ADVICE TO DAIRYMEN

Kaipara and Waitemata Echo, 31 July 1914, Page 5

ADVICE TO DAIRYMEN

AN INSTRUCTIVE ADDRESS

(From Dargaville " Times ")

As Mr W. Dempster, Government Dairy Instructor, was in the Ruawa* at tho invitation of those interested in the proposed establishment of a cheese factory there, th° promoters of the company called a public meeting of settlers at the Ruawai Hall last week, at which Mr Dempster delivered a most instructive address About thirty settlers attended, and Mr Hunt took the chair.

In his opening remarks the Chairman outlined what he had dove during a recent trip to Wellington, where, with the valuable assistance of Mr Coates, hfi had obtained h very satisj^tory reply from the Hon. W. FraseiFin connection with County roading matters. Moreover, the Minister had virtually agreed to removo the £ for £ restriction on the £5000 drainage grant. Other sub jects discussed were the scenic reserve and the Kuawai foreshore problem, to both of which he got favourable replies.

Mr Hunt had interviewed \\v D. Cuddie, director of the Dairy Produce Division of the Department of Agriculture, and had been fnrced to change his opinion that the men at the head of these departments had boen pitchforked into their positions, as he found Mr Cuddie to be a practical and level-headed man who knew his business thoroughly.

In Taranaki, Mr Hunt had been struck' by the progress made in the dairying industty, where every farthing was got out, nothing being too smill to work for all it was worth. He had been somewhat surprised to find that many suppliers carted their cream distances up to eight mi'es to the factory, while one man carted nearly two tons four miles over a road which in places was a grade of o.ne in six. That being the case, he did not think the settlers at Ruawai had cause to grumble.

As an outcome of a visit to Riverdale he found that, with a prospective bonus of lid added, the cheese factory suppliers obtained ISM for their cream as against lid paid by the butter factories.

On the basis of the lid per lb paid by the local company, Mr Hunt had worked it but that, on the 120,000 acres of swamp there would, if the difference in prices from the respectivs soui ces of disposal of cream were the basis, be £8500 annually saved. That amount would, if di-tributed amongst his fellow settlers, do a great deal in the way of improving the farms and the district generally. Comparisons were also made between the Wairoa river and the long distances and tolls on the Taranaki roads. On that basis Mrs Hunt was convinced that his audience should be able to get even more than 15d for their cream, and he urged them to show Taranaki that it had something to compete against. MB DEMPSTER'S ADDRESS Mr Dempster prefaced his address by an assurance that every man on the dairying siaff of his department had been brought up as a farmer, and was possessed with thorough practical .experience, Although the Northern roads were not all that one would like them to be, they were much better than in some other districts, including his own in the King Country, where metal cost up to iJds a yard as against 10s locally. The cattle were good quuality in comparison with those in some districts he knew. and in which one could gather all the tits in one hand. WOK.D OF ADVICE Mr Dempster advised the settlers to' head their herds with good quality bulls. That was imperative, if dairying was to be carried on successfully. Steers formed part of the *" bHilraisers business; not the'dairymans. It paid better to kill steers and replace them by' pigs. They should aim fit raising their herds to the standard of the best in the Dominion, and steer calf raising was uot worth considering. MAKGAIUXE He had sampled margarine of qualities varying in price from 38s to 635, and he easily detected the difference between the substitute and the geuuine articlp. Tha best margarine was better .than, the poorest butter, bat it was a long way short of good bitter. Still, it was a danger to be faced by dairymen. [To be continued next week]