CASEIN MANUFACTURE.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1468, 17 June 1912, Page 8

CASEIN MANUFACTURE.

EXPLANATION OF THE PROCESS,

'A meeting of directors' of dairy faotories, including Waitara Road, Tikorangi, North ■Taranaki, Moa, Midhirst, Maketawa, Bell Block, and Lepperton; was held at Waitara last yeek to consider the matter of dealing with casein. Messrs. Good, Vickorinan, and, Holh, representatives of the Casein Company, addressed the meeting. In their remarks they said".that. evidently the great question was tho feeding value of caseiii whey. There was no doubt that this had. been proved, both calves and pigs having realised higher prices than those fed on skim-niilk. As a matter of fact, so far as pigs are concerned, one man had Iwo months ago received within .£lO previous return, and had already received £~0 for casein. The commercial value of casein had now been established, and tho market-price would-be, on an average, ;£32 to .£33 c.i.f. Hamburg. Tho demand was increasing owing to the many uses now found for it. To-day some- 400 factories in Denmark wore manufacturing casein,. Siberia, Argentine, Australia, and New Zealand following suit. Denmark was now supplying some ■1000 tons. ..Taking the average of tho last ten years, cheese factories paid cut between fd. to Id. more than butter factories, and now that casein could be paid for at the rate of l}d. for butter-fat, it made butter factories more payable. Further, the cost of the installation 6f casein was much cheaper 'than cheese. They were there really at tho request of factories in tho district to give any information in regard to the establishment of the factory, the putting of the suppliers in tho way of starting and finding a market. They wero prepared to sub-license a factory to' use their process, asking in return that the manufactured article should be consigned through them on the ordinary commission, advancing against the- bills of lading and guaranteeing a market. It necessary, they would be prepared to take charge for some little- time until thoso in charge : were capable of doing so. It was pointed out that the increase in tho output of pigs in Denmark for the first year of casein manufacture had been over 300,000. Part of the process of precipitation was adding to the feed value of the whey. In New Zealand the cost of manufacturing casein should run into about £7 per ton. The cost of installation at creameries was from .£IOO to M2O, and tho main factory .£2BOO, exclusive of the cost of land.. A factory turning out 500 tons of casein would certainly bo a payable proposition. The f.o.b. price that could be offered would be approximately ,£2B per ton, but no definite offer could be made until such time as the quantities could be ftated. Their company would bo quite prepared to start the concern and pay out at the rate of lid. on butter-fat. At the beginning, creamery managers would not get the best results, but with experience this wouliC improve* If 1200 to 1600 tons could be produced in an area of, say, 40 miles, it would be better than making a larger factory and extending the radius. .The company was satisfied that it was no use, suggesting that proprietary concerns should endeavour to run with co-operative concerns. It was prepared ; to consider any proposition that, the combined factories cared to put. forward. The following resolutions, were carried by the meeting:—(l) "That after having heard the views and explanations of the representatives of the Casein Company, this meeting feels favourably impressed with tho project of casein manufacture, and deems the matter of sufficient importance to place the position before the .suppliers generally; (2) that the minutes of this meeting be printed, and sufficient copies be sent to each' factory represented at the meeting to placo in tho hands of each supplier, and a. copy of the Casein Company's letter be sent to each directorate; (3) that each factory notify the secretary of the result of the meetings of suppliers, and that in conjunction with Messrs. Smith, Elliot, and Knuckoy, he convene a meeting of representatives appointed by each company for further consideration of the matter."