DAIRYING AT OKAIAWA

Taranaki Daily News, 29 September 1933, Page 11

DAIRYING AT OKAIAWA

JOLL COMPANY'S OPERATIONS STEADY PROGRESS OF COMPANY. SILVER JUBILEE THIS YEAR. Okaiawa is the headquarters of the largest cheese-making company in New Zealand, the Joll Co-operative Dairy Company. This concern developed from a very small beginning 48 years ago as the result of the enterprise of the late Mr.- Tom- L. Joll, who kept a store in the. early days when the settlers ran a few cows and made butter. This they would endeavour to exchange for groceries and stores, direct sale of produce being then altogether an, impossibility. This system of barter became a fairly common and convenient method of^exchanging goods and Mr. Joll was one who accepted butter in exchange for goods, his trade increasing to such an extent that he put in a butter worker to handle the quantities received. This was in the days before refrigeration, and he used to salt down the butter, put- it in barrels and ship it to England. His trade soon increased to such dimensions that he installed a separator and went in for butter-making on a large • scale. Eventually he gave up the store business and launched out exten- ’ sively and solely into dairy manufacturing. The first plant located at the site of the present butter factory on the banks of the Inaha 1 stream, at Okaiawa, was somewhat primitive in comparison with a modern dairy factory, a small water turbine being employed to drive the machinery. Just to show how primitive things were in those days it may be mentioned that the water for washing the separator was heated in a copper outside the building, and carried in in buckets. The present cheese factories are all of the most modern type, and are situated at Okaiawa, Tempsky Road, Te Ngutu, Palmer Road, Manaia Road (Kapum), Mangawhero, Taikatu (Skeet Road), and Otakeho. The five former are either concrete or partly concrete structures, while the latter three are constructed of wood. The butter manufacturing plant at Okaiawa is also completely up-to-date and manufactures about 80 tons per annum. x , , -Between 80 and 90 m£n are employed during the height of the season, and are comfortably housed in 16 cottages for managers and men at the respective facTories. ** On the death of Mr. T. L. Joll it was decided to form a company with a capital of £25,000. The output was then but 1670 tons of cheese. Last year it was 4246 tons. The purchase included eight established cheese factories and the original factory, which is now used as a butter factory. The company this year completes 25 years of operation as a operative.The first directors of the company were Messrs. J. B. Murdoch, T. Walsh, J. D. Crowley, J. Smith, C. J. Luxton, J. S. Pearce, J. Marx, J. Bloomfield and A. C. Johnstone. The first chairman was Mr. J. B. Murdoch. COMPANY’S EARLY SUCCESS. The company was extremely successful from the start, and a profit of £4417 was made the first year. Eleven years later the capital was increased to £50,000 ’ and the balance of the money owing to the Joll estate was paid off. Until 1930 the record year for milk was 1924-25, when the supply was 76,644,3701 b, and since the concern was formed into a company, the cheese manufactured has more than , doubled. The amount distributed in the peak year was £287,289 in 1927-28, and since the company commenced over £4,500,000 has been paid out. Past chairmen are: Messrs. J. B. Murdoch, 1908-191?; T. Walsh, 1912-1913; J. D. Crowley, 1913-1914; J. B. Murdoch, 1914-1918; A. C. Johnstone, 1918-1919; J. B. Murdoch, 1919-1932; A. C. Johnstone, 1932 to. date. Past directors are: Messrs. J. B. Mur- » doch, T. Walsh, X D. Crowley, J. Smith, C. J. Luxton, J. S. Pearce, J. Marx, J. Bloomfield, A. C. Johnstone, P. Ronchild, E. Betts, S. Kissick,. W. F. Lyndon, T. Whyte, D. M. Scott, F. Lye, J. W. Paterson, G. H. Meuli, T. Shearer, J. F. Kiley, J. E. Meuli, E. Chapman, J. J. Kissick, W. Slattery, W. A. Guy, R. E. Harrison, D. P. F. Malone, J. Daley, J. N. Crocker, W. E. Scott, W. H. Corkill, C. P. Crowley, J. W. Paterson, O. Robertson and A. E. Luscombe. Past general managers are: Messrs. H. Black, 1908-1909; A. McKenzie, 1909-1912; D. Ogilvy, 1912-1913; T. M. Robertson, 1913-1916; A. G. Fraser, 1916 to date. Secretaries: Mr. A. Lees, 1908-1932; Mr.' M.C. Mclntyre, 1932 to date. Practically the only misfortune that f ever happened to the company was the influenza epidemic in 1918. Of a total staff of 60 only six escaped this dread .malady, and the directors were faced with great difficulty in carrying on. However, a neighbouring concern, the Mangatoki company, in a spirit of true friendliness, came forward and lent men to make the. cheese. This enabled the work to be carried on as usual until the visitation had passed. In 1915 it was decided to go in for herd-testing, and this has been a big factor, not only in improving the yield of the cows, but in increasing the average test as well. RECORDS IN-PRODUCTION. In the 1920-21 season the output of butter was commandeered by the Imperial Government, the price being 2s 6d per lb. for creamery butter, and 2s 4d for whey butter. These handsome “boom” prices induced the directors to turn over several of their branches to butter-making, 224 tons being made during the season. This was the largest quantity of butter ever made by the company in one season, and the price per lb. of butter-fat also reached its highest in the company’s history—--2s 1.37 d per lb. The 1921-22 season was the best so far for the supply of milk, the amount received being over 60,000,0001 b. This was “ an increase of 19 per cent, on the previous year and 43 per cent, more than that of 1914. The past season, however, is the record year for quantity, no less than 90,163,3051 b of milk having been taken over the receiving stands. The cheese production first reached the 2000-ton mark in 1916, attaining to 3000 tons in 1924. The succeeding years show a still greater continuous increase and during last season the output attained the fine total of over 4000 tons. As much as a quarter of a million pounds has been paid to suppliers in a single season, this having been achieved on six seasons. The record year for payment was 1927-28, when £287,280 was distributed, and the total disbursements to shareholders since the company started amount to over £4,500,000. STEADY RISE IN OUTPUT. The steady rise in production is reflected in the following figures of cheese output. The returns of butter made are not given, but each year a quantity ranging from 37 to 224 tons has been made in addition to the cheese. Cheese: 1909, 1700 tons; 1910, 2050 tons; 1911, 1421 tons; 1912, 1878 tons; 1913, 1815 tons; 1914, 1783 tons; 1915, 1865 tons; 1916, 2221 tons; 1917, 2013 tons; 1918, 1997 tons; 1919, 2062 tons; 1920, 2413 tons; 1921, 1924 tons; 1922, 2592 tons; 1923, 2859 tons; 1924, 3114 tons; 1925,

3434 tons; 1926, 3404 tons; 1927, 3430 tons; 1928, 3514 tons; 1929, 3644 tons; 1930, 3708 tons; 1931, 3918 tons; 1932 3733 tons; 1933, 4246 tons. The total amount of cheese manufactured since the company started thus amounts to 68,660 tons. The following is a complete statistical summary of the operations year by year:

*Pay-out per lb. butter-fat supplied, does not include interest on shares. The variation in the cost of manufacture makes interesting reading to the economist. When the company started its output was about 1700 tons, and the cost to f.o.b. amounted to 2.24 d per lb. In 1911 this was reduced to 2.04 d, and in 1914, before war costs had been felt, it was 2.64 d. By 1920-21 the cost had reached its peak, being no less than 4.98 d, or more than double that of 1908-09. In 1921-22 it fell to 4.39 d, and this year it is nearly back to the original figure, being slightly more than 21d per lb. butter-fat. It is of special interest that the .late secretary, Mr., A. Lees, occupied the position for 24 years, exactly from the inception of the company till his'- death. Mr. L. S. Mackie, manager of the Otakeho branch, has been with the company since its formation to the present day—a period of 25 years.

ra £ S in jO *5 o w C o r-M 2 1 £ in <s >5* >• O £ ® 1909 46,694,586 —. 12.09 86.283 1910 47,906,429 3.72 11.62 83,067 1911 44,599,303 3.75 11.50 73,576 1912 45,408,736 3.74 14.43 95,643 1913 44,758,924 3.78 12.34 92,901 1914 43,963,686 3.63 13.62 90,358 1915 46,115,979 3.67 18.75 116,993 1916 52,803,811 3.69 19.87 149,470 1917 46,815,271 3.77 23.50 163,866 1918 46,795,655 3.75 22.25 173,668 1919 46,946,266 3.78 24.25 173,135 1920 54,089,955 3.86 24.50 213,996 1921 53,026,964 3.90 25.37 219,776 1922 63,185,634 3.91 15.87 179,013 1923 69,470,836 3.93 22.00 250,301 1924 71,809,437 3.96 18,25 202,326 1925 76,644,310 3.99 20.50 268,687 1926 73,699,408 4.01 20.32 266,524 1927 75,043,887 4.07 17.25 197,430 1928 74,241,336 4.15 21.62 287,280 1929 76,369,758 4.19 20.12 269,082 1930 81,116,943 4.25 18.25 263,241 1931 85,671,464 4.36 11.54 180,626 1932 80,541,131 4.35 12.25 179,816 1933 90,163,305 4.30 10.00 143,713