OPENING OF THE WAITATI DAIRY FACTORY.

Otago Witness, Issue 2179, 28 November 1895, Page 12

OPENING OF THE WAITATI DAIRY FACTORY.

The Waitabi Dairy Factory Company (Limited) formally opened their new premises at Waitati onMondiy, about 100 peraons bsing present on the occasion. Among the visitors were — Messrs J. Green, M.H R., A. Butt, A. Burt JUQ., J. R. Soott (secretary of tho National Dairy Association of New Zealand), J. B. MacE -van and S. M. R >bbins (Government dairy experts), M 'William (Government dairy produce grader of Port Ch>vlmers) t F. Meadows (representative of H. Trengrous9 and Co., produce merchants, of Lcndou), W. Davidson, A. Ktlpatriok, and the Rev. A. M. Finlayson.

The factory, which is situated something under a mile from the Waitati railway etation, is a compact building designed by Mr S. M. Robbius, and cout&ins four compartments. While constructed on the most economical plan, it is eminently suitable for the purpose for which it was built, tho room available for storage and other purposes being ample for present tequirements. The milk is received on a small elevated plntform above the manufacturing room floor. There it is weighed and run by gravitation through a large making vat of the capacity of 600 gal. TII3 vat ib fitted up with l»rge steam heating pipes, and besidts being constructed of watertight wcod outride, it is also lined with galvanised iron, which makes it much more durable than the vats ordinarily in use. After tho milk has undergone the usual process iv tho vat the whey is run off and tbe curd put into a curd sink for the purpose oF draining an! cht ddaring, the sink being provided with warm cb a tubers for keeping it warm in cold weather. After bom? fuCßciently cheddared the curd is cut with a Hu-.is curd cutler. It is theu aired aud salted in the siuk, and subsequently couveyod to the pretsiog room, where it goes through an automatic gang press of the same kind as was used at the dairy schools at EdeucUle and Stratford. After rein .ining in the press under constant pressure for a day the chaese is theu removed to the shelves in the curing or drying room until ready for shipment. The chambers of the vat are heated by steam supplied from a horiz mtnl tubular boiler, and the miik is tested by a Bibcock teßter, worked by a jet of steam operating on a turbine. The plant was supplied by the New Zealand agents of D. H. Burrell and Co., an American firm. Although the forma! opening of the fac'ory only ooi-k place jes!iß>d<y operations have been carried on for the past three weeks, some four tons of cheese h wing been turned out by the manager, Mr James O'Counell, who formerly had charge of the Okain's Bay factory at Bank's Peninsula. The factory is to be " run " on cu-opt-rative lines, some 4-66 shares having been takeu up iv it. The unseat supply ot milk amounts to 400g*l per diem. The visitors to the factor* yesterday weie en'ertaiued at a dinner provided by a number of the ladies of the district, and laid in the drying room, aud one of tho adjoining rooms of the factory. After the material wants of all present had been abjndautly satisfied speeches were given by several gentlemen present. Mr A. Kit/Patrick, who occupied the chair at the diuner, rela'ed what steps had beea taken in the d ''strict \p establish the factory, and mentioned that the directors had surmounted the difficulties which beset tbem at the initiation of the under akiag, and now they were iua position to turn out cheese which he hopad would make a name for itself in the market. — (Applause.) He than called upon Mr J. Green, M H R., to address tho3e present. Mr Grken alluded to the number of shares that had b«en taken up in the company, and urged upon keepers of cows who had not already takeu up shares to do so. He thought th-it they oug>.t to support the factory, and use their best t-nde»vu<irit to make it a success, and he believed that th» success would be iv proportion to the number of shares takon up by cowkeepers. He was sure no one present wished it greater success than he did, and he hoped that what had begun so well would prosper in the future. Mr J. R. Scott, who was the next speaker called upon, said be had alwajs recognised that the Bin* skin district was particularly suitable for thoßUcce-sFuI carrying on of the da'ry industry. About 12 years ago he cime out to Waitati, and selected that hs one of the most suitabl-; places in the colony fur a dairy factory. Although the prospects as regards the price of dairy produce werv not very "^coura^ing just at present he thought thing w u'd gradually take a turn. It seemed tw be -i q e-uon j'ist now of the " Rurvival of tbe fitteat," mil hi- main'stiiei bat, with our climate, soil, nn<i all the advantages that we possesied iv New Zealand, we ou^htto be able to produce cbeaptr cheese and. butter of as good quality us was produced ia auy country in the world. What makers should strive to do was to turn out a uniformly good article, and not t.> be sa'i^fi^d with anything less than firßt-c!aBH oheese and butter. He had pr»-at pleasure iv wish ng every suet e*s to the Waitati D-iiry Factory, and he had not the slightest doubt, knowing the district and knowing what the settlers were, that it would make a nani9 for itself. — (Applause.) Mr A. Bort referred to what had been done by the present Government for (he dairy industry, and mentioned thit-. he had something to do with the appointment of the first dairy expert, "having agreed to put up a model plant for a dairy factory at the exhibition in Dunedin io 1890, on condition that the Government appointed a lecturer. The Government accordingly appointed Mr Sawyers as lecturer on butter and cheese-miking at the exhibition. He oncluded by wishing success to the factory, and expreising a hope that in a few years it would be three or four times its present siz«>. Mr Meadows said he reprfsented a firm in London which had handled Nej<r Z eal»nd producs for many years. A f.r at deal of prejudice formerly existed at Home against New Zealand cheese and butter, bub that had been overcame by tho gojd quality of the produca sent Home from this colony. The EDglish people, however, would not give quite such a high price for New Zealand as for Danish butter, al<h ugh the quality of the one was quite equal to tbab of the other, the explanation being that Danish butter reached the

London market in a few days after being madev whereas it took some weekf for New Zealand butter to reach Home. As for cheete, he had seen New Zealand cheese equal to anything that ever came f.om CAuada. Ho thought there was a great future before the dairy ia- " dustry iv Now Zealand, and from the little be had eeen of the colony he should think it was one of the fiuest grazng countries in tfce world. Mr MacEwan gave a lengthy address, in which he referred to a number of points that should bs observed in the production of good cheese and butter. He had no hetiUtion in say id g that in an agricultural centre such as that of Waitati they had one of the best adapted for the production of the finest quality of cheeee and butter. The finest quality of cheese and butter producod in the colony w«r quite equ=il to anything put on the London market ; bat the difficulty at the preseut time was that the percoi tngi of our cheese and butter of the first quality was not so great as waa deairable. Therefore the Agticultural depwtmenft had t'k-^n up the work of giving instruction and offering suggestions so that we would ba able to put a uniform quality of cheese and butter on the market. New Zealand would then gain a reputation for cheese and bnUer. I He congratulated tho W»itHti Dai>y Fntt ry on the spit ndid start they had made ilia' d-y He ' had no doubt that many ot those present would be able to say, " That is our cheese fxctury," and do so with a certain^ amount of pride. Tfco building had been constructed on a plan that combined simplicity with cheapness, and still it was not too cheap. The arrangpmtnts of the building were such as to S'cure the greatest economy of labour combined with the greaUsb effitr'ct'i y in tho unanuf-ictu'e of cheese. He believed the fa'toty was to be carried on on tho co-operative plan, and he would impress upon the thirebolders not to forget what was tho meaning of co-operation. The meaning of cooperation as applied in »ny way was the joining together for the beat interest!? of all concerned, and he wished that this d fini'iou would be applied generally to the da'ry indus'r/, as, the givab weakness of the industry was that faimorß would not co-opercta. The directors of that factory had been wise enough io secure a good manager. — (Applause.) Mr O'Counell wasrmpof the best and mo it energetic chris^-maktiM iv the colony, and he (Mr MdcEwan) believed that he would do his very best to manufacture fi'fit-c'a^a cheese of uniform quality. At the present time the cheese murk t did not look vtr.) bright, and wo could only hoiie to gob a paying price in New^Zealand by turning out cheeee of firsfcclaos quality. Mr MacE wan proceeded to refer to the quf stion of what was the best breed of cowa for dairying purposes, and answered it by saying there was no best bived. Tlv b«st cowe", however, were those lh*t wru'd give tho U'-ujest quantity of milk, combit.oi with ths beat quality, and at the least cost of production. Ltt th-rn take thtir beat milking cowb, of whatever brerd, and put them to a thoroughbred bull, and the offspring should be very good. A good dairy cow seldom looked fat. All Jthe food she received over .and ab >ye what was required to support* her sxstem Khe would put into tho nik pn.il. In Cauad* it wifl touni possible to feed cows ia stables during the vrii-tar almost as cheaply as they could hi fed on pasture, and from what he had seen of the cow.s in New Zealand, after last wiutar, he thought they should be stabled here during the severe weath-r. The q>»a.itity of mtlk givo-i by a go. d dairy c«>w was from 5001r» to 1200 b in the year. Mr Macßwn went on to refer to tbe necf s»ity of clenuiiness in d<ali; g ni'h milk, and pointed out that there was nmrh ueed to allude to this question, as many dairymen were not very particular about the ma tor. He advocate 1 milking with dry bands, in preference to milking wit* damp or wee hands, and insisted on a»toatiou b.Mng paid to kerp : n3 the hands clean when milking, *he co.v's teats cle-.n, and the surro'indmgK of the milker clean. He fu.tner observed that the milk should bo strained immediately after it is taken from the cow, and then thoroughly aerated. By tho adoption of these means the milk was pnrifi-.d and the flavour improved.' The most effective way of aerating milk was to pass it through a perforated nut face in thin stn am-*, fo tha.f. Ib was not only ncr ted but coaled at the same time. - Mr MscEwan went on to allude to th* necessity of paying for milk according to quality— that was, according to the butter fat it contained. That was the only fair, jutt, and equitable way of paying. The quality could easily be ascertained by the Babrock tester, which had been proved by experiment to be * correct, for all practical purposes. Mr Robbins and Mr M'Williams also made a few remarks, the i-vtter j-rop< sing a vote of thanks to the ladies for the hospitable masnei in which they had entertained the visitors.