THE DAIRYING INDUSTRY.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 19258, 23 August 1924, Page 9

THE DAIRYING INDUSTRY.

The importance of the dairying industry to the dominion is illustrated in tho circumstance that the exports of dairy produce reached last year the impressive total of £18,567,000. But it is satisfactory to observe that those connected with the industry are alive to the fact that the position attained by New Zealand as the world’s largest exporter of dairy produce is not one that can bo maintained without effort on their part. The meeting in Dunedin on Thursday last, under the auspices of the South Island Dairy Association, showed an appreciation of the force of the arguments in favouf of raising the grading points in the case of both butte| - and cheese. The address delivered by Mr W. M. Singleton, director of the Dairy Division of the Department of Agriculture, conveyed useful information on aspects of the subject that are of particular interest to the dairy farmer. His observations havo led him to tho conclusion that the dairy farmers throughout the dominion accept the view that it would bo in their interests to raise the minimum points for firstgrade butter. The motive behind the proposal is frankly to do something that will have the effect of bringing more money into the dominion for the suppliers of butter and cheese. It is fairly urged that if the dairy farmers expect a larger return for their produce they should be prepared to earn it. The competition which they are meeting nowadays in the Home market is a most powerful and persuasive argument as to the desirability of keeping the quality of the New Zealand product up to the highest possible standard. From the latest report of tho Department of Agriculture the information may be gathered that during the past season most of the batter factories of the dominion failed to maintain fully the quality of their output, and that there was a falling off in the quality of the cheese that came from most of tho districts concerned. Climatic conditions of an unfavourable kind will have con tributod to those results. But (Mr Singleton is very definite in his expression of a conviction that there is room for improvement in the output of Now Zealand cheese. The meeting in Dunedin gave its unanimous approval to the proposal to raise the grading, and a similar feeling throughout the country generally may apparently be expected. It is unquestionably worth a little effort on the part of the dairy farmers to overcome such difficulties as may he associated on the practical side with the attainment of a higher standard in the case of both butter and cheese.