THE CHEESE INDUSTRY. SHEEP-FARMING IN NEW ZEALAND.

Otago Witness, Issue 2556, 11 March 1903, Page 8

THE CHEESE INDUSTRY.

SHEEP-FARMING IN NEW ZEALAND.

A. Witness repreeentaive interviewed the Dairy Commissioner last week with reference to an article which appeared in this month's Dairyman. Our representative asked if itf was a fact that the dairying division was not! giving any asmstano. to cheese makers in' Taranaki and that the grading was much more? stringent than last year. Mr Kinsella said that the whole article in. question was withou? foundation. There was not one requisition from cheese factories int Taranaki that had not been attended to. H« admitted that there had been some little delay in attending to a- call at the. Hawera cheese factory, luring his absence in the Auckland!, province, owing to his instructors beinsc busy with other engagements. It was not trua' that the best cheese-maker was occupied! wholly in the work of grading. The chie£ cheese instructor, Mr Singleton, was busily, engaged for four or five days in the week in! the Otago and Southland districts in the worlc of coat-off instruction at 'factories. . Besides this Mr Singleton Jiad attended a number o£ meetings of suppliers, and had also visited? their farms, with a view to improving the) milk supply. Mr Dumbleton, of New^ P'y-< mouth, also visited a number of factories ml the neighbourhood of Cardiff, Stratford,* Toko, and Mansaweka, during epare time «fc.

the Moturoa works, Mr. Dickie, *ko, during the past ten.days, had teen doing practical instruction' .in .the-" cheese factories- in. the Marlborough and Nelson districts. "With regard to the factories not being able to acore as high as last year,' this- was not correct, month, had also visited a number of factories daring the past season were jbigher than for 311 the neighbourhood of Cardiff, Stratford, the previous one, and; although a,few facitories in Taranaki were not quite as high as last year as regarded quality, .that was not doe id any alteration by way of raising the standard for grading.- It was not correct that many of the factories scored barely over 88 points) for some 'of (the Taranaki * factories had teen and were scoring 91 to 93 points. Mr Kinfcella said, however; that, there .was plenty of room for improvement in the actual .mami-, facture of some of.the • cheese factories —irf the sanitary " condition* . prevailing,, in the quality' of the milk supply, and in. institu- ' ting better means for controling the curing temperature, all of which he had strongly advocated from time to time.-The older, the cheese ■ factories ' got, the more difficulty it .•was to keep the surroundings from 'becoming Heeded with all softs of dangerous organisms. To show the importance of this Mr Kinaella. said that in Canada Professor Robertson, .went co far as to recommend the removal of old factories from their original sites, or. else " the" building of entirely new" factories in another "locality: Mr KinseHa thought .that .New Zealanders could also take a lesson from .Canada in. the direction of improving "oijr taring rbonW. \ JBfe expressed surprwe at - the unwarranted; statements made in the Dairyman^-iirhich he. said would not tend to assist in bringing. about improvement, hat, on the 'otfiif. hand, -.would tend/tp" prejudice the reputation of New Zealand cheefie.' -The members of .the National. Dairy Association, at meetings, held lately at Inyercargdl and Lyttleton, have expressed their entire. • satisfaction with the dairy commissioner and his staff, as to their grading, and all they do. They" hare .the'utmost confidence in him. We consider their . opinion entirely trustworthy, and valuable, as, showing the complete confidence of those engaged in the industry in their instructors. The members of the N.D.A. have entire confidence m\ the Dairy Commissioner, and it is a_ matter of surprise to them that, seeing this is- the case, the Government don't intend to adopt his advice on several matters, hut appear to take that of incompetent outsiders in preference.

A former resident'in Birmingham, who hat now emigrated to New Zealand,^ has fortrarded «n account of his experience^ of sheep-fanning in that colony to the Birmingham Daily Post.l-. "It occurs to me," he twites, "that in these days of agricultural depression, when the question of emigration must exercise the minds of many of your country readers,' some information",.nowever slight, on the' subject of sheep-farming m the North Island of, New Zealand might find, a place in your columns,'and perchance leave your' readers with" no less knowledge than was- theirs .before.' Now, although cheep-farming in the colonies Beems in the abstract a'-delightful.- occupation, 'conveying, aa. I think it do^s to mo3t at Home 'the impression of ownership" of countless'sheep and an unlimited area of land, yet it mustnbt be forgotten, ac it seems to mo it often is', that neither land nor sheep are given' away, but are to be acquired by one means only, and that is payment. We must, I • think, base our considerations on the three different points of view' from which the question may be regarded—that of the capitalist, the man of small- means and some education, and the labourer. "With the former I do not propose to deal, as when, all is eaid it is merely a question of invest; ment, .either good or bad, and depending 'entirely on the exigencies of particular circumstances; but with the two latter it is very different. . ', V "A. "We will, if you please, imagine that the labourer and the man with a little capital have journeyed "hither and are about to begin" their work in what, I suppose, they look upon aa the promised land. The labourer would find work .doubtless very quickly on a sheep station if he could shear and-use his hands; if. unskilled, then in some capacity where eight "hours a day and good wages go hand-in-hand— certainly he- could obtain £1 a week and his keep without difficulty. With time and care he* would probably save a sum equal to" the small capital-we sup*posed to be in the possession of the other • man on his arrival, and then he might himself decide, with -bis colonial experience, to take up land. And what has the other, with bis small means, been doing in, the meantime? .In - the, first- place, presumably.. ,he would, were he wise, woric for another, per-, haps for a small wage; more probably experience would be his only pay, and thon at the end of a year he would, consider^-tho man has yet to be found who wouldn't — that he knew all about sheep-farming. And so' I think he would—all, -that is, 'except the most important points how to get his sheep and laaa... . "■ ""However, the next 'step- would be, to acquire the land, and this, in an unimproved state, may be either purchased or leased. By unimproved, I mean the land to be' untouched by the hand of man. The price is from 10s to 30s an acre freehold (average , price; 22s 6d), or 6d to Is per ac?e on a 21 "years' lease—with option of purchase or renewal at expiration of term. The unimproved land now open for selection is mostly hill country/of a physical composition not unlike that of North Wales or parts of Scotland, and is, I think, certainly not to be obtained nearer than 20 or 25 milea to a town half the size of Warwick, and even then only under exceptional' circumstances. The land must first, be cleared of bush, and this £3 done about July. That there may be no mistake as to what bush is, I may mention that what we understand by forest in England ie bush, and very light bush, too, here. Certainly the trees in the thickets and woods anywhere near Birmingham are email in comparison. The bush is felled at a cost of £1 an acre, and lies on the ground drying till Christmas, when it is burnt. In February the ground is sown by hand -with turnips or rape, and mixed grasses, at an outlay of 10s an acre. "Now, between February and June, by "' "which time the seed should have sprouted and the land be in a condition to carry stock, a house must be built. Up to the present our would-be farmer has been living ' an a tent or home-made hut, on the bare necessaries of life, carried by pack-horse from, the nearest store. The land must be fenced in, the stock bought, a woolshed, sheep dip. and yards erected, all of which cost money —a wooden house of two rooms, wool shed, yards, and dip, about £250; fencing, £1 a chain; ewes 10s a head, and rams i£3. ■ " "In June the stock will be turned on, &o carrying. capacity of the land bone one

to 'five sheep per acre, according to the resultant crop from "the sow.' Nothing more remains to be done to the land, which as permanent pasture will carry* an average of two, sheep (if good, land) to the acre all .the year round ; the gross profit per sheep being about 7s, and -the working expenses about 3s, leaving a net profit of about 4s per sheep. Our sheep-fanner may" now settle down to lead the life of pleasing work he has anticipated so long. And what. is it? Probably the little capital melted away long before the last- shingle was on the roof of his modest dwelling," and an accommodating loan company was found to advance on, mortgage a sum equal to two-thirde— the improved value of the land. So interest must be paid, and there re the attendant worry. "The nearest neighbour miles away, and .all else wanting. Soon it^will be found that 'the only life is one of hard toil to make both ends mcct — a toiler's life indeed. But for the labourer— happy mart — things .are different. - The farm wiH be .his goal. He will reaoh it; there, when the day's work is done, he may- sit in peaceful -contemplation of his land, happy that he has accomplished so much, that he has- attained a* position to which in England he would never have aspired even in his wildest dreams. And the mxn of small means will probably lose his all, then return to England; or, if a tranquil, unaspiring person, with neither imagination nor ambition, finally become — an' independent labourer. T I can find no other term." ' -: • -