The Opunake Times. TUESDAY, APRIL 7, 1896. MILK.

Opunake Times, Volume IV, Issue 184, 7 April 1896, Page 2

The Opunake Times. TUESDAY, APRIL 7, 1896. MILK.

We have received a circular from the Crown Dairy Company notifying that a farthing a gallon bonus will be paid on the milk supplied during last December, in addition to the 2£d already paid. This will be . satisfactory to milk suppliers as far as it goes, but still it is an unsatisfactory basis to be working on. It is very gracious on the part of the proprietors of the Company to hand over such a large sum as a fartbing a gallon represents, when they might have kept it in their pockets, and tbe suppliers would have no redress. When a payment is depending on the graciousness of the donor it is nothing more nor less than charity, and since the suppliers could not claim it if the donors withheld payment, the recipients are placed under a corresponding debt of gratitude to the Company, This state of affairs is what has led up to the cooperative movement, which may now be looked on as an accomplished fact. The suppliers only want what is fairly their due, and are prepared to allow all reasonable charges and profits to those engaged in the manufacture of their milk. They want to have SDme definite basis of payment, so that like last year they will not be looked on as receiving that which their milk was not worth, and now this year not receiving, as aright, what they consider it is worth. At Okaiawa Mr Joll runs a proprietary factory, and we understand that all his suppliers are quite satisfied with his method of working. At the commencement of the season he made arrangements for the output of butter at a price which enabled him to guarantee 2£d per gallon. The basis for this payment was that butter should bring 85s at Home, or a shade over 9d per lb. The suppliers then were to get a proportionate payment for every halfcrown a cwt it brought. For instance, if it sold at 90s, the suppliers got 2£d ; if it sold at 955, suppliers got 2fd, and so on. So far the lowest return Mr Joll has had has been 102 s, which means 3d per gallon for suppliers. Assuming-the milk to average 86, out of each 17s per cwt, being the difference between 85s, the basis rate, and the 102 s it has been bringing at Home, the suppliers would receive 10s sd, and Mr Joll, takes 6s 7d for his share. Should the milk not test up to 8-6, then the suppliers get a larger share of the 17s surplus and Mr Joll a correspondingly lower share. None of the suppliers, at present, grudge Mr Joll what he gets out of it as bis share, because they consider he is acting straightforwardly with them, and in addition they are very much better off than most of their neighbors. If a system of this kind were available we should counsel suppliers to adopt it, but the present system in this district is without doubt unsatisfactory. There are a few who are prepared to sink their independence, and go cap in hand for any gratuitous concession granted them, but the great majority are not, and as there appears no other way of getting satisfaction they are forced into taking the matter into their own bands.