THE CHEESE TRAGEDY.

Taranaki Daily News, 11 June 1931, Page 5

THE CHEESE TRAGEDY.

(To the Editor.) Y; ' Sir, —In a very able letter * from Mr% J. P. Kalaugher, secretary of the Friesian Association, he strongly recoriinieuds farmers to give notice of motion to have the articles of association of different cheese companies altered, so that the system of payment can be revised. .This, of course, is very sound advice. When some of the leading cheese companies in Taranaki have only been able to pay to their suppliers as low as from 3d to 4d per lb of butter-fat, with no chance of any further bonus in the winter, do the figures look as if Taranaki farmers are on the right lines? And do they look as if farmers can make ends meet? Or) do they look as if New Zealand cheese will be able to compete with that of our rivals, who are already making a cheese which fetches from £2O to £3O per ton' more than the New Zealand article?. With only 5 per cent, of finest grade cheese at Patea does it look as ifi Taranaki farmers are on right lines? And this production is off some of the finest land in New Zealand. How longs is this sort of foolishness to continue, without some action being taken to puttthis industry on a sound foundation? Now is. the time to act and it is aSh case of “now or never.’’ If action is delayed at the present time New’ Zealand will have lost her only market, and once the market is lost it will be impossible to recapture it. British merchants have been trying to point out to New Zealand farmers that the cheese they are sending is quite unsuitable for the trade. New Zealand farmers turned a deaf ear to all the warnings, and now; the British merchants have been invest- | ing large sums of money in other countries, with the hope that they will be able to get what they require. At the same time New Zealand is the finest country in the world for cheese production and has natural advantages that no other countries have. The Canadians are told by their dairy Commissioner, that they have nothing to fear in competition with New Zealand cheese. He warns the Canadians not to follow the example of the New Zealanders, and states they must stick to their policy of producing the close, firm-bodied dean flavoured cheese of the true cheddar type, which is the finest in the world. When the result of the Tokaora test was made public, Mr. P. O. Veale pointed out how some suppliers were being overpaid and some underpaid, and even gave the amounts in shilling and pence. At the same time he pointed out that the farmers who were being underpaid were the ones who were delivering the goods, or in other words were supplying the raw material that was required to suit the British taste. Now if farmers are penalised or fined from 2d to 3d per lb. of butter fat for supplying just what is required, what is to be expected? Just what has happened to the industry. When this unjust system of payment was pointed out to the Dairy Division was it not their duty to look into the matter and have an investiga-. tion into the whole system made ? . Ini New Zealand, as in most British colonies, we have a statute of weights and measures. Each trade has a system arranged by Act of Parliament to suit that particular trade. And what sort of a system has the great dairy industry got? A system that penalises the farmer if he delivers a first class article, and overpays the farmer for ruining the market, which means that this great industry is run on raffety rules. Mr. Singleton states in a letter I have before mes; “It is quite in order for any dairy company or companies to pay for milk on. what ever basis they choose, whether, it be weight, or fat, or fat plus casein, or any combination of these or other factors, in view of the fact that there is no Act or regulation stipulating the method by which payment for milk must be made.” With dairy companies paying their suppliers 3d and 4d per lb butterfat and with only 5 per cent, of finest cheese at Patea is it not time to arrange a system of payment that encourages ths farmers to send a first-class article? Individual factories are powerless to act in the matter. It is no use one company paying for quality if the neighbouring company is paying top price for a third grade Article. It is much easier to supply the third grade article. In Taranaki at the present time nearly all the cheese companies are installing butter plants, if they have not already got them, and next summer in all probability we shall see butter selling at a price that is not payable. Surely this joke” which has cost millions has been allowed by the Dairy Division to go far enough. If the industry is to be saved Parliament will have to take the matter up and have a system of payment arranged that encourages the farmer who supplies just what is wanted to make a first-class cheese. The Dairy Division is a good comedy but an awful tragedy.—l am, etc., HENRY JOHNSON, ' Stratford.