many of the ordinary middleman's charges. Virtually, by becoming a member of the Association a dairy factory proprietor is his own middleman, for beyond the yearly subscription there is no charge by the Associa tion, no " commission or shipping charges," whilst on every subject connected with the dairy industry advice of a practical and highly valuable character is always at the disposal of the members.

The Conference to which allusion has been made will bo held at Dunedin on the sth and 6th of June, when the attendance of delegates from the various factories is expected to be very large. Hitherto the stronghold of the Association has been in Otago, but, says Mr OOcott, " the Canterbury men are rapidly join--IMg forces with us, and we hope to have the B upporfc of jou Northerners before long." That union is strength is fully recognised, by Mr Scott and he evidently means to spare no pains to convince the dairymen along the West Coast of the North Island thai their interests can be best forwarded by membership in the Association. The first day of the Conference will be devoted more especially to the business of the Association as at present constituted, but the second day's meeting will be open to ail interested in the industry, gentlemen connected with which have promised to attend from all parts of the Colony. On the question of freight Mr Scott has a lot to say, and he specially dwells upon the importance of the contract made by his Association with the New Zealand Shipping Company, that company having arranged to provide full cool chamber space by steamers sailing at regular intervals of a fortnight. By joining the Association factories have a certainty of their produce being shipped, and not held over and deteriorated by storage as is too often the case. On this subject Mr Scott will be glad to give full information to all those who arc practically. interested in the industry. As to the confidence reposed in the Association and its secretary by the member.-*, we would here take an extract from a letter shown us by Mr Scott, emanating from the proprietor of a factory in Northern Otago : '• Dear sir,—l find I will have 116 cases cheese for Ruapehu, 80 cases February, an I the balance of 36 cases March make, and this last you can either sell or consign as you think best. I shall have 3or 4 tons more of March make, large size, as I have been making a good bit of small cheese for orders."

Mr Scott shows us tables giving the particulars of shipments of cheese and butter shipped by the National Dairy Association during 1 the five months ending 30th March, 1891. Of cheese, 18,028 packages were shipped, of a gross weight of 1487 tons odd. Butter is not so much manufactured in the South, but of butter during the same period GBIG packages, of a gross weight of 211 tons, were shipped through the Association. In addition to the above, on April 9th the Kuapuhu took 3527 packages of cheese, gross weight 248 tons, and some 11 tons of butter. Evidently the Association do a large shipping business—-

and no wonder, when no shipping and commission charges are made to members. As to London prices for cheoso and butter sent through the Association, a few figures may also bo instructive and interesting. Looking through copies of London account; sales shown me by Mr Scott, we find that up to the end of March tho average for factory butter was l<)2s to 110 s, and for dairy butter from 60s to 90s; cheoso averaging from 52s to 565. It ought to bo mentioned that tho Government allow tho Association a small subsidy, which is indeed necessary, tho telegraph and cable charges alone eating up the membership subscriptions, not to speak of Mr Scott's own most modest remuneration of .£l5O a year. Leaving the Association and its doings, we drift into a general chat as to tho dairy industry, and we jot down a few notes of tho information Mr Scott gives. Tho Southern factories, ho says, pay 3d to 3Jd for tho milk, the skim milk being returned. The money is paid when tho milk is delivered. In Victoria, Mr Scott points out, despite the much talked of Government aid in tho shape of a bonus, tho suppliers only get from 2d to 2ijd, so in tho way of price to tho farmer, New Zealand is evidently ahead of Australia. All milk is* tested by the Babcock tester, and must bo up to the 3-8 standard. Refrigeratingmachinery should bo in every factory. This, Mr Scott thinks, is a vital point. Hall's carbonic anhydride machines ho considers the best, and he denounces the uso of too much ammonia.

On tho question of packing, Mr Scott coincides very heartily with "tho caution given some time ago by our London correspondent on the subject of poor parchment; paper. In some instances he has noticed factories have used what is merely greased paper, and not real parchment paper at all. This is the most dangerous of falso economy. The best parchment paper should alone be used.

We arrive at tho great subject of railway carriage of butter and cheese, and hero Mr Scott points out, and that most clearly, that on this W r est Coast of the North Island a very gravo impediment in the way of tho industry is tho heavy railway freight from Taranaki to Wellington. Take Eltham, for instance. It costs .£3 10s to £ i a ton to send dairy produce from Eltham to Wellington, whereas the charge from Orepuki to Dunedin, over 200 miles, is only J2l 3s per ton. Of course this is due to tho fact that the line from Palmers ton is in tho hands of a private company, and Mr Scott strongly advocates tho taking over of the Wellington-Manawatu line by the Sfcato. From railways we naturally drift to refrigerating vans and tho grave necessity for their regular supply and uso for conveyance of produce from the factory to the i port. What is wanted, Mr Scott asserts, is an insulated van, with a thin jacket-lining 1 of ice, which might be easily arranged for, seeing that the freezing companies in Wellington could supply tho necessary ico at a cheap rate. In Victoria insulated vans are provided by the Government, which throws every possiblo facility into tho hands of those engaged in the industry. And, also, declares Mr Scott, tho Government must do their share hero by establishing cool-storago depots at tho ports. On this point ho is very emphatic, as also ho is on the necessity which ho alleges exists for compulsory grading by Government officials of all dairy produce shipped Home. Mr Scott praises the Dairy Industry Act, but it does not go far enough for him. He eulogises Mr Sawers, who ho considers is one of tho best cheese experts that could be found in the colonies, and he thinks that Mr Valentine, when the latter has got more into touch with colonial methods and conditions, will also prove a most valuable officer. But ho evidently wishes the Government to do more, and a 3 he has recently set his views before the Minister for Agriculture, we may be sure that they have by this time received the careful consideration of that gentleman, of whoso practical sympathy with tho industry there is no question. In Victoria the Government pay all cool storage charges at Port Melbourne, and are most liberal in tho matter of railway freight and i)rovision of insulated vans. Mr Scott would have our Itailway Commissioners do much more to, help the industry than they are doing, but the wholo question will como up for discussion at the Conference in June, when resolutions will be dealt with, which will afterwards be submitted both to the Commissioners and to the Hon Mr McKenzie.

A grievance in connection with the industry has been brought under Mr Scott's notice by a member of his Association, whose letter I have been privileged to copy:—" Sir, —I beg to draw your attention to the fact that dairy plant is supposed to be allowed to be imported free into the Colony, but when a parcel of goods comes to hand, the Customs, instead of classing it as dairy plant, proceed to class each part of it separately as tinware, ironwork, and so on, and to charge duty on it, and unless you employ a lawyer to write to Wellington about it, and go to a great deal of .trouble, you are charged duty on everything. I would therefore ask you to lay the matter before the Department of Agriculture, and hare it properly understood that where invoices show the goods to have come direct from the manufacturers to the dairy factories in the Colony, they should bo classed together as dairy plant, and admitted free." We may add that, Mr Scott has seen the Minister on the subject, and that the difficulty will probably be got over in the manner suggested by his (Mr Scott's) correspondent. Generally summing up his ideas on the dairy industry, to the effect that if only good produce i« sent Home fair prices will always be got, and enjoining the greatest care and most scrupulous honesty in grading upon the factory proprietors, Mr fc?cott quits a most interesting subject, and wo take leave of a most energetic and industrious gentleman, whoso good offices in aid of what is one of our most valuable indue tries it is difficult to over-estimate.