GRADUATED BUTTER-FAT PAYMENTS.

Waipa Post, Volume III, Issue 112, 21 May 1912, Page 3

GRADUATED BUTTER-FAT PAYMENTS.

DISSATISFIED SUPPLIERS. On Thursday, the manager of the N.Z. Dairy Association, Mr Pacey, together with ''the exmanager, Mr Spragg, met about 20 suppliers of the Te Rore and Tuhikaramea Creameries in the Tuhikaramea School, when the association’s position was explained, and the system at present in vogue dealt with. In the early stages of the meeting Mr Pacey asked that the press representatives present be asked to retire, but the suppliers intimated that it was at their invitation that the press was represented. The suppliers have for some time protested against the graduated system of payment, and representations have been made to the Board of Control asking for equal payments to suppliers to all creameries - large or small. Several associations have been formed to further the protest.

In stating some facts about the association, Mr Pacey said the N.Z. Dairy Association was now the third largest concern in the dairying world, and if the same rate of progress was maintained which the association had enjoyed during the last two or three years, it would occupy second place at a very early date. During the year just ended no less than 4100 tons of butter had been exported, which contrasted wita the amount of three years ago, 1713 tons, represented an increase of 2400 tons, 700 of which had been gained during the year just closing. The association was just settling down, and tiie prospects ahead were very gratifying. Three years ago a rival system of dairying was started in Waikato, the promoters of which intimated that in two years from that time all the creameries would be on the scrap heap, and that the creamery system would be defunct; so that the death of the association was due to be recorded a couple of months ago. Instead, however, it was very lively and had added this year 700 tons of butt.r to the amount previously a-cumulated. The speaker entered into a long condemnation of the home separation system, and predicted its early demise. While the Association had, he said, for the sake of keeping a certain amount of local trade, sold at prices less profitable than export, yet the home separator company had actually sold at Id less than the Association. That was very keen competition indeed, and the cause was hard to discover for a long time, but his own observations and what he had h°ard led him to suppose that the rival company knew that its butter was worth a penny less than that of the Association. They would agree with him that it was a lamentable fact that such good butter-fat should be put to such poor account. The speaker met with frequent interruptions during his explanation of the payment system, and at the conclusion of the meeting several of the suppliers left in a state of dissatisfaction.

Mr Alcock, chairman of the Te Rore Suppliers’ Association, complained of want of courtesy on the part of the manager in not furnishing certain statistics to his Association when application was mape for them. Mr Pacey replied that the directorate considered that a personal application would be more satisfactory, and it was for the purpose of making this that he was present that day. Touching upon the policy of the Association regarding payment. Mr Pacy said that in the past they had worked on the basis of paying for butter-fat accordingly as the supply enabled them to separate economically. Separating at the big creameries could be more economically done than at the smaller ones. They found that to run the average or medium sized creamery cost only £2 is 3d more per week than the average small one of about the size of Te Rore, while the difference in the output was 2265 lbs, as compared with 800 lbs at Te Rore, which latter supply was so small that it scarcely warranted the expense of a creamery and was only an amount equal to

that which certain individual suppliers at some of the larger creameries sent in. While in some of the districts they had these small creameries, the Association was content to allow them to continue so long as they were paying their own way, for the experience of the Association had been that these soon grew to be big ones so long as they were not situated too closely together. The smaller creameries, however, although showing less for actual upkeep than the larger ones, were not nearly so profitable to the shareholders of the Association.

Mr Jones explained that the present system of graduated payment had the effect of the produce of 300 cows being removed from Te Rore to other creameries. This was not the fault of the settlers, but of the system of the payment.

Mr Spragg said that each supplier pleased himself as to which creamery he supplied, and the Association could not pretend to dictate upon this matter. A supplier here suggested that the district from which the cream came should be credited with its supply.Mr Spragg replied that it was a matter of the working expenses of each individual creamery. He recommended the suppliers to try to create and foster a local sentiment on the matter, for while by supplying to a factory outside their own district settlers were gaining perhaps an immediate slight advantage, yet they were reducing their own land values. Mr Trubshaw said the output of the combined small creameries helped to reduce expenses. Mr Pacey acknowledged this fact and added that the output of the creameries also assisted in reducing the general expenses. There was talk of secession amongst the larger creameries of the N. Z.Dairy Association should the request of the smaller ones be complied with, and the Association had the intention of changing the present system. The speaker pointed out that the cost Of cartage and railage to the factories was borne by the company, so that the suppliers to creameries in remote parts had no more to pay than those living handy to a factory. If the settlers at any creamery decided that the expenses were too large, consequently making the payment to them too small, the Association would be willing, should the suppliers desire it, to close the creamery, thereby saving the expenses of upkeep. If the suppliers, instead of supplying milk to the creamery brought firstclass cream, they would be paid for it at the same rate as at the largest creamery, for the Association would thereby save the working expenses of the creamery. This, however, only applied to suppliers outside a three mile radius of a creamery. At the conclusion of the meeting, a.motion of protest against the action of the general manager in not supplying information asked for by the Te Roi-e Suppliers’ Association was lost. The manager and ex-manager were thanked for their attendance.