THE DAIRY.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1189, 14 December 1894, Page 6

THE DAIRY.

CREAMERY SUNDAY WORK

“Thistledown,” in the Australasian , writes on this subject as follows: The question of working ou Sundays was keenly discussed at the of the Eactory Managers’ Association at Warrnambool last week, and there does not appear to be anything like unanimity, on the point. Probably this is one of those disputes that will have to be settled by an Act of Parliament. There are a great number of people who object to milk carts travelling the roads on Sunday, and clergymen in some of the country districts have uplifted their voice against the evils of the custom, Loth in the pulpit and in their private walk and conversation. When the ministers have to interfere in such a worldly concern as butter making it may be suspected that there is something radically wrong in the system. At the same time 1 fancy their judgment and authority in such matters would largely depend on the personal sympathy they entertained for the local factory manager, and also whether they possessed a practical knowledge * of cow keeping on their own account. The expression of opinion on the matter at Warrnambool last week from the factory managers themselves shows that they are divided on the question. One side pointed out that the Sunday’s milk could be treated on Monday without loss to the supplier, and rather than to work on the Sabbath they would try to earn a erupt in some other way. As a matter of fact, they did' not receive any milk at their factories on that day, and their clients had been perfectly satisfied with the returns. The work was hard enough already, and they did not want to make slaves of themselves to no purpose. The other side argued they would rather work on Sunday than perform extra duty on Saturday night and Monday morning. It put things all in confusion,

they said, to slack off on Sunday, and spoiled the butter. One speaker affirmed that Sunday work was necessary until they got a breed of cows that gave milk only six days in the week, and that some of the suppliers, who were very careful about the Sabbath, were not so particular about taking the cream off the milk Mr Olsen, from Sweden, pointed out that by the process of sterilizing the milk, heating it up to 70 degrees, as adopted in some of the European countries, there would be no necessity for taking the milk to the factory on Sunday, as it could be kept quite Gweeb by that method for more than twentyXour hours.

Mr Wilson, the Government expert hoped the Sunday work would be done away with, but there were difficulties. The farmer who supplied 400 gallons a day could not possibly keep it over unless he separated it himself. However, as the great bulk of the people supplied from fifty to eighty gallons, he thought this quantity could be kept over till Monday morning. Altogether the question is a very conflicting one, but it appears to me that if the small dairyman can keep his milk over Sunday without inconvenience or damage, so ought also the large supplier be able to do so. The fact that cows require to be milked on Sunday does not justify separating the cream and churning on the Sabbath, when it can be proved that such work is unnecessary. Commenting upon the above the National Dairyman (American) says : It will be seen by the above that this vexed question is agitating the Australian creamery men just as it is our own. Mr Olsen’s suggestion would be practical if every patron was provided with a pasteurizing apparatus and sufficient cans to hold all the milk, and if they would do that extra work. Not only would it be practical, but it seems to us the only solution, at least during the hot season. But we doubt very much the strength of the patrons’ enthusiasm for the buttermaker’s salration if it depends on their buying an expensive outfit and increasing their own work. That milk caDnot otherwise be left on the farm without some loss no 0"e will dare to deny. The practical question is, what can be done to reduce the creamery work on Sunday ? That question must

be left to each individual according to his conscience and pleasure. If lie so desires, he can delay the Sunday churning by pasteurizing Saturday’s cream and “start” together with Sunday cream for ripening. This will relieve him of the churning Sundays, but he will have to pay for it with extra work on Monday. So Jet each decide for himself. —^

As to the ofif-hand proposition to let the patrons make butter themselves from the milk, that is simply to reduce the benefit of the creamery system by just one-seventh part. To keep a complete set of pans, cans, or a separator and a churn for one day’s work seems to us very absurd.

If the creamery system is good on everyday, why is not twice as good on Sunday? We are now arguing from the str ndpoint of the most good to the greatest number of people. Granted that it is an evil (we fear a necessary evil), it seems to us that it is a .worse evil to leave the milk at home and cause an unnecessary loss and extra work on every farm. * We are of opinion that the simplest and most satisfactory arrangement would be .if the patrons were to pay the buttermakers enough extra to enable them to hire extra help and thus get a rest, say every other Sunday.