RISE OF DAIRY INDUSTRY

Taranaki Daily News, 24 June 1931, Page 11

RISE OF DAIRY INDUSTRY

BEGUN BY EARLY SETTLERS BASIS OF TARANAKI PROSPERITY. FIRST CO-OPERATIVE COMPANY. If heredity counts for anything it is little wonder that the industry of Taranaki is dairying. Its founders were the early settlers from the South and West of England) many of them from Devon and Cornwall, counties that for many generations have been the dairy farm of old England. When the sturdy westcountry men reached Taranaki the nature of the country made small farms essential, and to the small farmer a few cows form part and parcel of the establishment. The temperate winter and the lush growth of grass on the newly cleared land soon quickened the dairying instincts of the new settlers and it is no surprise to learn that at the •first Agricultural Show held in Taranaki —rat New Plymouth in 1865 —there were entries of butter and cheese. Of course the Maori War shut down the industry for years, and it was not until 20 years after the date of the show referred to above that concerted effort in manufacture began to foe in evidence. In those 20 years dairying at farms continued, the product being disposed of first to the local storekeeper in return for groceries, etc., and then when settlement advanced, being sold to merchants, who packed the butter into casks and sent it to other parts' of New Zealand and to Australia.

The day of the individual farmer manufacturer of butter and cheese was nearly over. The necessity of finding new markets, if a better price were to ■be obtained, the advent of new settlers, and the improvement in dairy machinery were all factors in bringing the factory system into vogue.. In one or two instances farmers began to buy milk and cream from their neighbours and manufacture it witli, their cwn plants. The first registered dairy company jn Taranaki was the Opunake Dairy Company, Limited, formed in 1885 to manufacture cheese at the factory on the Ihaia Road, Opunake. Though not, strictly speaking, a co-operative company, in that shares were held by nonsuppliers, the articles of association provided that milk should only be received from shareholders.

For its time the factory was well equipped. It had a 500 gallon circular vat, with a mechanical agitator and what was then considered all the latest equipment, the Cheese being made in three sizes. There was no refrigeration in those days, and a stipulation of merchants was that the cheese should 1 mature three months before 'being sold. The ■first manager of the company was Mr. T. Cranswick, who had been employed at a.small proprietary factory in Inglewood, and the factory opened on October 9, 1885, when there were 39 suppliers. For the first season the company did not do badly. It sold its cheese throughout New Zealand and received about 6d per lb. for it. The suppliers received 2ld per gallon of IOJ lbs., and were only allowed to supply on six days per week. The capacity of the factory being limited,' Sunday s milk was not accepted. In the company's p.ospectus it was carefully pointed out that the amount of milk which would be accepted at the factory from auy supplier would be regulated by his share interest in the company! By the next year others, who had heard of the Opunake Company’s success, also made cheese in quantity, with the result that the New Zealand market was overstocked and prices fell. It was then decided to ship ,to London, but the price received there, 36s to 4Ss per cwt., was unremunerative, and the company began to experience serious financial difficulties. It must be remembered that depression existed

throughout New Zealand in these years. Kinrling it could, not meet its liabilities the company closed down, and the fac-. tory was worked as a proprietary com. cern for a year by Mr. Emmanuel Barley, who then handed it over. 1 The first co-operative company formed 'by a combination of settlers, who ran the factory on purely co-oper- , ative lines, but with not much success. At all events, within IS months the factory was leased to the Crown Dairy, Company (owned by Messrs. J. G, George, Newton King and R. and it was, not for some years that anr i other co-operative company was formed at Opunake, which ultimately purchased. the' Crown Dairy Company’s business and closed the Ihaia Road fac-. tory. About the same time as the co-operas tive movement was started in Opunake the Tikorangi factory was founded, first by Mr. George (Crown-Dairy Company) and then by a company known as Hine, Knuckey and Co. This was to all intents and purposes a co-opera-tive concern, the only difference being that the shareholders first received in- 7 terest on their share capital and the balance of the proceeds was divided , amongst the suppliers. This company, -which manufactured butter only, ran for about five years and was succeeded by the present co-operative company, now in its 37th year of existence. But the factory movement was by no means confined to North Taranaki or “the Coast.” The country from Ingle-. C wood to Stratford and Hawera was gradually becoming cleared of heavy bush. Sawmilling —the then main in- , dustry—was suffering very severely , from the effects of the slump which followed the “Borrowing Boom” of the Vogel administration and settlers were eager to earn a living on their farms, which were showing every year more ■yg.j grass and less bush. Indeed, in tracing the growth of dairy industry in general, and -the events which led up to the pre-eminent posi*: tion occupied by Taranaki in particular, there is no district more deserving of investigation than that immediately surrounding the important town of Stratford. That Stratford was looked upon as a centre having a great influence upou the industry, even in its embryo state, is shown from the fact that many important dairy conferences of a Dominion-wide significance were held there. The annual meetings of th® National Dairy Association were convened at Stratford, and the first dairy school in the Dominion was organised where the up-to-date factory Of the Stratford company could be made use of for demonstration purposes.