DAIRY INDUSTRY

Hokitika Guardian, 3 February 1930, Page 2

DAIRY INDUSTRY

AIR J. E. AIACEWAN ON ITS NEEDS. BETTER ANI) SUSTAINED QUALITY. .WELLINGTON, January 28. In tlie course of an interview Air J. B. AlacEwan, tlie head of the iirm bearing his name, said be was very glad indeed to have the assurance of the Hon. (1. W. Forbes, the Alinister of Lands and Agriculture, that the officers of the Dairy Division were fully alive to the importance of maintaining .the very highest quality in the butter and cheese exported from the Dominion. The visit of Air Singleton, the head of the Dairy Division, to London could not fail to give him a closer acquaintance with the conditions prevailing there than. i 1 would he possible for him to obtain at this end. it a ho. was gratifying to learn that since his trip abroad Air Singleton bad conferred with representatives of dairy factories in various centres in the North Island, and was contemplating a. similar tour in the South Island. Air AlacEwan has no doubt that the efforts of the Director of the Dairy

Division will be attended by good results, but in bis. opinion the campaign for better and sustained quality, especially in the case of cheese, should be pushed ahead with more vigour than has' yet been displayed. “This,” Air AlacEwan insists, “is a national concern, not merely a sectional concern. If the producers do not give of their best, then the whole community suffers. The aim of the autlioriiies must be to equip the produced s in every way possible by precept 1 and example, so That they may hold their own in the world’s markets, and.'if-possible, do a. little better than their rivals. Quality costs no more

than mediocrity, and it means everything in returns.” Air AlacEwan docs not suggest that the Dairy Division is ignoring these obvious precepts, but be fears that they arc not being sufficiently widely applied. The public generally, be thinks, does not sufficiently understand the magnitude and the importance of the dairying industry. The wonder of its expansion seems better known at the other Cud of the world than it is at this end. In the calendar year 1920' tlie : export of butter from the ‘Dominion amounted approximately to 15,600 tons, and of cheese to 61,00!) 'tons. It is estimated 'on a conservative basis that during the present season the value of the exports will run into £12,000.600 in tlie case of butter, and £6,750,009 m the case of. cheese.

‘‘Whether or not there is to be iurthcr expansion in the- industry in the future,’’ Mr AlacEwan holds, “depends upon the producers themselves and upon the authorities by whom their industry very properly is controlled. Isolated' efforts, lectures here, demonstrations ‘ there, advice everywhere, admirable as they may be in their way, will not accomplish all that is required. Mr Forbes declares that the main problem is cheese manufacture. Admitting that., there . are other problems to solve, and it is to be hoped that in the interests of all concerned he will see that representatives of the Dairy Division of the Dairy Board, of tlie factories, of the exporters, of the trained experts and of tlie long-suffering public are brought together with the least possible delay, so that this great national asset may be firmly established in tlie very forefront of a great industry for which this country is very specially adapted.”