The Otago Witness. WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE 'SOUTHERN MERCURY.' DUNEDIN, SATURDAY, JANUARY 25.

Otago Witness, Issue 1418, 25 January 1879, Page 16

The Otago Witness. WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE 'SOUTHERN MERCURY.' DUNEDIN, SATURDAY, JANUARY 25.

We direct the attention of our farmers and dairymen to an interesting article, which appears in another column, on cheese- making on the Otago Peninsula, It will be seen by this that on a small scale the associative system, which has been long at work in America, lias been successfully tried in two instances on the Peninsula, and the results are sufficiently encouraging to justify an extension. Cheese is au article which needs the greatest care, cleanliness, and attention to certain wellknown conditions as to temperature, &c. j "and as evenness of make is of great importance to the retailer, these conditions can only be properly observed by concentrating several small dairies into one cheese-making factory. This is done by a process of equal division of the produce in proportion to the quantity of milk delivered of a certain standard by the lactometer. One set of skilled hands are thus able to overtake the work of a dozen or more dairies, and do it better than it would be done if individually undertaken. It is this system which has developed the American cheese trade to such an enormous extent, and has caused it to take a high place even in the English market. Our American correspondent gives some interesting particulars of this, and the closely allied industry of pork-packing, as it is called, and which includes bacon-curing and all the forms in which, the pig can be utilised for food. We refer our readers to this letter as specially worthy of careful reading, containing as it does a vast fund of important information. Among the rest is a new pi'ocess, described as French, by which milk is preserved in a bottled state quite fresh anrl sweet, and so preserved that the milk of a particular cow can be separately packed, and bought in cases by those mothers who are in need of additional sustenance for their infants, and yet find it difficult either to obtain milk at all, or to obtain it from one particular cow. It is possible that this system may supersede the Swiss system of preserving milk in a concentrated form. We have before pointed out the extreme importance to small farmers of studying small economies, and if the deferred-payment system is to be a success it must be by the aid of the cow and the pig. We observe in a recent telegram from Victoria that owing to rust in the wheat a number of selectors have this year lost their crops, and will be unable to pay their rent, or the instalment of purchase-money, which is equivalent to rent. We are not so liable in New Zealand to such general visitations as Victoria not unfrequently has from drought, but we may suffer from floods, or bad seed-time, or bad harvest weather, so as to bring out very much the same results in some districts, and the cereal crop can never be depended on except on an average of at least three years. Those who would not put " all their eggs in one basket" must, therefore, have something else than wheat, oats, and barley to rely on. A little wise association among contiguous deferred-payment settlers would enable them to carry out cheese-making and bacon-curing satisfactorily, and the one industry would assist the other. There is still a wide scope, even in New Zea* land, for both industries : when it comes to a point to require exportation to take oil a surplus it may be more difficult, butmarketsare almost sure to be found for all food commodities at a payable price. Our temperate climate renders such industries as those much more possible with us than they are in tli9 hotter parts of Australia, aud we surely ought, in point of quality, to be able to defy the world. Dunedin in the middle, and Invercargill and Oamaru in the south and north of tho Otago-Sotithland district, now afford centres in which whole districts can find a market for dairy produce with the holp of tho rail ; aud novel." again

oughfc any scarcity to arise along 1 any part of the railway lines. If Otago does not supply herself, Canterbury will soon do it for her, and a general equalisation of prices will take place, which ought to be beneficial on the whole to both, consumers and producers. We foresee an immense development in production during the next seven years, and the slovenly and careless producer will almost certainly go to the wall in face of the competition which is likely to spring up. Association, with a view to economy and thoroughness, should now be the watchword of small farmers throughout the Colony.

The sum released by the Savings Bank Profits Act of last session for payment to the Committee of the Benevolent Asylum is £7515. On 31st December last the deposits in the Dunedin Savings Bank, with accrued interest, amounted to £51,405. The Act provides that 10 per cent, of the amount of deposits must be kept in hand as a reserve fund, therefore £5140 of the realised profits must be retained to comply with this very wise j:>rovision. The total profits up to 31st December amounted to £12,055 19a 4d, and, deducting the £5140, the sum of £7515 above mentioned as available is brought out. These profits have accumulated since 1864, and for the 14 years show an average of £904 per annum. We may fairly expect, therefore, that something like that amount will be available every year for distribution, as the Act provides, to " any public hospital, benevolent society, or association for the relief of diseased, aged, incurable, or destitute persons, whether administering in-door or outdoor relief." But the principal of the funds so distributed cannot be spent as ordinary revenue. It must, under clause 6, be held as a perpetual endowment, and must be invested, under clauses 7 and 8, in real or Government securities in New Zealand, unless the institution benefited is by law empowered to invest in any other way. We do not know how far these clauses may affect the proposed loan of the money to the University Council. It would appear that unless they give "real," i.e., mortgage security, this cannot be done. But the proposal seems in itself unobjectionable, if a fair rate of interest, say 8 per cent., is paid. It is under the present circumstances of the Benevolent Institution, when year by year, the claims on it are getting heavier and more difficult to meet, a fortunate incident which thus adds about £600 per annum to its income. But, like other strokes of fortune, it has not been done without considerable effort and persistence. The credit is due in this instance to two gentlemen whose good offices deserve special recognition. The first suggestion regarding the matter came, we believe, from the Hon. "W. H. Reynolds, and he took steps to represent the case to the Government, with the consent of his co-trustees of the Savings Bank and the Committee of the Benevolent Institution. It was then warmly taken up by the Hon. Mr Stout, and by his exertions carried through the Lower House — Mr Reynolds, of course, lending all his influence with members, and supporting the bill in the Upper House. We have no doubt that but for the foresight of these two gentlemen, the money would by-and-bye have been absorbed by the Colonial Treasury. An institution so universal in its charity as the Benevolent Asylum is a very fitting recipient for such a bounty, and we have the strongest ground of confidence that the money thus bestowed will be well expended. The depositors in the Savings Bank are amply secured by the investments, and the 10 per cent, margin is only au additional security to "make assurance doubly sure." No one, therefore, ia injured while one of our most valuable charitable institutions is considerably strengthened. And there is this additional consideration, that the fund which confers the benefit has been the result of careful management on the part of men who have voluntarily devoted their services for years to the encouragement of thrifty habits among the people of Dunedin. Thus thrift has aided charity, and now charity proposes to aid learning by granting the University as a quid pro quo the use of tho funds.