NO “HUSH HUSH” POLICY

Taranaki Daily News, 16 June 1931, Page 9

NO “HUSH HUSH” POLICY

DECISIONS ON DAIRYING COMMITTEE’S RECOMMENDATIONS. PROPOSALS FOR. CONFERENCE. Exception was taken by the Minister of Agriculture, Hon. A. J. Murdoch, on Saturday to the report from New Plymouth, cays the Dominion, charging him with pursuing a “hush-hush” policy in respect to the decisions reached at the conference of dairying interests in Wellington on May 15. The Minister pointed out that- copies ■ of. the resolutions carried at the conference, as well as the recommendations of a committee appointed at that conference, had been sent out to all cheese factories in the North Island on or about June 3. Further, the circulars containing the same information had been supplied to all delegates at the recent conference of the South Island Dairy Association at Dunedin. The committee’s finding had also been given to the Press at Christchurch and Dunedin. At the conference, which was called by the Minister of Agriculture, in cooperation with the New Zealand Dairy Produce Board, the following resolutions were carried:—- .

(1) That it be a recommendation from this conference to the' National Dairy Association Conference to be held at New Plymouth on June 24 that tha manufacture of standardised cheese he discontinued after the present season 1930-31.

(2) That this conference recommends the National Dairy Association Conference that the manufacturers of cheese co-operate with the Department of Agriculture, the New Zealand Dairy Produce Board, and the Dairy Research Institute with a view to investigating the matter of securing early maturity of chaise in the most economical manner.

APPOINTMENT OF COMMITTEE.

A third resolution providing for the setting up of a committee to draft recommendations relating to texture, o’penness, discolouration, milk supply and faults generally connected with tire manufacture of cheese for submission to the National Dairy Conference was also carried. Messrs. W. A. lorns and Dynes Fulton, of the Dairy Control Board, Professor W. Riddet, of the Dairy Research Institute, Dr. E. Marsden, secretary of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, and Mr. H. L. Taylor, representing the Factory Managers’ Association, were appointed members of the committee. This committee met on May 28 and ' a number of recoinmendations of paramount -importance to the. industry. Recognising that the best cheese' cannot always be manufactured by the clock, the committee considered the conference should give consideration to the elimination ot time limits and overtime, as stipulated by arbitration awards and agreements, arid,' further, give consideration to the providing of other means of fully protecting the workers. In another recommendation the committee considered that milk should nob be accepted if arriving at the factory after 9 a.m., and that should be made a regulation under the Dairy Industry Act. • This, it was considered, would result in the best quality cheese, and at the same time make possible, the com-' pletion of the day’s manufacture within reasonable hours. ■■ temperature of curing rooms With a view to hastening maturity the committcj passed a recommendation asking delegates. ,to give consideration to the temperatures of curing rooms, and as to whether it was riot advisable to have a regulation gazetted requiring that curing rooms be kept at a temperature of not less than 55 degrees Fahrenheit, while containing cheese which was to leave the factory at less than one month after manufacture. The committee further considered .that : everything possible should be done during the summer months to • prevent ". temperatures of curing, rooms exceeding’6s degrees: - .... . . It was’ also considered that regulations should be drafted for establishing milk grading 1 and. a differential payment of a minimum of one halfpenny per lb. of butter-.fat as between finest and first grade to obtain as from. the commencement of the ensuing season. Another recommendation was that dairy conipanies enter into arrange-. mepts riot to accept-, a j supplier from another company after the supplier had started supplying- -one ' company. in the s-pring-tiibe and . until the end of June following. •••---•■■-■. - "J/ ■ ’ • SCHEMEI’OF. 1 ’OF. GRADING. ■ - An outline of a suggested plan for grading milk and payment according to grade was suggested by the comniittee as follows:— “ LU . (1) No milk should’ be accepted which, in the opinion, of the grader,.would, if manufactured separately by the' mCtlftld followed at the factory, make, a flower quality cheese than first grade. - (2) Milk which is accepted should be classed: into two grades; first and finest:first grade milk shall be milk which, ’if manufactured separately by the method •followed at the factory would, in the opinion of the grader, make a first arade ,cheese. Finest grade shall be milk vriiiehj-if ma’iiufactured separately by the method followed at-the factory, would, in the opinion of the grader, make a cheese wliich would grade 93 ■•points or over. The committtee considered-that for a commencement, finest grade might be paid for at a minimum one halfpenny per pound butter-fat more than for first grade, and that only milk graded finest by the : curd, tfest and reductase test, and on the sense; should be paid for as finest.

That dairy factories should pasteurise milk’ for cheese manufacture unless the milk supply was of such quality. | that a. sound, clean-flavoured cheese could be made from the milk without pasteurisation was the text of one further finding by the committee.