IS DANGER AHEAD ?

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2651, 23 December 1915, Page 8

IS DANGER AHEAD ?

TIH CHEESE TRADE. - DAIRY COMMISSIONER'S WARNING RENNET SUPPLY Rennet is the only suitable medium for coagulating milk for the manufacture of cheese, therefore in the absence of the requisite quantity of this constituent cheese-making would have to stop. What fliis ivonld niean to New Zealand can bo more readily imagined than discussed, but we may hope that there-is ho.immediate-dan-ger of a thing happening'to our cheese industry, which is now valued at considerably over two and a half millions sterling per annum.

'Tho above is a paragraph extracted from an article written by the. New /Zealand Dairy Commissioner-'(Mr. ! D. for' the State "Journal of Agriculture."'; .''lt is well (says Mr. Cuddie) at a time like this, when airbranches of commerce are liable to interruption, that we should be prepared'against the possibility of supplies of rennet being short,-or per- . haps entirely .cut oif. It must be remembered that Ncw.;Zealand has to depend almost wholly upon European Continental , sources for its supply of rennet,' Sweden, Denmark, and Holland being the princi- . pal rennet-exporting countries. If, therefore, this irade. to tho Dominion, should be hampered owing to the war if would be a bad day ~for_our_ cheese industry, ■unless some provision be made to.otherwise furnish the rennet required. "When . the war broke out the probability ,qf ren-net-supplies for New Zealand being in- . terrupted was taken into consideration. It was then learned that for this season at - least the full supply might be. expected, - a good deal of it already being on tho ' water, ajid an assuranco obtained that: the remainder would como forward; there-' : fore up to the present time there has lleen no cause for alarm. It was thought expedient, however, that some inquiries should be made in England- regarding : the preparation of rennet for. ing. and also as to whether we'"could de- ; * pend upon Great Britain furnishing even a portion of our needs., The Inspector of > New Zealand Dairy Produce in London (Mr. W. AVright) was accordingly asked to make full inquiries on the subject. The Supply Uncertain. "The following are extracts from reports furnished by Mr. Wright:— " 'The inference, so far as I can gather, is that the supply of rennet in the near future is likely to be uncertain, and ,'it is not at all unlikely that there will be a considerable shortage, so that the outlook generally is not Very hopeful. With a view to facing tlio New ZtHa.a/i re-' : quirements, I would suggest that there are two courses open that might be worth considering. One is to form a co-opera-tive rennet-manufacturing company supported by the various dairy companies engaged in cheese-making; the other i§ for the dairy companies to manufacture ren-, net for their respective requirements, drawing upon the various milk-suppliers of their factories for the nscessary stomachs if the supply from abattoirs and freezingworks was not sufficient. If either course, should be decided upon, arrangements might be made to engage an!, experienced man either tomanage the rennet factory, or in the alternative, to act as instructor to dairy factory managers should the second method of procedure be decided upon. I am led to make theso suggestions as, judging from .the present viewpoint, it is not improbable that' New Zealand will' require to be practically independent of outside sources of rennet , for somg time to come at least. This, of course, is contingent on existing war conditions . and tho duration of tho war. I am watching tha position closely, and expect to send forward a further report in the near future.'" Might.be Thrown on Our Resources. In view of Mr. Wright's report. Mr. Cuddie says that it seems imperative that tho question of future supplies of rennet

should be carefully considered bj; thoso in the Dominion who'are engaged in the manufacture of cheese, for even after tile war is over there is some likelihood of tho raw material from which rennet is . made being in short supply. . "Seeing that the" manufacture of this csy.s\tucnt iu -Sweden and also in Denmark, lias to depend largely upon obtaining __ the calfston'.achs from some parts of ftussia, Poland, Austria, and' Hungajy, a, sufficient quantity of rennet may not come forward to meet tho demand. It is therefore easy to realise that New Zealand might be thrown upon her own resources to some extent. It is well known that much of the raw material of rennet in the form of calf-stomachs is wasted in this country. Many thousands of calves aro .killed almost immediately after calving in Tarnnaki alone, to say nothing of the many calves destroyed in other dairying districts, and it has been suggested that New Zealand might even produce sufficient rennet to meet her requirements independently of importations. Every.Dairy Company's Position. ; ' "Whether this be so or not it is impos- : siblo to say at present. The fact remains, however, that much cjn bo done, if tho matter is gone about in tho right way, , toward furnishing at least a portion of vrhat is needed. Tho question is of sufficient importance to warrant every dairy company in the dominion carefully considering the subject, with a view to organising the collection of ths raw material throughout the various dairying districts, say, from the beginning of ne.it season. • As upwards of 30,000 gallons of rennet is required for the present ontmit of cheese, tho order will be a large one; but unless something is. done to provide against disappointment and accompanying heavy loss thoso concerned will only have themselves to .blame, should an actual deficiency occur., It is admitted that tliero are some difficulties in the way, and tlie* it might mean the bringing to New Zea-. land of a specially qualified man to supervise and control the operations.' Even at a considerable cost, however, it would pay dairy companies to make the expenditure, for any money spent in this way would be in the nature of an insurance against the shortness of supply. If the matter were thoroughly gone into a solution of the 'difficulty might easily be found, and I have no doubt that the Department of Agriculture would lend assistance, in Helping to organise the introduction into New Zealand of what might be' called a new industry."

,• The dry weather is affecting the supply of milk to the Masterton dairy factory: The company is paying out Is. 2d. per lb. for'butter-fat for the month of December.

: There has been a groat demand for ths celebrated Victor cheese, vat'during the past few months; anyone' requiring new vats are urged to write immediately to short. Albert J. Parton,'Carterton.—Advt. .the maker, as material is extremely short. Albert J. Parton, Carterton.—Advt.

Never has the demand for clear-headed constructive ..thinking .in business been so, urgent: as 'it is right now. We are living in a progressive, age, and. must take advantage of' all up-to-date methods. It is in savings from waste of any description that' money is made to-day, and by concentrating one's efforts on all details of our business we claim to be able to produce results for our many cream suppliers. We want more cream. Can you supply us? Further particulars, Wanga,nui Fresh. Food Co.—Advt.