UNKNOWN

King Country Chronicle, Volume V, Issue 317, 3 December 1910, Page 9 (Supplement)

UNKNOWN

[Reprinted from The Waikato Argus, Tuesday, November S, 1910.]

Colonel Allen Bell visited trict on Friday last and final address in his "co home separation campaign," large and interested audience. chair was occupied by Mr who, in introducing the lect^^M^V referred to the splendid Berviot^^^^F had rendered to the farmers of kato in furthering the cause operation and his advocacy of and up-to-date ideas. The Fa r ga»^ggjg§^j_: v Co-operative Auctioneering was a monument to Colonel EsggaggK^ ability as an organiser, and on 9HBH e of the residents of Wa eren fUßß&Bff wished him every success. jflSMjjjlsßi. Colonel Bell said that on to deal with the particularggjjg e _ of co-operation which he was sent advocating, he wished his audience back to 25 or g ago when a number of concerns weie started in land. The fact of these gt started at thit time was the Jn obstacle that he had to introducing co-operation a cause they had almost all turn^^^^^Ht e d failure. At that period we Qn numerous co-operative dairy^^^^^H^ <ne and kindred companies, and principal causes of their fail^^^^V the that we had not got a market^^Bjj^B^ e article which we were produc^^^^^B om _ had not got the splendid line;^^^H be _ munication which we now tween New Zealand and the and we had not sot the tQ had done more than revolutionise farming in They all recognised now e a the freezer New Zealand to very poor country for the fiBSgMjB ted live in. Another thing thciufißHHßs against the success of wag concerns at the time nient|H|H no j. the fact that the farmers*™* Qm _ been educated up to handle MHMH th mercial end of their busincHHHlH e were today. Thanks mailaEt^mu^. d i r y large nun;ber of co-opera^^^Hg^» d j n companies that had been recent years the farmer did an education in business 30 not fall to the lot of the fae years ago. Colonel Bell C q. did not estimate the ha(J operative concerns, started ot late years, by the of money they were savin^^^^V e lgy present time; their grea^^^^* which in the good work of g the thev were performing thoge farmer to handle large co-operative e near would be called upon to future. In Waikato duiH|| splen _ seven years they had did demonstration in a c|gSßgM_ 0 p era . small way of the value|g^^U ey had> tion. During that per|gHK||g| ditionß) under the most dEnressiiHMHi|jK e most and after breaking doUHMj their strenuous obstruction, ■■EwHL y and Farmers' Freezing (SjßjUssßgr mpany, Farmers' both of which ranked^^^^K erng to most successful (Apbe found in the Domini(^^^^^^^^V^ g now plause). These two for occupied a most uniqu^^^^^B )day if they both went Bm^H ngt ]oge farmers of Waikato at ghort a single copper, ore out period they had in He than they had origina^^^W ism * that might also say withoJ^^^^^B om p an j eg the flotation of these^^^^^B ]e j n the also created a positior^^^BB n jn New history of company pr^^H^V nt wh j c h Zealand, as every platform he had made from an£ j as to their probab^^^H; he p U bij c every promise made carr j e d platform had been ( Ap _ out to the smalles^^^^^H^ e p gQp]g plause). This nad that confidence, and was them in anything which lie p^^^H thing . that the future would regtg> and was entirely in theHHHHr ect]y ' gafe something that it into for them to put theiH^HHr in the coThe latest had the operative idea the peop i e pleasure of putting HK a was t | ie during the past fewM^Bg Dairy an( j Farmers' Co-operJMBHS certain Stores Co., whicl^^^Hr, eas as the would be as greal^^^H ]y floate a. two companies _p^^^* nches of in . One of the princip^^^^^H, w com pany dustry in which tt^^^V the produc . would engage g separat ed tion of butter j ien and cream. Two yeaa^^H ted to intro . his colleagues had^^^« t?aikato( the duce this system and people were farmer he could not fin^^^^B a]]y jn float _ who would j 1 home ing a company ec ]j n g was to separated cream.|^^^W erated by the a very large ext^^^M, f part j e s inwritings in the L the old an( j terested in perp^^^H^ m and t h e ir obsolete creamejH^^Hp a £ e methods, refusal to ad °P t forced to The promoters

launch the concern as a private company for the purpose of giving a practical demonstration. The company bad now been working for over a year, and had achieved the most gratifying results. The principle statements made against home (separation was that under this system we were going to ruin the dairy industry in New Zealand, and the proud position which our butter occupied in the British markets would fall to the ground, when the cream arrived at the factory it would have to be dugout with a shovel and innumerable other statements of a like nature. He —the speaker—was not one of those who beat about the bus-li; he would simply say that as a result of making enquiries in all parts of the civilised world and from the practical experience which he had had in the Waikato during the past year, that every statement made against home separation was absolutely untrue. During their first season they had produced 130 tons of butter. During the export season nearly 100 tons of this was shipped to Britain, and out of this large amount there was only 35 boxes second grade, arc! 18 of these boxes fetched as high a price as firstgrade butter. He had had the privilege of comparing the prices received by their factory with those 'of the National Dairy Association and other companies in New Zealand, and he found that their average prices was equal to any they had in the Dominion, while their price paid to suppliers had been equally satisfactory. During their first year with their small output and necessarily heavy initial expenses they had been able to pay their suppliers lid per lb, ar;d although he was not going to make any promises he felt sure that if the London market was as good as last year's they would be able to make a large advance on that. As showing their confidence they were this year paying the highest advance in the Auckland province. In July and August they had paid out lid, and were now making an advance of 10|d per lb. (Applause). When the people realised that this splendid result was attained during the hottest summer experienced in the history of dairying in the Auckland province, when they realised that tne cream from which this butter was made was brought by railway, launch, waggon and packhorse from a radius of nearly 100 miles, they would realise that the statements made against home, separation were thoroughly unreliable. He submitted that there was not another company in New Zealand working under any system that could show a finer result for their first year's working than their Home Separation Company in Hamilton, and this was the system which they had been told was going to damn the dairy industry in this country. When the people of New Zealand realised that 91 per cent, of the world's butter was produced by home separation, that New Zealand was the only country on the face of the earth, working under similar conditions,still adopting the creamery system, that our fellow farmers in other parts of the world were just as smart men as ourselves and just as anxious to get the last possible penny out of the industry in which they were engaged, when they realised that the largest and most successful butter factory on the face of the earth dealt wholly with home separated cream they would simultaneously recognise that they were working under an obsolete system, and then we would witness the dawn of a new and brighter era for the dairy farmer of New Zealand the era of "home separation."

gone up to an enormous extent, the local bodies were experiencing the greatest difficulty in keeping tlie roads in decent order, this was occasioned by the almost inconceivable traffic generated by the dairy industry where it had got a solid hold. They could imagine what was going to happen in the Auckland province if they persisted in keeping up the creamery system. Over large areas of the province metal was non-existent, and roads that were found capable of carrying the traffic even five years ago were hopelessly incapable of doing so to day. Under the creamery system a man carted ten cans of milk to the creamery and home again with a waggon and,two horses. Under the home separator iystem he carted one can of cream one way only with a light trap and pony. Another great point in favour of the home separation system was the extra profit to be made in rearing young stock. Hundreds of calves die in New Zealand every year through being fed on milk returned from the creamery, even at this time of vear it is already sour when it arrives from the creamery in the morning, and in the evening it is thick. The result is as a rule the production of a miserable class of young stock totally unfitted to make high class dairy cows with which to replenish our herds in the future. Under the home separation system the milk is fed to the calves soon after it leaves the separator warm, pure and sweet, and containing the natural sugar, which, if allowed to go sour, turns to lactic acid, ruinous to young calves' constitutions, Under this system there is no difficulty in rearing good calve 3 worth an extra eight to ten shillings per head as yearlings, with a very small extra expense in the way of artificial foods, as has been proved by over 200 farmers in Waikato, who are working under home separation today. Arother important point in favour of the new system is the prevention of the conveyance of diseases from herd to herd. If a farmer unfortunately has an outbreak of disease such as mamitis, tuberculosis, etc., and is supplying the creamery, his contaminated milk is distributed between the majority or probably the whole of the suppliers who go to that creamery, and thus the diseases are spread which are causing a loss of thousands of pounds to the farmers of Taranaki and Auckland every year. Some years ago when he was president of the, Farmers' Union in the Auckland province he had strongly advocated the compulsory pasteuristion of skim milk at the creameries, and had it been brought into operation even during that short period an enormous amount of money would hsrve been saved by the farming community. There were many other points in favour of home separation which he had not time to deal with that night. In whatever light the matter is viewed there was a large saving to be made. For less than the cost of his cartage plant the farmer could instal a steam separating plant; his separating would be finished ten minutes after he had finished milking, and his team would be yoked in the plough hours before his neighbours who were going to the creamery. The opponents of home separation had talked a lot about the dirty farmer who under this system was going to lower the grade of our butter. This was an infamous libel on the farming community in Waikato, and he could safely say, after travelling over the district probably more than anyone else within its boundaries, that the conditions of supply were improving every year, and at the present iime were very creditable indeed,especially taking into consideration the facts that a large number of farmers were starting in new undeveloped districts, and of necessity had difficulty in the way of finance during the first few years. He could assure them that no matter how strenuous the efforts that were being made to prevent the new system from getting a footing, it would soon spread from the North Cape to the Bluff, and he would not cease his labours until he had brought those who were interested in perpetuating the out of date creamery system to their knees and by the force of public opinion compel them to adopt home separation--the modern way—of handling our dairy produce. He was pleased to inform them that the campaign had been most successful. The factory was now turning out 2\ tons per day, and instead of having an output of 130 tons as they had last year they would have between 500 and 600 tons. In the month of September last year they had paid to their suppliers £600; for the same month this year they had paid out £2OOO. (Applause).

The advantages of home separation, said Colonel Bell, were many. The average cost of a creamery in New Zealand was about £650, and the average annual cost of running a creamery was about £350. This alone was an enormous drain on the dairy farmer, but the worot was yet to come. Assuming that the average dairy farmer in New Zealand was milking 60 cows,and taking the average roads we had in New Zealand, he required to have a waggon and at least two horses, and in many cases three horses to draw his milk to and from the factory. He had £IOO locked up in plant, and in addition to this he lost the time of a man for a third of a working day. When dealing with the question of haulage there was the larger question to consider, the question of the upkeep of our roads. Before going on to deal with this phase of the question they must recognise that here in the Auckland province dairying was only in its infancy, we were at the present time only tinkering round the edge of what was going to be an enormous industry. In Taranaki where dairying had taken a hold from one end of the country to the other, and where the local rating had

MEETInIH AT WAEFtENGA, 4th NOV., 1910

Another branch of industry in which their new company proposed to engage, if sufficient capital were provided, was that of the production of bacon, which he was certain could be made a great commercial success, and remove the disabilities in connection with the production of pork, which they had laboured under for years. In the meantime their company had some months ago completed arrangements in London whereby they would ship pork home—frozen at our farmers' freezing works—and make an advance to the farmers of 4d per lb. This placed the dniry farmer of Waikato in a position such as he had not hitherto occupied in the history of the industry in which he was engaged. Another branch of industry in which their new company proposed to engage was that of the production of ice. They had now installed an up to date plant and he could assure them that the production of ice was one. of the most profitable industries in which they could possibly engage. In addition to these industries the new company wuuld engage in the general store business, and in this connection they had decided to adopt the policy that had proved so successful in connection with the Farmers' Auctioneering Company. That was to build their co-operative concern on a solid business, already established, and thus have the advantage of having men to manage their business, who by their energy and ability had succeeded in making a success of their own concern. The firm selected had been that of Messrs Goodfellow, Limited, a firm which had built up probably the largest business in the Waikato, and of very high standing amongst the farming community. That selection had been made nearly four years ago, when the present Hamilton business was run by Messrs Green and Colebrook, and he had at that time placed the question of floating the business in conjunction with the Farmers' Auctioneering Company, before his colleagues on the provisional committee. Since then the business had extended by leaps and bounds, and he felt certain that under the new regime it would be even more successful than in the past, and soon rank side by side with the two other cooperative companies with which he had had the pleasure of being associated since his arrival in Waikato. He would like to say that in this campaign he was not out to damage the small trader in this country. They all recognised that the average storekeeper was not making any undue amount out of the farmer. The man whom he wanted to get past was the middle man in the cities. Unfortunately, hitherto it had been considered the function of the farmer to work 14 hours a day with his hands and let some one in the cities use their brains and scoop in an undue portion of his earnings. Under these conditions we could not hope to get out of the rut into which we had fallen as a farming community. It would pay the farmer handsomely to use his hands less and his brains more; learn the value of combination and cooperation, which would enable us to sweep past the middleman and divert the large sums, which he at present absorbs, to our own pockets, and enable the farmer to occupy that position in the country to which he is justly entitled as the producer of 85 per cent, of its wealth. In conclusion the lecturer urged his hearers to preach the gospel of co-operation on every occasion where opportunity offered. He could assure them that it was the greatest lever that the farming community could grasp if they wished to improve their position. If they preached that gospel they would in a short time see the result, and in years to come would look back with pleasure on the days when thfy assisted to improve the position of their fellow farmers and themselves; and when the time came for them to leave this earth, they would leave behind them a heritage for the millions of farmers unborn which could not be assessed at a money value. He thanked them for the excellent reception which they had given him, and expressed the hope that he might in the near future have the pleasure of placing before them the wider acheme of co-operation which he had in his mina's eye at the present time.— Applause.

In moving a vote of thanks to Colonel Bell, Mr Ro&s said that they had all listened with pleasure to a straight-out, instructive, and businesslike address. He was sure they all wished Colonel Bell every success, and were pleased to hear of the successful outcome of his latest campaign. The motion was carried amidst applause.