CORRESPONDENCE.

Feilding Star, Volume IV, Issue 45, 18 September 1883, Page 2

CORRESPONDENCE.

Butter and Cheese Company.

TO THB "-DITOE OF TIIE STAB. Sib,— Having attended the meeting last Thursday evening, and seeing the amount of inceresfc that was evinced thereat, I think it would be a great pity if the project were to fall through. It is certainly very disheartening, after th© amount of trouble that has been taken by the Provisional Directors, to find it is such a difficult matter to raise the requisite number of shares, but surely the subject is worthy of another effort. I l'oel e-maii. that if the people generally could be brought to recognise thejvast benefits that would be conferred on the district generally, there would be no difficulty in obtaining the required number of shares. It has often been remarked that the progress of settlement in tho. i Manchester Block has been very success- ' ful in the past ; in fact it is continually being pointed out as a proof that special settlements are the beat way to settle the people on the land; but I feel certain that it this company were floated and factories in operation in suitable parts of the district, tho past progress would be as nothing compared with the future. And why? Because in tbe past the .small settler has had to iely on employment away from house, and while h© has been, so employed his fann has, to a certain extent, been neglected, but if the sm.:ll farmers were able to make a living on their farms, tho improvement that would take place would be something surprising. And the question may be .asked, would the t'heese and Butter Factory en a bio them to do this ? and the answer is, certainly. Let us take the estimate contained in Mr Bowron's lecture, and it is a very fair one, in fact it is rather low, but, as it is, let us examine it. A cow giving an average oft«o gallons a day will return, in forty weeks, £9 6s Bd. Now there are very few, if any, small farms that would not milk at least twelve cows, and these would return, at £9 6s Sd each, £112 a year, and then there is to be considered the fact that milking would have to' be finished by 7 o'clock ia the morning, the remainder of .the day could be utilised in improving tbe farm, or in the cultivation of fruit and hops, and it is scarcely too much to say that considering the prices these products art* fetching, they would be able to make as much more by so doing. The small settlers should not forget that the timber industry will not last in this immediate neighborhood many years longer, and the time is fast approaching when they wdl have to depend on their farms for the support of themselves and their families, so that it behoves them especially to support any scheme that will make them independent of working away from home. The tradespeople of Feilding bave como forward very fairly in support of the project, and when we consider the advantages they will derive from it, the only wonder is that there is any difficulty in floating -the company at all. Mr Sherwdl stated at the meeting that 300 cows wouid return about £2700, but that is the farmers' returns. Taking Mr Bowron's estimate, the company's returns would be £4500, and this, mind you, from one factory only, and this amount could, be multiplied by the number of factories in active operation. And one might ask, what would this mean to the tradespeople of Feilding? Jt would mean that the system of " long time" would disappear, and that ideal, after which all are striving, viz., cash payments, would be attained, and the profits they would derive from such an amount of extra capital flowing into the place would, I am inclined to think, cause them to wear a different aspect to what tbey do at present. There is one other olass of persons who seem to think that this question does not affect them at all. I allude to the la boring* men resident in ttie town. They seem to forget that the strongest competitor they have in tendering for any work is the struggling small farmer, because lie is able to make part of a living off of his land, and he is therefore able to, and does, tender lower than men who are dependent wholly on their labor ; therefore it is greatly to their interest that this proposed company should be a success. I would therefore advise them to take shares, if only one or two, for by so doing they woud not only be removing a competitor out of their path, but they would be opening up fresh sources of employment. I would therefore in conclusion,* urge upon all classes to strain their utmost to make this thing a success, and by so doing assure to themselves and their families prosperity and happiness. Trusting the importance of the subject will be sufficient excuse for tho length of my letter, I am; <fec, A Settuh.