THE DAIRYING INDUSTRY.

Otago Witness, Issue 1920, 4 December 1890, Page 6

THE DAIRYING INDUSTRY.

THE GOVERNMENT EXPERT AT HASTINGS.

Mr Sawers, the Government dairy expert, addressed a large audience at Hastings on Friday, the 21st ult.

Mr Sawbbs said he had always studied the question from the practical side, and considered that of all the varied industries which found a home in New Zealand, none was of more importance than dairying, owiag to the suitability of climate and soil. Incidentally touching upon the importance of many seemingly trivial matiers which nevertheless regulated the value of the butter produced, Mr Sawers proceeded to give statistics showing the vastness of the trade in dairy products. Thus the value of Denmark's exports was £4,000,000; America exported annually into Great Britain 300,000 tons of cheese ; Victoria is now exporting dairy products to the value of £2,000,000 ; and in 1889 the value of such products exported from New Zealand was £67,172. Ho then asked : "Is not Now Zealand more suitable for the production of dairy products than any of the other countries ? " contrasting ita climate with loDg winters of England and Canada, the drought and heat of Australia, &s., whereas this colony had all things necessary tor carrying the industry to perfection. During the past five years, after visiting all the principal dairying countries in the world, he had arrived at the conclusion that New Zealand stood second to none. It was the Paradise of the earth. Large quantities of bnfcter and cheese had been sent over to England, and produced very satisfactory prices, which were sufficient to warrant the establishment of dairy factories to pay 3d a gallon for milk. Mr Sawers referred to the balance sheet of the Wyndham Dairy Factory in Southland, one of the least successful of our dairy factories. It paid 3d a gallon for milk during the past year, and gained a profit of £100 under very unfavourable circumstances. The balance sheet of the Stirling Dairy Company at Obago showed that, although the cheese market had been very unfavourable! the company's cheese held the premier position in all the markets of the world, got five exhibition awards, and the company was out of debt and had £609 9s Id to the good. It paid 3Jd for milk during the past season, and had made 98 tons of cheese. Their price for milk during the coming summer would be 3|d a gallon. What one factory could do another might do. The Danish papers had articles warning the people that New Zealand was the most dangerous rival to Denmark dairying, and advising them not to give the colony any information. He then explained the advantages of the factory system over individual effort. That system was based on the ideas that time was money, and relieving the farmer of trouble and responsibility. The manager of the factory, a man* of known capabilities and experience, replaced the inexperienced individual producer. Moreover, individuals could not provide themselves with the necessary plant and machinery. The factory system was not a new experiment, but simply a leaf out of the book of the most euccessful dairying countries, Denmark, America, &c. Then there was the advantage of cooperation and grade in the article produced. The dairy trade m New Z ;aland was now being revolutionised, the old system of guesswork being superseded by the scientific system now in use. There were 52 dairy factories (public and private) in the South Island, manufacturing 3000 tons of cheese.