THE DAIRYING INDUSTRY.

Otago Witness, Issue 3875, 19 June 1928, Page 20

THE DAIRYING INDUSTRY.

CO-OPERATION WITH AUSTRALIAWELLINGTON, June 17.

Phases of New Zealand’s dairying industry that are of .interest to dairy farmers in the Commonwealth will be investigated by -an Australian delegation which arrived at Wellington by the Tahiti from Sydney yesterday. The delegation, which is from the Australian Dairy Managers’ Association, is returning a visit paid to Australia last year by a party of New Zealand dairy factory managers. After attending the Dominion conference of factory managers at Palmerston North this week, members of the delegation will visit the Taranaki and Waikato dstricts. Mr J. Proud, federal president of the Australian Dairy Managers and Secretaries’ Association, is chairman of the delegation, and the other two members are Mr A. E. Sweaney, manager of the Inverell co-operative butter and bacon factory, and Mr F. G. Martin, manager and secretary of the Polard Bay dairy factory.

Mr Proud is manager and secretary of the Camperdown cheese and butter factory in Victoria, which has an average output of 700 to 1000 tons of butter per annum. He and Mr Sweaney represent the Australian group of factory manage: s, and Mr Martin, the Victorian branch. In addition, Mr Proud is a member of the Cream Board. This board administers the Dairy Produce Act, which governs the industry in Australia, and he is also *-n the Australian Dairy Council, a semiGovernment body working for the betterment of the dairying industry. “ We are,” said Mr Proud, “ really returning a visit which the New Zealand factory managers paid to Australia last year. -Our main job is to bring a message of goodwill and to co-operate with the managers in this country.” Mr Proud remarked on Saturday that one outstanding feature vyas that they, in Australia, paid more per pound for butterfat than was paid in New Zealand. “We help her own position by the Patterson scheme,” he explained. " The whole in-

dustry thus co-operates in deciding to tax itself by IZd per lb on production, and the monej' thus raised is used to pay a bounty on export of 3d per lb. The effect of that is to improve export sales by 28s per cwt, and also to fix the local marKet at 3d per lb above the London parity. This tax is entirely voluntary, but so far it has stood the test of criticism, and has meant a net increase in value to dairymen of 2d per lb for butterfat over prices ruling prior to the inauguration of this scheme about three years ago.” . Referring ■ to the interchange of visits between factory managers in the Commonwealth and the Dominion, Sir Proud remarked that the object was to bring about more improved methods of manufacture and to increase production. “ The buyers of the world,” he said, “ think and want to buy in big parcels, and this can only be given effect to by the producing countries standardising their manufactures.” Mr Proud remarked that the delegation was particularly interested in the co-opera-tive herd-testing organisations conducted by the Government. Another matter of special interest they proposed to inquire into was the Massey Agricultural College at Palmerston North, and they were very keen to see how it was proposed to link that organisation with the dairy farmer in a practical way. They were also very interested in fertiliser work in New Zealand, and intended to make the closest inquiry into it. Mr Proud mentioned that they were increasing top-dressing in Australia; but so far it was a long way from being general. Asked what the past season had been like in Australia, Mr Proud stated that they had had a wonderful autumn with good rains, and there was the promise of a winter that would be quite satisfactory. He mentioned that there was practically no hand feeding of stock in Australia, and that the autumn growth carried them over the winter.

The visit is the first by such a delegation from Australia, and Mr Proud remarked that it had been looked forward to by the dairy factory managers in the Commonwealth. He pointed out that the Australian organisation was entirely an educational institution, and at its conferences papers by managers were discussed and threshed out. Mr Proud visited the Dominion in 1921, „ and stated that on that occasion he Was impressed with our methods, which were much on the same lines as those in Australia. Mr Proud will sail from Auckland for Australia on July 6. •