Butter and Cheese Fac-TORIES.

Manawatu Standard, Volume 4, Issue 243, 15 September 1883, Page 2

Butter and Cheese FacTORIES.

MR BOWRON'S LECTURE.

There was a* good attendance at the Public Hall at Palmerston North last evening. Mr F. Jenssen took; the chair and introduced Mr Bow/oii to the audience. . ' Mr Bowron said he ragweed he was unable to deliver a speech that evening, as he was under medical care, and the doctor had forbidden him from lecturing for the next two months. He had, however, jotted down a few statements, which a gentleman had promised to read for hip. The object of the meeting was of the greatest importance. The people of Manawatu had rich prospects before them. They had good climate and splendid land. 1 Mr Ferguson then read the following observations by Mr Bowron on cheese, butter, and bacon :— 'jiBHTIiEMEN', — 1 have seen much of the world, but I have no reolle^iou of seeing any part which is more favourable for the pro» auction of Cfyeess and B.atter than New Z^alahd' is. All |he elements ot success' are at y pur . disposal. 4 v jgorjQus virgin soil, well tfatered with running brooks, fountains, and broad wrivers ; and, I may add, a climate second to hone m the world. In my estimation

New Zealand for da ry produce is preferable to either England or America. There the winters are long and severe, often sealed up io frost and snow for two or three mouths. Their grass season is not calculated upon more than six or seven months m the year. You have grass the year round, and Winter appears to be known only by the shortness of the day and length of the night. The advantages of union are seen everywhere m nature.. The sea is made of drops, the mountains of atoms. What is difficult for one man to do numbers accomplish with ease. The principle of union prompted the first Cheese Factory m America. In the course of thirty years there are 2000 m active operation, and still more projected. And I can see no valid reason why New Zealand should not have her thousands. Everything which is requisite is at your command, and' you have only to posh the matter to its. final issue and success will crown your efforts. There is another point which has frequently been discussed : That is, the relative merits of the English and American Cheese. Let the market price decide. Twelve months last June, AtnericPir Cheese sold m Loudon at £60 per ton; Cheddar at £80. Last May, American sold at £70 ; Cheddar, at £80 to £84. I have not a- word to say against the 'American cheeses. They are an important article of commerce, and attract million of British gold into America every year. I want you to aim at the highest pomt — win the first rank, and command the highest price, and never flag m your efforts , until yon gain it. The. advantages of factories over small dairies of from 20 to: 80 cows each purposing to make che«3e. Twenty dairies must be built ; twenty appliances • purchased ; and twenty 'skilled persons to superintend. All agreeing to contribute their milk, one factory will do; one plant ; and one skilled person to superintend the whole process. There are many other advantages. A great deal of anxious hard work is cleared away from the farm house, and a better quality of cheese is produced m the factory, size, colour, and quality much alike, The experience of years proved that medium sized factories are better than large ones— That is, a dairy or factory with 400 cows is better than one with 800. The milk is nearer to its destination, and is delivered earlier m the morning, which is of greatiraportance. One person delivering milk late may delay the whole operations, and prove injurious to the whole. The main point is, Will it pay f The cheesemakers of England, for many generations, say, Yes, it will pay. America, during the last thirty years, has built 2000 factories, and it "says' "Cheese is gold." Annually from three to four millions of British gold U exchanged for American cheese. Cheese factories sounded the death/knell of the track system m America. . There never was, and never will be a prosperous community-where butter and eggs are exchanged for crockery, and chickens for salt and sugar, and bales of wool, for ready-made garments. Fifty tons of good cheese will return you 3700 British sovereigns. Will it pay ? What is the value of one cow 1 Her value is determined by til»e quantity of milk she will give, and that depends upon the grass you feed 'with. A fair average cow will give you two galions of milk per day during 40 weeks. That is 560 gallons, at 4d, is £9 6s 8d tbe farmer receives. How fares the Factory? 560 gallons of milk represents about 5 cwb of cheese. That amount,at 60s per cwfc or* 6£ per lb, wiil realise for the factory £15 per cow. Thai; will leave £5 13V4d profit for the factory, and if tvs yigs are well managed, they will pay working expenses. I ask any man of business, Will it pay ? Keason and common sense respond, Yes, it will pay. ' - Where shall we dispose of our prodace? The markets of the world 'are j open for all you can manufacture. Aus* j tra'ia, India, China, ' and the mighty ' London, which is alway 8 crying "More. w And every year her cry waxes louder,; •« Send more." Her demands are never satisfied. London wants what you have, and you heed what she has. Send her butter and cheese, and. she will return her gold. There is one important matter: which ought not to be lost sight of, which may assist the directors of every factory m their calculations. The weight of one gallon of milk is lOlbs sozs, which, if we take the average of one season, and the cheeses are disposed of at the age of ten weeks, will bo found equivalent to lib of. good old marketable cheese. Cheese loses weight considerably .m the transit, and butter also. The' contract with the farmer ought, to tbe lOfibs to every gallon. A few ounces is nothing to the farmer, but important to .the company. The farmers who take up the shares will reap the adyantage of their own liberality, The^ manufacturing of butter is of equal importance to that of cheese. In New Zealand at this present time 'there are thousands of batter firkins wasting.. Merchants and farmers are sustaining heavy losses. Butter which was worth over Is 6d per lb. six months ago m London, is not worth more than 4d per lb now. This ought not to be, an I need never be again. London is open for all the butter New Zealand can make and will return a good price. I find there are districts where numbers of small farmers reside and have no means to raise a Cheese Factory. It requires little capital to start a Butter •Factory, and the rethrus, are quick. | After bu,tter is made the Sooner it is , into the market th,e better. It would be ijan easy matter to collect the cream, and churn every day. The other plan would be to. separate the cream from the milk with the centrifrugal machine, and return the milk to rear calves and fatten pigs. By so doing the quality of butter would be • first-class, and commend a high price m London, or any other maiket. Tiiere are other considerations m favour of butter. The satne amount of skill is not required m a Butter Factory which is required m the manufacturing of cheese. Butter is sent to market immediately after it is made and turned into gold without delay. Another consideration m favour of hotter is the cost > of freight. Batter and cheese will cost i from Wellington to London £d per lb. A ton of cheese will return you £?4, ; bat one ton of butter will return £130. The butter has the advautageiby! %& per lb\f hat may We expect a.3 the return of one cow? 'Take the for-tiaer calculation. A good flow will give 36*0 gallons qf

milk. At 3 gallons to every lb of butt rf that would be 2001 b?. At Is per lb the value of one cow would be £10. Then there is the skim milk for the calf and pig. So taking all thingsjinto consideration, the butter would not be far beyond the cheese. In England butter is considered equal to the cheese. Oacon at no distant day is destined tc. occupy a prominent position as an article ot export from NewZaaland. I fear no contradiction when I state the climate of New Zealahd~is the finest m the world for bigrbreeding and feeding. Where one is now fattened, hundreds may 6e, and no animal grow^ifito^moUey "•" quicker then the pig. It is no uncommon thing fbi a pig 6 months old td w?igh 1601bs. That is just the" weight required for London market. All that is required is a few Wiltshire baconi carers and the refrigerator ;* then they could cure io the hottest summer weather as they do at home. I tfrnk it would beiwell for the. Cheese Factories to haire a Wiltshire bacon-carer, working m the factory. ' Then at the end iof the v season he could slaughter the p.gs and turn them into bacon. '".., In regard- to the London market/ let ithe kept m mind that dairy.produceisnpt sold m the auction mart like . bales of wool and casks of tallow. Thar Cheese Factory m the country purchases of; the farmers, then .consigns his pro- c perty to his broker, in* London. ,'., Ther broker sell b to .the wholesale cheese merchant; an! he to the retailer. So there are four profits taken out of the cheese before it reaches the consumer; If New Zealand cheese has to pass through all these merchantile channels j. I fear the first- sales will hot be en- ; couragiog. The simplest and best plan at the beginning will be to consign dir* ect to large respectable .wholesale firms, who dispose of your property at 2fc par ; cent and take all risk. > : ; , .-.: When 40 or 50 factories are. set at < work And large consignments are for- : warded by every steamer, it will be d , necessary to have proper chambers ami" stores for New Zealand produce,, and ,. an agent who thoroughly understand i the routine of London business. ; ." •Butter is quickly disposed of. "Whenu known to be of good quality... it 'is ; irer^ quently sold ' before it arrives, and re-, \ moved to its destination as the vessel discharges her cargo. Quantity is no objectj if the quility is good. .■: .-.,-. • , I would add for the encouragement, of > all who are interested-in these new projects that there is no island upon the face ot the earth which has brighter ? prospects than -New Zealand has. Tour - mountains and mines and \ stores of - wealth, but often diffioolt to find and ; win, and are soon exhausted. The vegetable kingdom is a perpetual mine pf wealth, which can never be exhausted. •, So long as the clouds weep, andfthe Sun "r, shines you and your cbildrenfrom gene; ration to generation, may gather r rich > harvests of gold from every blade bt, grass which grows. ;,;, Mr Bowron then was ; asked a series of questions by various persons m the. audience, which with, the replies given; " are as follow :— .■-.— r Mr V. Monrad desired to fcnow'hbvr i many factories there were m the colony, and what Mr Bowron knew of their prospects. b - Mr Bowron replied that ihe did '■ notf know of more than- four which were making cheese during the past twelve mouths ; there were 18 more m process of bnilding. There was one* m the Evendale district, one m Ashburton, another m Greytown, and One at Pukekohe. At Piikekohe the farmer* would not permit ahy of the Auokland capitalists to them, SO satisfied were they- with their prospects. He alway ssaw a thriving township m the midst of a farming community.- The interests of the farmers>ndti*adespeople were identical ; if the one prospered so> did the other. • i/;. X A gentleman enquired. if the transport of milk for five miles would not injure it for converting iinto butter. and cheese.- : ~ — .-.'.,.._.' Mr Bowron,: That is the difficult <■ People who oama from , a distance^ brought their milk-late to the factory, and the cheesemakers must get their work done early m the merning. To • let it stand half-an-hour turned the milk sour. He would recommend that the milk be not brought a greater distance than three, miles. .• It would be . better to have two or.cv.en three am tiler fee tories than one large one. There was no place m the world better suited for buttter and cheese factories than the West Coast of this island. .. A farmer asked,- Could you give the average of milk per head '?- r u " ~ Mr Bowron replied that, at Ashburton it Was calculated that on the average a cow gave two .gallons of milk for 40 days. There they average seven/quarta of milk to a cow, but that did not m« elude Sunday morning's milk. When the factory first started m Ashburton the farmers bought anything that bad horns and a taiL (Laughter.) Is England a cow cost £25, while here they could be obtained for £2. r The matter of getting the .cows milked was a serious thing. In Ashburton they paid a penny a cow. One girl there milked, 60 cows a day, ». and made; five shillings. They must not go tc London for immigrants, but get then from the* village, where people were brought up. to dairy work? Mr Sly desired to know what would be the. cost of a factory for 200- cows. Mr Bowron .regrettepj that he had not, with him the estimates that were being: {printed. He calculated that for, a* factory tor 200 v cows .they would erect < the . building and obtain the requisite, plant for- £$>0. HU oalculatioh waa ; £2 a cow. He urged them not to go> into debt for what they required. A gentleman asked, What would be* the difference m erecting a factory for butter alone and one .for cheese and butter* I Mr Bowron said that he, saw ia London a machine for separating cream, 100. gallons man hour. It cost £80. They are capital things,, and with oue ot them they could make cheese all the year round. The best way would be to make cheese all the summer and m winter make butter, which would . lealise Is fid per lb. They should not ; do as at Ashborton^ where the farmers. when batter rose to lOd per lb, -made their milk into! butter* instead of sending it to the factory. It would have paid the farmers better ta- have continued ffo, send their milk ta the factory. The farmers should sign a paper guaranteeing their milk to the factory; 1 ' In reply), to other queries put, Mr " Bowron stated that at Ashhartbri there was, not more than 121 par cent! of oreana, while north of New Plym JuiH'there was lb! per cent. The cost of labour for a

actory as that contemplated wool 1 bf £250 per annum. Mr Monrad said it had bpen mooted o bay« a large factory at Palmerston, while he had advocated one m each district. Which was best? Mr Bowron said a large factory at Palmerston wonld not be tolerated by the peoplp. 1000 cows meant 1000 nigs, for U was important they should have pigs' an 'they wou'd pay all the ex* penses of the establishment.. : Three factorips would be better than one large one. •'; They might have one at Karere, another at Fitzherbfrt, and another at Stoney Creek. They wanted a good town committee comprised of business men, and working committees, composed of farmers. He recommended them toget a gdod cheesemaker. This was iri» dispensable. He knew of a family who would be willing to come to the colony ail of whom were pood cheesemakers, and could take charge of the factories contemplated! to be erected at Palmerston, Feilding, and 'Woodpile. -When he returned to Wellington he intended interviewing, the. Hon Mr . WhUaker, and as his medical adviser wonld not permit him to lecture for twe months, h^KPJBiW be.ask to he .'• allowed 'to' proceed home, and be could bring out 50 or 60 good cheesemakers. Mr Monrad said ..before he left this colony for America, he desired to state how tha.proposbd company originated. MrMonradread the following prospectus pfithe f ooppa^.Company :-es - V Prospectus .pfVtthe Manawatu Butter Cheese, and Bacon .Manufacturing Company, Limited. To beincorporatedsuhfier tn^^ompanies ;Act, ( 1882,*' ; when 700 ■hares shall 1 ' have been subscribed for. Capital £6,000 m 2,000 shares of £3 each. It? ;iSi proposed to- call up the capital of the Companyi a* : ; follows •:— ss per share on application ; 6s per share on allotment ; and by eubseqpent calls of ssi per share' at'interTals of not less than one month. The promoters, however, anticipate that it will not be necessary to call up more than £l;10s per share during the first twelve months ;of>thei- Company's operations. Provisional Directors : The following gentlemen .have consented, to act as Provisional'^Directors until election, of the permanent Board. Viggo Monrad, Karere, G. M. Snelson, Palmerston North, W. Akers, Fitzher beit, Alexander Ferguson, Palmerston North, J. P. Leary, Palmer■lon North, K. Leary, Palmerston North, O. Collis, jun. Karere, James Mowlem. Karere, Jno. Wingate, Karere, V. T. Hatchings, Karere, ; j. O. Sly; Karere, J. H. HankinS, Palmerston North, Jno. Waldegrave, palmerston North, Frits; Jenssen, Palmerston North, T. H. Caver, hill, Palmerston North. Bankers : The. Bank oiNew Zealand. Solicitor, iMeesra! Hknkins and Baker.' interim Secretary,! F. Mowlem^: .j Temporary/ offices, Mr; Mowlem's offices, the Square, Palmerston •Norjh^T' ".."■ - "M- ■ M ' Tfie \objects of the Company < are, the erection of Factories for, and the .manufacturing of Batter, Cheese, and Bacon,) withinnhe Orona County, and 5 the sale: ;:6f;iithe isa'me tfrom f time to time as the Campony.mayLidirecti , ; It it the intention! of the Promoters to erect the first factory, of the Company on : a, site to be obtained; between Longbum and Karere/ ;' If the Company can purchase milk at 3Jd pe^r^aMdnaehve'rable at thb Factor}',} the Promoters propose, after the payment of .theeiworking expenses and a yoarlyj dividend of 10 per cent on the paid up, capital, to pay persons • having supplied the Factory with milk at the above price, an l fextra ;/ halfpenny per gallohfor every of milk supplied during the year. in jriewu the undoubted incoess of factories of thi» nature m other parts of the Colony, and being assured of alaree measure of support for this undertaking,* «the« Promoters confidently appeal' to the settlers fer their cordial co-operation m establishing this important and valuable local.indu6ti7 m their midst. \ —He was not m favor of one large ifactory, ' "The people at Karere found theyicould not- raise sufficient money to star^rjheCompanyi, and, the; Committee oame to Pjdmerston and put the matter befo're'aV meeting, and the result was 1 the issuing of the" prospectus. The people, of; Karere^ .were enthusiastic m their'attempUo establish a factory. an| he believed there had been a guarantee ■of26^cowsJ^ )^; *'- " ? "- : ' M^ y. Monrad. said; there, was a guarantee of 250 cows between PPalmerr r „stpn and Karere for the, year, and is "great many more, fof the next, although all the farmers had libt yet been asked. ? . There.had been 222-shares taken up by the Karere Ripple, and 106 by this Paltnerstoff townspeople, making m all Mr Collis said that sh^ep and cattle breeding' had proved a failure, but he had^Do doubt, whatever that thebutter and cheese factory would prove asuc^ cess. !n 'He believed once the factory was started they wb'uldsoon be able to haye 1000 cows at Karere. There was not a better distridt m the colony for cattle. JMJr.SJy proposed a vote pf ( thanks to Mr Bowron for the valuable information he had' imparted to them, and hoped thaihe would soon have a restoration to healtl^Jeheers.) La^reply to'a question put by Mr Wingate, Mr Bowron said that the l^6le plant for Ashburton cost £320, fiht the discount off payed for the c^ar- , iajgerbut. ; It was fir 1200 gallons; of The boiler and engine cost £135 at' Wellington. He estimated the cost of a plant for 300 cows at (£2BO, and he had vjust been informed by \ Chairman that a four-horse engjne could be, obtained m Palmerston for £60. This would' be an important saving. A 'number of shares were taken up Z by.thbseipresent m the Hall ' v : > ' ■-. After a. vote of thaDks to the Chairman^ thejneeting terminated.