DAIRY LEGISLATION.

Taranaki Daily News, 6 June 1930, Page 8

DAIRY LEGISLATION.

On the whole the proposal to amend the Dairy Industries Act, particularly m regard to the manufacture of cheese, is sound. That there is need for improvement in the system of manufacture, is undoubted, and it seems equally certain that in the' more closely settled districts cheese Will be the more important output in the near future. Indications are plain that much severer competition in the British butter market may be anticipated from- countries where the social standards are lower than those in New Zealand and where production is correspondingly cheaper than in the Dominion. In regard w cheese conditions are more favourable to New Zealand, in the immediate future at all events, and if the quality of the cheese is right the Dominion has a great opportunity for expansion oi trade before competing countries are ready to challenge its product. As was pointed out .by Mr. Gwillim, AssistantDirector of the State Dairy Division, at a recent conference with factory managers, there is no country where better facilities for cheesemaking exist than those obtaining here. Mr. Gwillim added that no country had better cheese makers either, so rar as the technique of their craft is concerned. Unfortunately economic questions obtrude very extensively into factory management, and with competition between factories for supplies of milk it is difficult to bring about the improvement in the raw material that is so desirable. In the factory itself so-called industrial laws have created difficulties that reflect themselves in the process of manufacture, and the result is that the Dominion stands a chance of losing its good reputation as a supplier of finest quality cheese. To be fair to the industry whatever amendments or improvements in methods are deemed essential must be applicable to all factories, and those that are unable or unwilling to adopt them must make way for those that will. The industry is too valuable to the Dominion as a whole to allow local prejudices or weaknesses to endanger the reputation of its output. It would be satisfactory if the necessary regulations could have been made and enforced within the industry. This apparently is impracticable, the need for compulsion in certain eases requiring the force of law. There should be no occasion for ; olitical strife in regard to the amending legislation, and it should be possible to get it on the Statute Book in time to operate for the next dairying season.