Page 33 Advertisements Column 1

Otago Witness, Issue 2600, 13 January 1904, Page 33

[Advertisement.] TAIERI AND PENINSULA MILK SUPPLY CO-UPANY. TO THE E1;ITOH. Sir, — You have closeid the controversy on the subject of th© operations cf the above company, and T must therefore a=k you to insert this further reply to Mr Bolt as an advertisement. I thought I had done with this correspondence, but in the other day'b paper I see Mr TV. J. Bolt, the business manager of the Taieri and Peninsula Milk Supply Company (Limited), accuses me of making false and misleading statements, and I feel, in justice to my=-elf, I must reply to him. Mr Bolt may think himself a paragon manager to the Taien and Peninsula Company, but he muet give other people credit for knowing something about butter and cheese factories as well as himself. I am prepared to prove to him, that every statement I made is correct, and will show him that the present policy of making butter, j and butter alone, is ruinous to the milksuppliers. I think I have proved that- the suppliers are not getting within Id per gallon of what the cheese- factories pay to their suppliers. How lcng is this to be allowed to continue? I am sure th© piospect of the _ butter market does not show that the price is going to be any better, but rather wrose, for a long time to come. I do not say that the Taieri and Peninsula, should put all their creameries into cheese factoid.,, but I say that the one-half of them should he, so that the company should be ready to meet the demand either for butter or chee-se. whichever pays best. Mr Bolt shows mountains of difficulties in the way cf cheesemaking. I admit the managers would have more to do. I am sure this mountain could be levelled into a plain. The corapam- has a very good manager at present for the butter, and I believe a snlenctK. buttermaker also, and I am . c ure they can easily get as good a one for the cheese department should th-ey go into it. They will have to do so sooner or later. It will be seen that I was correct at first in showing that Mr Nicolsou was m error in stating that the Taieri and Peninsula Company was paying the highest price for milk in the colony. He did not mention butter or cheese factories, or the yearly average. A report of the Stirling Factory has since then appeared in the paper as paying 4jd per gallon on a 3.6 test, which comes out at ll^d pp-v lb for butter-fat. The Taieri and Peninsula .require a 3.8 test, and pay 9£d per lb butter-fat to shareholders and 9d to non-shareholders, which makes the Taieri aad Peninsula payment 9-id. Th© 2£d per gallon I mentioned before was not niv own suppiy. I. being a shareholder, got 9id per lb 011 a 3.6 test, which brought it out at 3^d per gallon. The 2id yas a non-share-holder's on a 3.2 test. I will give his name if required. Mr Bolt boa-,ts about the great name the Taieri and Penin-sula produce has at home and abroad. Perhaps he will explain how it is that the Penhurst — a pursly buttei factory, — in Victoria, can g've lOid for butter-fat, as against the Taieri and Peninsula's 9^d. Perhaps they got a better prioe for their butter, or the company may j be managed at less expense then the Taieri ! and Pen.mJula i*. It is rather amusing Mr Bolt sayin? they have- no complaints about the price of nulk or the management. If Mr Bolt could come to the factory, say, from 7 to 9 o'clock a.m., he would hear more complaints than he is prepared for about the low test and price of milk, and the oddv decimal. They say the Taieri and Peninsula ie- mow a complete monopoly, and seem to be unable to get any redress, complain as they may. Many of them have spoken to both directors- and managers, only to meet with rebuff. At the last annual meeting a .shareholder and a very large supplier brought up a few suggestions, to see aad %et things improved upon. Mr Bolt took tn© paper away, and up to the present time (nothing more has been heard of it. I expect it haj been consigned to the wast© panei basket or the fire. And yet Mr Bolt saysthere are no complaints. His statement on this point is not correct. The shareholding; suppliers are kept very much in th© dark about the disposal of the Tai-eri and Peninsula produce. We never know whether it is sold at a profit or a los^. The business manager's yearly report is not very full, but this we can see : We are getting less for our milk, and the profits of the company ate getting less and less the last few years. Perhaps the business manager will explain how all this comes about. I think I have made it very clear that the suppliers to the Taieri and Po-ninpula are receiving Id les=i for their milk per gallon than suppliers to the cheese factory. Now I am going to a=k Mr Bolt to favour me with two direct replies to two questions. Will be work them out for the edificatio-n of all concerned? A few weeks aao there appeared 111 the Witness a report about the. Taieri and Peninsula Company, in w-hich it was state J that the comrjany received 82,699,1581b of milk for the 'last year. I now most respectfully ask Mr Bolt to deduct the amount of mii'c solel in Dunedin and work the balance out at Id per gallon a^Mel show this in £ g. d., which I say shows the loss to th.3 milk-suppliers as between butter and cheese. Now. how Ions; is this to continue? It does not show much to the credit of the managers and directors of the Taieri and Pe-ninsuia Company that they have hoc seen this long aoo. Thir, ciuesrica c f o-lcl decimals i-s a \ovy sore point with suppliers, and justly so. I also ask slr Bolt to wor* out on the fame linps the 82,699, 1581b and show the number of pounds ot butter-fat that each 10001b of miik g ve=, upon a 6.7 test, at ICd per lb. which of couise increase" j a Ihj te=t ri.^es. I wish Mr Bolt to put t.ns into £ s. tl., which vill show what tae ■suppliers hpve been most ui-iuitly tlbni-ived of for a number of rear-. I no^ a^k Mr Bolt, as bu<-inc-.s mar.ager, why the Taier ; and Peninsu 1 a docs not pay the edd elu^rnl like other companies I hope he wiiT .lo this vrithout any nde-issues or equivocation, as I desire a direct categorical answer to those questions. I th;nk it w'll then be foand tbat I am not & fault-finder cr mn Itlvower at the company. — I am, etc . Interested No. 1. P.gi— lOCO'b of miik at 3 6 i.e.-t piws 36ib i buttci-fat, an 3.7 tcbt gne^ 371b butter-fat and jo on. Query: WLo £eU the cdcl pound 1 of butter lati