THE DAIRY ASSOCIATION.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 2177, 17 June 1914, Page 10

THE DAIRY ASSOCIATION.

/- ANNUAL MEETING. THE FUTURE FOR OUR.PRODUCTS. . SOME POINTS TO WATCH. ..The twentieth annual- meeting of the National Dairy-Association o£ New Zealand v.was. held in the-lecture Hall at the Showgrounds, Palmerston North, to-dav. Mr. A. Morton (Egmont 'Village), chairman of the directorate, presided, and tho following factories. were represented when the roll call was made:— i Co-operative. Companies.—Ararata, Awahuri, Belvedere, Bell Block, Cardiff, Carrington, Daleiield, Eltham, Featherstoii, Glen . Oroua, Hawera, Hikurangi, Jolls, Kakaramea,' Kaponga, Kaupokonui, Kairsnga, I/wgarth, Mangatoki, Mangorei, Alastertoh,, Alauriceville; Slnngatainoki, ALialurst, Jlanutahi, Maketiwa, Matnmau, ivgaire, Normauby, Norsewood, N.Z. jrarmers Dairy Union, Northern TVoiron, Nireaha, Parkvale, I'apatawa, Kn-mlale, Rongotea, Rexdale, Rapanui, Stratford_Farnicr3, Taratahi, Tariki, Thames .Valley, Whangarei, Warea. Ballance, Butmythorpe, Cambridge, Dannevirke, Mangramaramaj Opotiki, Ofaraia, Oruru-Faerhaen, Shannon, and Te Kuiti. Proprietary 'Factories.-r-Hawlve's - Bav (Beattie and- Co.), Wanganui Vresh Food ; Co. Exporters—Griffiths.and Co., Pearson and Butter, Clements,, and, Sons, Lonsdale and Co., Oertzes and Geritzen, Wright, Stephenson and Co., Lane and , Br& ? Bros '> Foley-Bros., and Weddell. and Co. , WondSrful Advancement.

■ the ■ adoption of the report and balanCMheet, the chairman said'that progress in the industry was being well maintained..' For. the first time in tho history of the industry the value of the cheese export exceeded that-of butter. Butter had, returned £2,110,000, and cheese .£2,193,000. The increases which had been made. durinj ,the last tivonty years were truly wonderful. They ' hail not the saiiie competition to meet in cheese marketing as'in. butter-marketing, and tho future of chces»' looked brighter than thaj: of-butter. Tlio recent season' was one of. the best ; wliich New Zealand had ever had. There had been an early spring, and. from then on, excellent climatic conditions had prevailed. In regard to tho quality. of butter, he was sorry to, mention that it was n fact that the average standard had not been up to the standard usually attained. Prob■ably this was due, in a great measuro, to tho increase of home separation. Moreover,, no honest attempt had beep made to differentiate between the qualities of cream received at the factories. The time was ripo for consideration by all factoriesoort r tho proposal that all milkt should be paid for, according to ,quality. IWh.r-should they n'otj'as liiather things,' .establiah .tho principal- that first-ciiiss milk should be,paid for afc a first class Article, ar.d second-class milk as secondclass goods?. His remarks regarding the grading of milk applied more strongly in the case of tho manufacture of cliecse. There wero still very serious defects in our.' cheese which it was tho duty of the w tfairyinen to assist to remedy. More ci.rei required to be taken before the produce was shipped—the temperature needed to be further reduced. Home Markets. Speaking of the Homo market®, Sir. Morton said that butter was meeting with keener competition from 'margarine than ever, and only a first-class butter could hope for success.' .The only fear for the future of our cheese industry was tho extension of the .industry in other lands. Siberia be. a serious competitor, .though'it'did 1 not. really seem that its, cheese output woiild increase for some time. The Late Strike.

..Duriiig tho past year .conditions'in regard to-shipment had beei very unusual on?S. • Kb hop6<l .that the day was far distant w-hen there atould be a recurrence of. the strike.,troubles which had happenod in Nov.einljtu" and .December last. •.Takiiig these difficulties into account, lie believed that thc-Homo contracts had been carried out to .the best of tlie shipping ;A's a result of the etriSri hpwevor,. produce had been dumped on the Home-market, and that mar'k'et.h'ad hot even yet recovered properly ■from', the effect;of' this. It .was absolute--ly. necessary, tjiat factories should put ~jmt'only.the,"b«t possible article, and.he tte. qse. of senile boards for tho of. cheesei He attributed the increased production to the better .methods .employed by farmers, the greater use of niainires, .the. increiase of: herd-testing as. (isolations,, and- the corisequent culling, of .cowsJ Unfortunately, herd-testing asso* .cations bad not ;incr.eased as largely as was desirable, and he hoped that these .societies would rapjdly become more numerous. With, these improvements which .farmers were .making, he, felt sure that the industry, .would .continue to. progress. We had'a. rich, .country, we had'factory managers who could turn out first-class arid 'a State -staff which was only top willing to render assistance to dairy- ■ m»n. .. . . . ,Th« .position was very much tatter than it' was last year, the 'memberRhip had .increased, arid the relations be.tween the association and its members iweve better llinn ever before. (Applause,) . Jfr. W. Eislier (Taratahi) seconded the Amotion .for ,the adoption of the renort and 'balance-sheet, and this after discussion ;was Parried. • Shipping Conditions. : . Jtr. Hnrkness spoke briefly on tlio subject.nf'ehipmng, contracts. Ho said that Jthe .Union Steam Ship Company bad re;fused a flat rate to America, but that lie .believed that the company was going to ; reduce the rat? to the extent of from ,}d/ to }d. on butter. He held that, there isbould be contract' with the Federal, ;Honlder, Shire I.in», so, that this com;pariv's boats could be in a measure con.'trolled. The' Directorate. •Messrs. A. Macfarlane (Pahiatua) and W. Fisher (Taratahi), the retiring <1 irector 1, were re-elected; and Mr. C. D. Morpeth .(Wellington) was re-elected anditot. . It ,was'resolved that'the usual lionoJrarium to - memb»rs of the directorate should be renewed. T ; THE COMMISSIONER. ; ON. NECESSITY FOR CHANGES. An address was dolivered this afternoon by Mr. D. Cuddie, Stato Dairy Commissioner. . .. • , Mr. 'Cuddio said, that . the Dairy Staff jwas' in the best .position of all people ■speak on the quality of tlie butter. During .'.this sta?on the quality had. been maintained, bot they were pitted against ■the proposition ;that the quality was riot - Tlie homo separation system incr£a?ed the difficulties of the position, <aild the qtiestion; of the collection of .cr'eaiji must :b'o attended'to- at once. Some .definite arrangement should l>e come to 'ariioiie 1 the -factories'regarding;the gra» ling of crcam, arid paying for it accord,ing to quality. -. It wiis 'iinfair' that ; a' ;'m,Kn who delivered- poor quality material sliould feet as much as the man who sent in good, material. Progress must be Imad'e, .or,we would lag'tchind in lha comipetition ■ among the various countries. •There 'was an'exhibit of margarine in ilie room,' and'lt wae a v?ry much• better a,r'tide' than, th« ' eubstituta' .vrag gtaera^r

supposed to be. Msrelt goqd elretst> had b'ecn exported, hut tlrsrc had feeen a {treiit deal of unsatisfactory chtesft. The main fault was in regard to flavour. Us v;as not in iavouT of aAfflg the Govcromettt to ' apiioiut more inspeetore. He was Ijiad to learn that jv; Tai'aMlti factory bad been,grading.its milk. The Venture had boon attended' -frith and tbe system should bo made wnivorsnl. The time was ripe for «h-ti»s'e. Very often .•i factory manager coi.Oil (West ivrtthins *rong irith milk when 1w received it., but in the vnt it became evident that poor quality .stud had gat i.u unobserved. I • Cool Stdraffs, On ,the que.9tion of cool stojftge (it cheese, there was n'n dpnbt that Sew Zealand was.lwing heavi'iy through want of better methods between tho factory door nnd the ship-side. UV shoivloi sm tfet it was delivered-to the aonstinier t» the beat condition. He fivto-uted ft reduction in temperature for the steraga of thesse to a degree not abowv 60'. If the famers saw how • tTre cheese Wits handled iii Wellington they wottld gfi ba'C-k to their companies nnd insist on ijuprOs-ement. It would bo wise of -tho Oovtrnment to insist on the cool storage <rf cheesft. by making it compulsaty. The farmers would be in pocket as a r<wuil of such a mandate. ' Mr. Cuddie was heartily' thaiilsed for his address. HOME OFFICER'S,PAPER. ' STRIKE EFFECT; IN I.OXDON. Mr. J. G. Harknesa, Bec.retary of tbo association, read a psper icceived in the last few days-from- Mr. B, EUison, this as.sociation's Home reprcsentat'ivie. Mr. Ellison wrote that the 19!'3-19H season' had been disappointing 9s. regards prices., Many buyers Wef? still' Mceliriftg Now Zealand butter -costjnj; th® h! 1305., while the open market price was 'lOCs. to 108s. 'The.shortage of Jmsw Zealand butter in December, and -the iineertaint* as, to the duration of tlio Kew Zealand strike, were taken advantage to ■ far-ttv . up • the price as high, as This hiade some buyers look for something chwpor, and a good deal of Australian 'produce was taken. The effect was that ; . tho price I went far above its. value, and afterwards it was. the mesons of perpiaijefl.tty redwing the price -to a figure out of all proportion to its value when compared svith Danish, In the.meantime Australian butters obtAin:ed. the advantage, :parti£iiliifl.y Victorian, which; wa« off the market keforo ffiss range of prices was Teaefifed., H%h prices such as obtained in NoTflwber &nd December were almost fatal t,o the trade for' the remainder of the year. Quality Everything. . The foundation of <mr hoid Sl-poii the Home market was cn quality. From a number of factories the butter sent forward was still of high..quality, arid tiiSso were invariably factories dealing '.wt.h- tho whole • milk supnly. Unfortun.iie'y 'the number was email,,and'from y'sw to year declining. This was duo partly te'tho changing from butter fid chsfee. Thci-o I was no subject of such importance as that of ..quality: on it. depended the ture of tha rndnstry. Th# be convinced,that nothing. c<jftid he done. I for them unless they were willing to help themsalves. ,

Interesting Point. The *<1 van ce-w i thou t- ro<»urf.o syflfrrE no more sound t»-day ihari, iii *tW past. All that could 1)6 said for it was that it resolved itself, into « Kite, not nt tli.o market price of. the gbods, "but at shillings less. Factories wjtich accepted a guarantee of s}d- per lb. for elrewe were infinitely worse off .than t.ho=« frivo. eoM at 6|d. .If the advance-trfthoti't-reoouKc system was persisted, in, factories should insist on the advance' being- efliiai, on practically so, to the. prfce at which outputs wero sold for the seasoji. iJegarding the port of London handling of produce, Mr. Ellison felt th.nl the time had arrived when steamer* carrying. New Zealand produce should discharge, at the Surrey Commercial Docks, ,a-nd thus <l.a away with the bargine of the gcods lip the Thames River. The shipment of 4 limited quantity of butter iai'A cheese to ■Hull and Bristol,wis,very desirable, fho only ftin*' to'do'fo'deAl with- the ljlar. garine competition was to Seciiffl Jestisiiition that it should not resefitblS butter. Our cheese hod not improved jri quality as much as had beon o.xpeftcd» Openness was again manifest. OTHER BUSINESS. WELLINGTON COOL STORKS. It was resolved that, the executive of the association should endeavour to maVe #p rangemerits with the Wellington.'Harbour Board to complete their s&rti s(ot«-. and that factories should be EoiiSed as to the cost of storing. Marx (Manpatoki). flioved respecting the questions of hanjlfingf st&r:age, and temperature that, members of.. .J®®, executive of the. assbciaMoa, ift the' various localities in which they live, should call meetings of cliche "factory shareholders, and invite rtjeiftbers of tiro Agricultural Department's staff, resident ;.in their neighbourhood,' te.attend., when, these enbj'ccts were being discussed, . apd ■some "effort made to -effect an •iner.t. . .. , . Mr. Gibson (Normanby) seconded ths motion, which was carried. Milk and Grade Payments. •On. the motion qf Mr. W. D. Fosfdrdi Kaupokonui), seconded bv Mr. Sinclair (Opotiki), it was resolved thai it was <ksirabfe that, every factory in New Zealand .should pay for milk according to grade. _In reply .to,'a question 4r Mr, T-ten-ry Forsyth,, of Ngaire, Mr. CttddJe, the Eaitt •Commissioner, said that it would hardly be feasible to grade milk. iM-v* Oica every week-should be sufficient."