JOLL DAIRY C0MPARY

Taranaki Daily News, 28 August 1930, Page 8

JOLL DAIRY C0MPARY

CHEESE QUALITY IN DEBATE STANDARDISING AND WAXING. NO DEFINITE INFORMATION. The annual meeting of the T. L. Joll Co-operative Dairy Company was held at Kapuni yesterday, Mr. J. B. Murdoch presiding over a largo attendance of shareholders. In moving the adoption of the report and balance-sheet the chairman referred to the troubles of the industry in •regard to quality. It was significant, he said, that in the early days when there were not the same facilities better quality cheese was made. It was very difficult to say what were the . causes of the change. Many considered that more work was put in then than now and that possibly more whey was left in now than was necessary, to produce a good curd. While admitting that there was room for improvement he did not believe the statements that their cheese was'bad. It had to be remcmbered that Britain, was passing through a period of diminished purchasing power and this might have something to do with the extent of the complaints. He was satisfied, that there were not the defects in New Zealand cheese that some people asserted. The waxing of cheese was another matter on which it was difficult to form definite conclusions. Last year it was made compulsory that 14 days should elapse before waxing, but it was . a question whether even after that period there were not detrimental effects. Reports from Britain showed that “weeping” or “dripping” w.as very, marked in waxed cheese. Waxing, saved ,1 or 1J per cent, in shrinkage and if the quality. was not affected this represented the same percentage in money, but after their own experience their manager was very doubtful about the advantages of waxing. Experiments were being conducted at Massey College and they had yet to learn whether the continuance of waxing was desirable or not. NO INFORMATION FROM HOME. Speaking of standardisation, the chairman pointed .out that when the company started the test was 3.7, whereas it was now 4.25. This .was a bio- increase and it was questionable wliethcr they could now make such a good cheese as with milk testing 3.7. However, it was the opinion of many that the separation of the fat removed casein and left the raw material not exactly in texture as full cream. Some factories had. decided ’ not to standardise this year, but one would expect that the trade in Britain would be able to gi\‘e some information as to whether standardisation wfls good or not. So far they had not received one bit of information which was conclusive, and he thought that with all the men in Britain this was one failing of the. industry. It looked as if probably ‘ a wider margin of fat content would Have to be allowed in future, but at present there was no information to determine whether standardisation should be cut out or not. Lust year the company made 4.76 per cent, finest, 94.69 per cent, first and .55 per cent, second grade. A few years ago they had as much as five or six per cent, of second, and he was sure the improvement was the result of the better’ grade "of milk supplied. The payment for milk by grade might bo advisable but there was the human element to consider. A.factory manager might give a grade to milk which the supplier thought it did not warrant, and there would have to be something to prevent that man getting rid of his inferior milk at some other factory. This year there was not; a single indication of what the market would be, but there was one thing in. their favour—there were less stocks than at this time last year—but it was impossible to say .what the prices would be. Reviewing the balance-sheet, the chairman said that the re-building reserve showed a liability of £7500 and £l5OO a year had been appropriated for re-building the Kapuni factory. The final payment had been made and in future this £15.00 .would be available for distribution to suppliers, unless there w’as re-building to be done. But in the present position the directors considered no re-building should be undertaken. The manufacturing charges were slightly higher this year owing to storage bein<r considerably greater. Repairs anti renewals were also greater this year. At the Palmer Road factory a concrete smoke stack had been erected for the purpose of enabling an economy in fuel consumption to be made. This had cost over £2OO to build, but it might save half the in coal in the first season. WHEY AS A BY-PRODUCT.

Inquiries had been made in regard, to the utilisation of whey as a by-pro-duct, and Dr. Harding’s concern in Southland had been visited. He believed that if Dr. Harding-could—haye been induced to submit the same proposition as lie did a few years ago it would have been accepted, but unfortunately Dr. Harding could not make the offer. Two suppliers were trying this new byproduct of whey and they expected to have their report later. The motion was seconded by Mr. E. J. Betts and the report and balancesheet were adopted. Mr. Betts inquired if the company contemplated making any additions to the main factory at Okaiawa. In reply the chairman said that the matter had been considered but at present it was intended to carry on without making extensions. It was realised, however, that in view of the expansion in that district it was only a matter of time when additions would be necessary.- : /’• Mr. E'. R. ’ PuH: 1 Don’t you think there has been too much printed in the Press about the. quality of our cheese ?

The chairman replied that in his npln ion too much had been made of the defects in the cheese. However, Im did

not blame the Press as it had only reproduced what the farmers had been stating at meetings. It wan porluipii unfortunate that (he matter had received so much prominence in view of the steps they were making for improving the produce. Ho was sure their article did not deserve the unfitvournblo comments that had U'en made about it. BACK TO UK PASTEURISED. Mr. W. E. Scott asked if the directors had considered, the ad visibility of trying unpasteurised standardised cheese. He believed these two together might result in a better product. A few years ago Air. Singleton said that New Zealand cheese was the host m the world; now he said it had slipped.. If that was so, said Mr. Scott, lie thought pasteurisation might have something to do with it. A few years ago thej'- received the top price with non-pasteurised cheese. He suggested that an experiment be made with one factory making non-pasteurised cheese. It w«6 not on the score of expense that he objected, to pasteurisation but on the grounds of quality. • The chairman proceeded to point out that pasteurisation was strongly recommended by the department, but »ic> could not'understand why graders did not give the same grade to similar nonpasteurised cheese. Mr. Harrison:. They used not to do so, but they may do so to-day with changed circumstances. Could you not put one branch on to full cream nonpastoiirised ? You admit that we are in a bit of a fog, why not try something as an experiment? » Have you bound any of the managers down to any particular standard or have you just asked them to make a good cheese ? I think standardised can be made a good cheese, but not if filled with water. NO PREMIUM FOR FULL CREAM. The chairman: The instructions to the managers are to make the best cheese possible. I believe that more work will be put into .manufacturing this year. It is thought that cheese just as good in quality can be made from standardised as from full cream. Not one of the men in Britain we have asked can guarantee us one iota more for full cream cheese than for standardised. Why is that? • Would it be wise for us to experiment in face of this position? The South Island makes full cream cheese but does not get any more for cheese than we do. Mr. O. Robertson thought that a great responsibility rested on the heads of the industry to make the best article whether neighbouring companies paid more or not. It seemed that the race for yield had got them into trouble. They must admit that the quality had slipped. It was a matter of national concern and it was up to them not to let their trade slip into the hands of other countries, but to make the best quality cheese whether it was full cream or standardised. If they did that they would come out best in the .nd. The chairman considered that the race for yield had undoubtedly contributed to the trouble, but that many other factors also entered. Farms were much more heavily stocked than form-, erly and the land had not the original fertility. • i In reply to Mr. Scott the chairman I said they had not sufficient informaj tion to - say whether waxing was good ! or not. I Mr. Belts: The trade advises against ■ it • The chairman: Some do, but others recommend it It is apparent that the biggest consumer of our cheese is the working man, and he is not' so particular it is finest as whether if contains sufficient nutriment to enable him to carry on his work. FULL CREAM EXPERIMENTS. . Mr. R. Harrison: Don’t you think it would be best to obtain some first hand information for ourselves ? If we experiment the loss on one or two of our . smallest factories put into full cream would be very small distributed over the whole of the company. It is quite •possible that full cream will show a premium this coming year. Unless we take steps to help ourselves we - are going to remain in the same fog. Tlio chairman replied that in view of the indefinite information the . directors considered it best to make no alteration at present. Mr. Putt: Other factories are going in for full cream; why not be Scotch and get the information from thorn for nothing? (Laughter), Mr. E. Chapman regretted that skimming had been allowed. He thought that if they returned to the old system they would soon come hack into their own. Mr. T. York regarded it as undesirable to go to America for cheese crates while they had money locked up hi the Box Company. The chairman said it was a matter of £.s.d. Imported timber could be landed at New Plymouth at a price they could not touch locally. White pine was diminishing fast and there was insufficient to supply the industry with crates. POOL NOT IN FAVOUR. In answer to a question as to whether the company proposed to join the pool the chairman said that the directors had not yet determined, but he foresaw many, difficulties in the way of successful operation of a voluntary system of this nature, — and he was of the opinion that the pool was not likely to eventuate. " The chairman gave a resume -pf the report of the herd-testing work carried [ out by Mr. G. H. Kent. This stated:— | During the season 1800 cows were • tested, the average for those completi ing the season being 292.511 b., with an average of 247 days. The leading re- ; turns were: — J. Green (36 cows), 381.391 b. T. W. Prestidge (59 cows), 368.581 b. J. E. Meiili (103 cows), 357.491 b. The highest cow was one in the herd of Mr? T 1 W. Prestidge with a produci tion of 600.311 b. in 284 days. r In shed inspection G 1 visits were 1 -»ade. Although the general average

of premises Is fair and equipment is on the up grade, machines can only be kept in good order by the daily use of. boiling water. An outline of the proposal to extend intermediate rural credits to suppliers up to £2OO, backed by a dairy company promissory note, was given by Mr. C. Freybcrg. On the motion of Messrs. T. A. Bridge and J. Caldwell the scheme was approved and the directors were authorised to carry it into effect m cases where they considered it advisable. The question of taking shares in the National Dairy Association was discussed, the meeting expressing the opinion that nothing further should bo done in the matter. Mr. E. M. Bardsley addressed the meeting with a view to obtaining a promissory note to assist the herd-test-ing association to arrange its preliminary/ finances, but a motion to give a promissory note was lost. The retiring directors, Messrs. W. EL Corkill, J. N. Crocker and J, W- Paterson, were re-elected unopposed. Messrs. H. A. Lennon and W. J. Tristram were re-appointed auditors.