The Dairying Industry.

Kawhia Settler and Raglan Advertiser, Volume IV, Issue 255, 20 April 1906, Page 2

The Dairying Industry.

AS IT APPLIES TO T'lE KAWHIA DISTRICT. j [By N. Neilson, Waiharakexb.] _ As we do nor seem quite unanimous j in advisability of supplying one ,tn tb3 harbour, and as I tu some extent be due ; : MfijLWMlt.iCf-.thorcujb Consideration. ; ' uote3 (o endeavour = .-itelvanlagas of so doing. " 1 h*H cn Jea stcOw aVtiid &teting anything that is faCL To bC'ginWtS-, assume that there will be room tor one factory on the harbour before there is room for two. If one waa first established and it should not be considered satistactory to any particular district, it would be an easy matter for that district to form » company and erect a factory of its own. They co old then much better than at present guage the supply likely to be obtained and this would assure success. But if once two co-operatiyo factories are built it becomes nearly impossible to amalgamate them, and could only be done at a great sacrifice to one or both companies. J also maintain that cream can be car ried across the harbour by launches as successfully, cheaply and as free from injury as it is carried for hundreds of miles by railway, and would point out that the two wealthiest' concerns in dairying—the New Z -aland Dairy As socialion, Aucklmd, and tha Taiers and Peninsula Dairy C >inpany, Oiug —era worked chiefly <>□ this principle There appear to be some woo thin that as I ng as we have a co operative dairy company the suppli-rs must g<± full value for their milk. Of cour-e they will, bnt there must be a mini mum cost of manufacture and marketing ; and just here is whore the bitch occurs, aS this varies from about Id to perhaps over 31 per pound »t butter (til. There are two things necessary to success in the manufacture of aay j article of commerce, viz ,

I A COOD OUTPUT AND GO'D MANAGBMAN f. i Of these the first is absolutely neces ! sary in a butter factory, a* no matter ‘ bow well it is managed if 'he supply of milk ia small tha cost of making and marketing must be high. Tun I cost of running a factory about the size of Te Rau a-moa (and this iabout as small as can be run ou cooperative lines, and if to> large the district is not ripe for co opera:ive dairying), would b°, if economically managed, £lOOO, which would include all charges until landed on the Home market. The output of such a factory in a season, if run to its full capacity, would be worth, at lOd per pound of butter, about £lo,ooo a cost ol about U per pound for manufacture. Now, if the supply of milk to thia factory wag equally diviled between two such factories the cost of running each would not be reduced more than about £2OO. The item of o uximigsion and freight would account for the greater part of this, and the chances are that it would not be exactly equally divided ! and the cost of manufacture to at least one of these may ba set down at 21 per pound. This would mean a ’loss to a supplier

to this factory, if he supplied on an average of 241bs. of butter fat daily for 10 months, of £27 for the season, or it there were 20 such suppliers in a district the lose to that district would be £5401 Of course there would be the cost of carrying cream, if only one factory existed, deducted from the above amount, bat this would be comparatively smalll as 1 hive no doubt that a contract could be entered into with some of the launch owners that would be mutually beneficial to both launch owner and dairy company, but if a contract to carry cream could not be satisfactorily arranged with the present lauuchas it would be quite within the sphere of a dairy company to provide launches of its own to carry cream and compete for general trade, if provided for in the articles of association. Then, in a district like Kawhia, there must be a good deal of home separator cream, which would, in order to augment the output and thus lessen the cost of manufacture, ba KEENLY COMPETED FOR if two factories existed, and if one company offered a better price than the other that company would most likely secure the whole of the home separator cream around the harbour. If these suppliers cHd not bind themselves to one particular company, this i may enable one company to pay |d or i even Id per pound for butter fat more than the other, and the factory of this unfortunate company would be an eyesore to its suppliers aad cause discontent with the district generally and dairy farming in particular, as io most cases these conclusions arc drawn by comparison. Again, in many ways a larger concern can be run more cheaply than a small one. Stores, such as salt, paper, oil?, etc., can be bought in larger quantities and delivered at the factory cheaper in comparison than if got in small quantities ; printing, also in the same way, will be cheaper done by the thousand copies in place of two or three hundred ; advertising, in a like manner, might ba taken to be duplicated for two factories. There is also the fact that a shipping agent or buyer will STRETCH ± POINT to secure a la--ge output from a factory that be may not do if the output was small. As to the financial side of the question. Wo have a good many firing who are prepared to finance the cot oern or erect and run it for us, but it will be found when negotiations are started that they take no risk’. The ri-ks have to be borne by the share holders or suppliers in the shape of guarantees, joint and several bonds or promissory notes, and it will take something like £2500 to eree 1 . and equip tv as one factor} aad creamery

on a moderately snail scale. Tbte means that share* aay, one half of this amount would have Io be applied for, bonds entered into for tbe full amount, and at (100 ot 700 cows guaranteed to be milked be- - fore a start could be made. On tbe other hand, if one main say three creameries, were erected a each creamery district would lu all probability only be required to go bond for £7OO or £BOO, and guarantee to milk 800 Oowa for a start to be made.