FOUNDATION OF THE N.D.A.

Taranaki Daily News, 24 June 1931, Page 9

FOUNDATION OF THE N.D.A.

FIRST MEETING IN YEAR 1895 ORIGINAL OBJECTS SUMMARISED. REPLACEMENTS ON DIRECTORATE The annual conferences of the National Dairy Association have played, a very important part in the progress and. development of the dairy industry of the Dominion. . At the conferences dairy factory directors fr o ni all parts of the North Island and even from the South Island have gathered and deliberated upon all the problems that have from time to time confronted the industry, and some very far reaching de-, cisions have been arrived at. Though, this is the first- occasion on which the annual conference has taken place in New Plymouth Taranaki, as , was .perhaps only to he expected, seeing that in the early days of the co-opera-tion movement it took' the lead. in dairying matters, played a very prominent part in the formation of the National Dairy Association. Its genesis was at Stratford, and the late Mr. P. F. 'Ralfe, chairman, of the Cardiff Cooperative Dairy' Company, may rightly lbs termed the founder of the N.DA.., as he was mainly responsible for its formation. There was in operation at the ..time a South Island association, to which, several of the Taranaki factories belonged, but with the growth of the co-operative movement in Taranaki the • need was felt for an association that /could' assist in improving conditions locally, particularly in regard to railage and freight on the transport of dairy produce to the Home markets. /It must be'realised that'ip those days there were not the facilities such .as good. roads' and motor transport to bring districts into such close touch as they are to-day. ' Accordingly in 1895 or 1896 a meeting of delegates of factories was con.-’ Vened by Mr. Ralfe to consider matters relating to the industry. About a dozen delegates from various parts of Taranaki attended. There were only two present from the northern end of the province—Mr.. J. W- Foreman, chairman of the Tikorangi Dairy Company, and a representative of the Moa Dairy Company. As. the result a committee comprising Messrs. P..F. Ralfe, J. W. Foreman, J. lire, J. Murray (Eltham), H. Spratt (Hawera)', and C. Washer (Riverdale) was set up to ascertain whether satisfactory arrangements could be made to work with'the South Island Association, and if not : to endeavour to form a North Island Association. It was, however, found that the committee had no legal standing. As the outcome , of that meeting a year or two . later, in 1897, the National Dairy Association of New Zealand, Ltd., was registered in ; Wellington under the Companies Act of ; 1882. Mr. J. G. Harkness, who after- I wards played such a prominent part in < the control of the organisation, was the i Taranaki delegate at the conference ■ held previously in Wellington, at which I ■) the memorandum of association was I < adopted. It is interesting to note that < of the eight signatories to the memo- | - .randum of association no less than six J were from Taranaki—Mr. J. W. Fore- < man (Tikorangi) and the late Messrs. , R. W. Foreman (Manaia), P. F. Ralfe < (Cardiff), Jas. J. Campbell (Kaupoko- e nui), Thos. L. Joll’ (Okaiawa), and O. ; W. Oldham (Patea). , The other two t were Messrs. W. Mitchell (Chelten- i hani), and Wm. Booth (Carterton). The 1 signature of the late Mr- Newton King (New Plymouth) was also attached to f the articles, of association. i The memorandum and articles of as- i Sbciation, which- were signed on Novem- i bet-29, 1897, gave wide powets to the i new. association,. and so well thought f out were they that only minor amend- j ments were necessary until recently, 1 when, the constitution of the associa- i, tion was altered. As set out in the ■ e memorandum the objects of the associ- ( t ation were (a) to provide an organisa- ■ (

tion for conducting business for per- * sons, associations and companies engaged in dairying, or in the manufacture of products from farm produce; . (’b) to improve the plans of buildings ; 5 machinery and appliances used upon farms for dairying purposes', or in the , manufacture of marketable products from farm produce; (c) to provide for '• the holding of conferences of persons engaged in dairying, and in particular to disseminate practical information , with a view to improving the manufac--4 ture of dairy produce so as to produce a uniformly good article, to obtain the best means of transit and disposal of dairy produce, and generally to forward the interests of the dairy industry. The objects used every letter of the ’ alphabet up to V. They provided for the dissemination of information by 1 means of lectures, pamphlets, etc., and ’ authorised the association to exchange communications with all parts of the world; to purchase, lease or otherwise provide rooms where shareholders and others might meet, also rooms and space for other purposes; to purchase stock in trade; to purchase or accept leases; to acquire ■ businesses; to promote the cheaper and better transit and manufacture of dairy produce; to promote exhibitions of dairy produce and appliance' for the conversion of same, and its carriage from one place to another;, and to provide prizes at such exhibitions. The memorandum also gave the association power to act as agents and appoint agents; to raise money to enter any arrangement for sharing profits; to deal with land; to construct and manage etc., stores, warehouses, buildings, plant, machinery etc., and to subsidise or assist in such operations ; to grant special discounts and rebates; to carry on any business Of the association upon co-operative principles. In fact the memorandum gave very wide powers in connection with the, dairying industry. ‘ At the outset there were five directors, the three Taranaki members being the late Mr. R. W. Foreman, of Manaia, Mr. B. ‘Dive, of E’ltham, and -Mr. J. W. Foreman, of Tikorangi. 'Mr.- R.-W. Foreman was the first chairman, but he was

succeeded by Mr. p. F. Ralfe and then in 1899 -by Mr. J. G. Harkness, of Midhirst, who had taken a seat on the board a few -months earlier. Mr. Harkness was chairman until 1903, when he took up the position of secretary, which he held for 18 years. Prior to that, though the association had been in existence only about seven years, it had had eight secretaries —Messrs. B. C. Robins (now mayor of Tauranga), G. Fenn (now president of. the 'Manufacturers’ Association and a member of the Unemployment Board), J. Sawers (afterwards. Dairy Commissioner), J. Morgan, P.. Stott, G. A. Hurley, C. R. Beattie and F.. W. Shaw. Several of them occupied their' positions for only -three months. Mr. C. 'R. Beattie had the longest tenure for three and a half years. When Mr. Harkness took office the capital was £3l, and the office furniture was valued at £23. The accounts due in the first month were £5OO. On his retirement the capital totalled £52,054, and the accounts due were about £45,000. In 1903 the value of New Zealand dairy produce exported was for. butter £1,268,759, and for cheese £181,164, a total of approximately £1,450,000. ■Eighteen years later the total had increased to about £12,700,006, butter accounting for £6,104,000, and cheese £6,514,000. Mr. Harkness was replaced on the directorate by the late Mr. T. L. Joll (Okaiawa),’and Mr. J. W. Foreman was elected chairman. In 1906 Mr. Bradshaw Dive retired from the directorate, and was replaced by Mr. Arthur Morton (Mangorei), the present president, who has'held his seat continuously since his appointment .as president in 1-911. When Mr. Morton' took his seat on the directorate the exports of -butter were 299,445 cwt., valued at £1,443,153, and of cheese 107,503 cwt., valued at £257,171, a total value of £1,700,32-1. It is interesting to note that prices ruling that year, were about on a par with present day prices. Butter' started at 1.125, rose to 118 s, and dropped to '99s and 100 s. The cheese market started early in the season at 545, rising later to 62s and 635, and finally dropping to 60s.

In 1911, when Mr. Morton assumed the presidency, the exports of produce had nearly doubled, being 367,496 cwt. of (butter valued at £1,878,320 and 456,371 cwt. of cheese, valued at £1,222,3'64, a total value of £3,100,634. There was very little variation in the prices on the Home market over the whole season. Butter started at Ills, dropped to 104 s, and then rose io 109 s per cwt., whilst cheese started at 575, was never below 565, and never rose above 635. For the nine months ending March 31 of the present year the grading figures show 1,841,245 cwt. , of butter, valued at £10,513,684, and 1,8'75,3'80-cwt. of cheese, valued at £5,964,699, a i,otal value of £16,47'8,3'83 despite the low prices ruling. On the death of Mr.' T. L. Joll in 1903 Mr. W. Borrie (Manaia) was appointed to the directorate, and the following year Mr. J. W. 'Foreman, the president, retired owing to i'll health. He was replaced on the directorate by Mr. R. Dingle (Stratford). 'Mr. A. McFarlane was appointed president. In. 1910 the

I directorate was increased to seven, the (Auckland province being given two representatives. In 1011 Messrs. K. Dingle and W. Borrie were replaced by Messrs. H. 'iD. Forsyth and J. B. Murdoch, but two years later the latter was replaced by Mr. W. D. • Powdrell, who continued as director till his death in 1921. Mr. J. B. Murdoch was then re-appointed and still occupies the position, as does also Mr, T, A. Winks, who replaced Mr. Forsyth in 1925. The directorate originally comprised five members, the first two members from outside Taranaki "being Messrs. W. Brown (Palmerston North), and W. Mitchell (Cheltenham). In 1900 Mr. A. Macfarlane (Ballance) replaced Mr. Brown, and in 1903 Mr. Jas. Young (Palmerston North) replaced Mr. Mitchell. Mr. Young was replaced in 1906 by Mr. W. Fisher (Carterton), who held the position for 15 years. He was then replaced by Mr. J. G. Brechin, who has retained his seat for the past ten years. In 1919 Mr. A. Macfarlane was replaced by T. Moss (Eketahuna), who has since been a .member of the directorate. In 1910 the directorate was increased to seven. The Auckland province was granted two representatives, and A. C. Hubbard (Thames Valley), and T. Bassett (Northern Wairoa) were elected. There was no change until 1916, when Capt. Hubbard, who had gone to the Great War, made the supreme sacrifice, and Mr. E. Allen (Cambridge) was ap- I pointed to'the vacancy. In 1917 the directorate was increased to nine. Auckland and Wellington were each given three representatives, and thus placed equal with Taranaki. Mr. J. B. Gow (Tauranga) was appointed to represent Auckland, and has retained his seat ever since. Mr. W. Jewell (RangiotuJ was the extra Wellington director, but was replaced in the following year by, J. D. Brown (Ohan), who is still a member of the directorate. In 192 S Mr. Allen was replaced by Mr. F. H. Anderson (also of Cambridge), who .still retains bin seat.

In 192] Ha wke's Bay was givui sepa-. rate representation, increasing the directorate to ten—-its present number. Mr. H. W. Geisen (Danncvirke) represented that district for a few months, and was succeeded by Mr. J. Gelday (Maharahara), who lias held the scat continuously since. In 1921 when Mr. Harkness resigned the secretaryship, Mr. T. C. Brash was appointed to the position, which lie held until he accepted the secretaryship of the Dairy Produce Export Control Board in 1924. Mr. C. H. Backhouse, the present secretary, was then appointed.