THE DAIRY INDUSTRY

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3106, 9 June 1917, Page 9

THE DAIRY INDUSTRY

CONFERENCE IN AUCKLAND

PRESENT AND FUTURE PROS-

PECTS

Tho I'uurlh annual conference of delegates of North Auckland dairy factories was held in Auckland on Monday, About sixty delegates attended, and Mr. .1. G. Harkness, manager of the National Dairy Association, was voted to . the, chair.

Tho proposal of tho Board of Trade, to purchase butter at lixed prices was stigmatised by tho chairman as one of tho most ridiculous over made to thoughtful people. If it was the policy of the Government that the people should get cheap butter, and should not pay the retail price current in the English market, the only businesslike course would have been to buy in tho early part of the season sufficient to feed the people at tho price they wero entitled to pay. The Government had no right: to "levy on those who exported to pay for those who did not export. Further, they had no right to compel the producers of cheese to make good the loss made in regard to butter under the Board of Trade scheme. What right had the Government to make cheese-makers pay tor the losses incurred through selling butter at a fixed local price r 1 If Parliament did not in the coming session do justice to the farmers it must be their aim to get another and a better Parliament. (Applause.) With reference to tho purchase of cheese by the Government ho considered it had been a good thing for tho choesn producers, in that it gave them tho good prico of <Kd. per lb., and threw upon the Government the responsibility for getting tho cheese exported. Where tho Government made a mistake was in not purchasing the whole of the block in New Zealand in January, IDIG. Coming to the prospects of tho industry, Mr. Harkness predicted that for years thoro would bo a good market for both butter and cheese. The herds of tho Continent had been depleted through the war. » Moreover, people wlio had. not been accustomed to consume beef -nnd mutton had got into tho habit of using it while they wero campaigning, nnd would demand its continuanco when they returned home. Tho watchword of the industry for the future must be "attention lo (juality and the extension of storage Capacity for both butter and cheeso all through New Zealand." A lengthy discussion took placo on the grading of cream, and a resolution was carried to tho effect thai; tho mininium deduction for second-grade cream should be ono penny, instead of a halfpenny per lb., and that the subject be considered at tho next annual meeting. .Mr. Harkness, -reporting on tho <jucstion of tho advertising of New Zealand produce m Great Britain, stated that tho matter would be' considered at tho annual meeting of the National Dairy Association at Palmerston North. The secretary reported that ho had written to tho Minister of Railways, drawing attention to tho fact that sometimes livo stock and maiuu-o wero earned in the samo wagons as cream-cans, and this proved detrimental to the quality of the cream. Tho Minister had replied to tho effect that tho Departments instructions wero that tho utmost care should bo exercised to keep dairy products away from any other good's which might contaminate (hem and whero tho regular milk and cream traffic' was ot sufficient volume a special wagon was provided for its conveyance. 'That, seeing there is a number of able-bodied men not fit for activo service, we petition Parliament to co-oper-ate with, the Farmers', Union to make use ot all available men not fit for active servico to take the place of strikers, and all boards of directors bo a committee .to organise those men to fill the vacancies caused by strikers," was a remit submitted by Mr. Hay ward, representing tho Maungatapero Dnirv Com-pany,-and carried unanimously. " Iho following remit from tlie Eaiiiara Dairy Company was adopted-.-"That in view- of the possibility of there beiii" large stores of hntfor in the freezing chambers at the end of the season, vii<.° -May 31, tho dairy factories agree to a. jmiiorm, valuation of the butter then on hand lor the purpose of their various balance-sheets.

A proposal from the Waipua Dairy Company that the National Dairv Association be asked to liolcl its annual meeting at Auckland, Hamilton, and Palmerst<m North m turn, instead of Palmeri mptid y ' aS ilt present ' ffns