INFANCY OF DAIRYING.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1472, 21 June 1912, Page 8

INFANCY OF DAIRYING.

NOTES OF A PIONEER TRADER

'RECOLLECTIONS OF THE 'EIGHTIES'.

In 158S I received a letter from an old friend, who had made his homo in New ..Zealand (writes) "Anglo-Colonial?:'), telling mo that iu his opinion New Zealand would be a dairying country of importance in years lo come, and advising mo to visit the colony and have a look for mvsolf. Ihis-1 did in ISS9. I travelled over the country from Auckland to Invercargill, discussed the position with many agriculturists, and came to (he conclusion that my friend's opinion would be verified by ! experience. J returned to England, anil interviewed one of the most important and probably the wealthiest houses in the provision trade, with the result that I obtained a largo credit, and was placed in a position to carry out anv enlerurise in connection with the dairv'ing interest that I chose, to adopt. When I leturned to New Zealand, I found there were only about six butler factories and three chc«w> factories in existence, all of them were more or less in a decaying state, thev wore constructed without anv regard to modern science, and the output was cev-' tain to command very little monev on the London market.

I commenced by offering the owners of the- factories referred to a certain price, or a guaranteed advance, if ihey would carry out my suggestions as to making the butter and packing it. Jn the days I have in mind 701b. kegs were used, tho salt rusted tho iron hooks, and the package in ashort time became dirty and untidy iu appearance. ]u 1891 1 gave an order to a Christchurcli firm to make 2000 boxes (to hold sGlb. of butter) of New Zealand white pine, at .Is. each. After giving that order 1 stipulated in many easc.s that I would not take butter unless it was packed in boxes. I obtained a reduction, of one-eighth of a penny "per lb. in freight from the steamship .companies, because (ho boxes took up less space in the cool chamber than did tho keg?, and these boxes aro now used generally in,the Australasian colonies, and the 70lb. keg is. a thing of the past.

Some Early Difficulties. ..Tlia parchment paper which was being used by creameries, uutl ihe dairy farmers was artificial, and I imported from Germany a large .quantify of real vegetable parchment, and passed it over to users at cast price. Another difficuliy of magnitude which had to be faced' was this: Butter and cheese were being shipped to the Old Couiilry as ordinary cargo. The steamer in whieli f returned to llngland ■_o]l;,my-firs(' voyage had a quantity of clfeiSe and butter in one of the"liolds as oulinary cargo, and part of it had to be removed with spades and buckets. Another initial difficulty was this: Kngineors had no clear idea as to the temperature at which butter and cheese, should lie kept on Iho voyage. My principals had on one occasion- -flu tons of chceso frozen on the .voyage', and on another occasion they .had .fijlyr toim. of cheese which had to be laken-out of the cool chamber with spades. I was forced to (he conclusion that a Court of Jjaw in. England would require to decide the extent of the liabilities of shipping companies, who charged cool chamber freights and neglected their responsibilities; and this matter was fiuollv settled' iii 1891." Another difficulty I had to contend, with was this: A number of storekeepers all over the colony were buying from farmers butter off the churn, hUnding this together, and branding it "Finest Xcw Zealand factory butter." I exposed this fraud in the newspapers, and in many cases gave the names of the offending storekeepers, f was threatened with actions for libel, but nothing canio of the threats, as I was in the- right. About the same time 1 exposed another fraud, and this was taking a portion of the butter-fat from the milk and making cheese frith whatwas left, and branding it "2\ew Zealand full cream cheese." I on one occasion bought' the output of a chneso factory here, and when the first consignment-! arrived in London I received a cablegram informing ine that a large portion of the butter-fat had been extracted before the cheese was made. The factorv owners admitted this, and the Dairying Act'of IS9I, I think, contains clauses suggested by me which nut an end to this and other frauds. The late Sir .f no. Mackenzie, who was ■ Minister for Agriculture in my early days, took a ■warm interest in the industry in its early stages of development, and often discussed the position with me. I received a draft copy of. the 1?01 Bill, and was asked to make suggestions: this I did. AVhen the industry'was getting into something like, business shape, another difficulty presented itself—privato factoryowners in' some districts were secretly buying butter from farmers, who had not joined any factory, and were blending this with what should have been pure creamery butter, making underhand a large and illegitimate profit. I discouraged this in every possible way, and often made surprise visits to factories whose output 1 had contracted for, with a view to catching the fraud in operation. I succeeded on a. number of occasions, and f believe in time the illicit conduct dwindled into a comparatively small compass.

Good and Inferior Butter. . A fact which struck me forcibly in those days was this, viz.—That a number of farmers' wives could make, by the old system, a butter of much superior quality to that of any creamery or factory—and if this had been general, instead of exceptional, there would have been very little call for factories. One case I remember well. A.n old 'Irish lady brought me a keg one day, and asked my opinion as to its quality. This T gave her, and remarked that I wished I could buy 10,000" packages of similar quality at the top price. She asked me to obiige her by sending her keg to London, to be sold on its merits, and she would not take any money until 1 ascertained the price it realised. I put the old lady's initials on the package, had it made up neatly in new canvas, and forwarded it to London on a separate bill of lading! In'my advice. I made no separate reference to the small shipment, except that it was .to be sold ou its merits alone. When the account sale came out I found I had to pay tho old ladv 13d. per lb. net. and I was requested to ship all I could obtain of a similar quality, as my eonuccliwis had a permanent opening in view. . In these days I Ixiught thousands of packages in tile South Island at prices ranging from 2d. to Cd. per lb., and required to aim at "something like classification myself. I remember on one occasion I was offered sixty 701b. kegs at Id. per II)., if I-would consent to pay 3s. Gd. each for the keg?. This I could not do. and I think the butter would have required to have been sent to a soap works. In case I had purchased tho butter it would have required to have been treated.with sulphuric acid, before it/could have lieeir used for the common l est kinds of cunfeclionery. I recollect in (ho-e days a.number of large farmers in the North 1.-duml adopted' the -eparalor. with the result that, some of the dairymen made butter far superior lo the 'best factories of those days. One. I remember well; the fanner bad a miniature, plant, and made 12 to 14 boxes per fortnight. They were simply branded "T..M., Separator," and some AVest of England buyers insisted on. having them during Ihe seasons. .1 wa'< •fortunate enough to get control of I lie output. The brawl referred In always made. 2s. lo 3s. per cwl. above the Danish top-price. The reason the produce wa= so good and regular was this: Tho owner's cows were all fed iu the same way, and kept in good order and condition, and besides this the owner took a. pride in bis butter, and looked after each detail with care. A similar system lo this is si ill largely followed in Denmark, where owner's of 101) cows or more make their own butter, which is branded "Estates Butter," with the initials of owners. Generally I here is six to eight 841b. casks per week from each estate, which sells easily and well, even in a had market, and generally.realises 2s. to 3s. above top price.