VOICE OF THE PEOPLE

Taranaki Daily News, 24 November 1934, Page 9

VOICE OF THE PEOPLE

VIEWS ON CURRENT TOPICS METHODS OF GRADING MILK. DAIRY COMMISSION’S OPINION. (To the Editor.) Sir,—You have recently published letters from two correspondents who have taken upon themselves to criticise, the soundness of milk grading by the microscopic (direct count) method, and have also asserted their opinion that laboratary services are of no use to the dairy industry and should be abolished. These correspondents are laymen, and their statements are merely opinions, .put forward without either special qualifications or opportunity for getting at the facts. Let your readers see for themselves what the Dairy Commission has had to. say on the subject. The commission, is a judicial body of qualified meh... It had unique opportunities for hearing evidence from all sides, and in its findings there can be nothing attributable ‘to ignorance, bias or personal prejudice:— Paragraph 212 (page 88) “Milk Grading: The weight of evidence submitted to us indicated that methods based on counts set higher standards than the curd test, and that, although there are some milks of low bacterial count that may produce a bad curd and therefore may be objectionable from a cheesemaking viewpoint, there are milks which may make a good curd but a poor “The commission therefore recommends that the regulations be 'altered to permit factories to. use alone either the direct microscopic test or the methyleneblue test, on condition that the standards set shall be sufficiently high and shall not be relaxed, and that milk shall also be graded by the use of the faculties of taste and smell. It would be a mistake, we consider, to permit the use of the curd test alone, because milk of high bacterial numbers, dangerous in cheese-making, can produce a good curd. It is therefore suggested that wherever the curd test is used it should be associated with the use of either the methy-lene-blue or the microscopic test. It is felt that the above recommendations will not conflict with the desire for uniformity in grading, since the variation in results obtained from using different methods is no greater than the variation disclosed by using any one method.” On the question of dairy research and laboratory organisation, the commission reported as follows:, Paragraph 289 (page 117) “The Work of the Institute: The institute (Dairy Research Institute at Massey College) should establish laboratories in the Auckland, Taranaki, Wellington and Southland districts respectively. Any additional service required would be provided by arrangements between the. institute and branches of the Dominion laboratory of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research. The dairy laboratory at Wallaceville should be moved to a convenient centre to provide for the Wellington province, and the institute should enter into negotiations with the Federation of Taranaki Co-operative Dairy Factories to take over their laboratory at Hawera. It would therefore be necessary to establish new laboratories in the Auckland and Southland provinces only.”—l am, etc., P. O. VEALE, Research Chemist * Hawera, Nov. 22. A REPLY TO “ACERBUS.” • (To the Editor.) Sir,—l noticed in your paper of November 21 a letter by “Acerbus” on the investor’s point of view, and recounting the so-called deplorable treatment of investors. Of course there are always two sides to a question, but from a farmer’s point of view the treatment spoken of might be worse. Boiled down it just means that there has been a tremendous drop in prices of dairy produce and beef. (I am not taking into account the price of beef in local markets during the last two or three months, as that is only temporary and will disappear shortly). But take the pay-out of the Hawera Dairy Company. Last month for butterfat it was 51d.- This month it is 61d. The cheese pay-out was Bd. It is impossible for a dairy farmer to make much if the money is not forthcoming from returns. Interest cannot be paid long, and the investor in the end has to share the drop. It may be put off for a time, but it must come sooner or later. A friend of mine had a fair amount of money lying idle. He said he would not lend to farmers on mortgage or otherwise, so he took up bonds in a company at what was supposed to be great value. To-day’s quotation would show a loss of 75 per cent. So much for that case. In another case money was lent on city property, buildings etc.. In this case the lender has been paid no interest, but had the pleasure of paying the rates. Can you wonder that people prefer Government bonds at, say, 3J per cent guaranteed? New Zealand is not the only country where there are had investments. In England the railway shares have been pretty bad, returning 2J per cent, and even less. I heard of one case only last month. A friend in England invested a few .thousands in United States Rails, with the result that there was no infit fill“Acerbus” speaks of the Mortgage Relief Act. Well, it has meant the saving from ruin of a good many farmers in New Zealand. One case that I know of is a sample of many. A young man had invested in sheep country just before the slump. He had paid down some thousands and had improved the place, and had the Act not been passed he would have been pushed out. He was only one of many. Speaking only for myself, I have heard of no case where the commission has caused much hardship. Of course the country has had a lot of luck in the members appointed. Take thfe Rural Credits Board. It is very conservative, but has done a lot of good, and no harm in any case. It has been very much better for .the country to have kept men on the land than for them to have left their farms and joined the army of unemployed. To my mind an investor is the same as any other business man. He takes a risk. I am afraid “Acerbus” will say this is one-sided. Well, lie looks at it from one view and I from the other.— I am, etc., OLD FARMER. Manaia, Nov. 21.