FIFTY YEARS AGO

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 1, Issue 50, 10 December 1912, Page 1

FIFTY YEARS AGO

SOME EARLY RECOLLECTIONS. THE OLD DAYS REVIVED. [BY B. A. CRISPE.J [This series of articles was kindly written, especially for the " Times," by Mrs H. Crispe, of Mauku. Our lady contributor was amongst those women pioneers through whose courage and self-sacrifice the people of this district to-day enjoy their peace and prosperity.— Ed.l

NUMBER 4. CHANGES IN BUTTER INDUSTRY. The advent of the cheese and bacon ard butter factories brought about a new state of things. Hitherto each little settler had milked a few cows, set the milk in pans and made butter for tha market. It was as a rile taken by thu ; local storekeeper, and variously indeed was the article turned out, made up in one pound ard half pound pats, all shapes and colours, vaiying from white to a deep yellow. Tha quality of som: equ;'.il«?d the present factory and leparator, but othiis were anything but appetising looking. Some settlers salted the reason's butter in kegs and sold it in bulk, but the usual plan of disposing of it was through theylocal storekeepers for goeds get in exchange. It was a system of barter, so that-but little money pass.d. Few were independent enough to buy in the cheapest market. Now the factory system has changtd all that, and a man with Ins rronthly butter-fat cheque can buy in any market that suits his own sweet will. In' 1882 and 1883 Mr Bowron,. Government Inspector of Daine ■■, cams round Pukekohe and adjaining districts, giving lectures to fames and encouraging, them to establish either "cheese and bacon" or "buttor factories" in their midst In Mr Bowron's addresses both at Pukekohe and Mauku he expressed his opinion that "he had not in New Zealand come across a more suitable place for a factory than Pukekohe and the -surrounding districts." So impressed were the settlers with the "new idea" that steps were takei shortly afler to establish the first factory in Pukekohe. FIRST CHEESE AND BACON FACTORY. Through the courtesy cf Mr W. T. Wright, J.P., of Mauku. I have before me the prospectus of the first company that was formed in October, 1883. This prospectus was for the Pukekohe and Mauku Cheese and Bacon Factory Co., Ltd., with a capital of £6OOO in mares of £1 each. Mr Barnaby's store, Pukekohe, was the temporary effice, the secretary was Mr W. .T. Wright, and the; directors were: John Allen. Thomas Barnaby, Major B. Harris, M.H.R., James Latimer, James Roulston, ueorge Russell, all of Pukekohe; Jamea Gallagher and William T. Wright, of Mauku. The- prospectus said:—"This Company is formed wit:, the ohject of affordir g the settlers ready and profitable means. of getting rid of their dairy produce, for cash, by putting in the market cheebe and butter of ugular good standard quality, which will necessarily command u better price thau when made and sold by individual sfcttleid. The advantages arising

from the.e factories are now so well known and admitted that the directors have only to mention that Pukekohe, Msuku, and the country around are thickly populated with dairy farmers, and that Mr Bowron, the Government Inspector of Dairies, expressed his opinion that he had not come across (in New Zealand) a more suitaWej plac: for a factory. The principal factory, which is now in course of et ection between Pukekohe aid Mauku, is expected to be crmpMed in about tw* month?. It is intended ultimately to open branches at Bombay, Tuakau, and other settlemi nts in the district, In addition.to the Australian and Indian markets, the cirect steam service between New Zealand and England, and the freezing process have virtually placed the English matkets at t*ur own doors, so that persons taking shares in the Company are not alone benefiting themselves, but are assisting in the devel pment of an important branch of -export trade, and materially advancing the interests of North New Zealand." The firft ordinary meeting of the new company was hel I at the Railway Hotel, Pukekohe, on May sth, 1884. But the venture was not a success. One shipment of cheese was km through over-heating on the voyage Home. Milk was paid for at the rate of 3Jd per gallon. After struggling on for a few years the company was wound up at a loss to shareholders, and the factory was sold shortly after to a Mr Kingfori, of Pokeno. Like ihe company, he, too, did not make it a success. But in one way it was noted. People who passed it in those days will remember the awful smell that issued from tha place, owing to the number of pigs that were kept there. Though the stys were kept clean and had concrete floors, one's olfactory nerve: v.ere always offended when passing the place. Smelling salts and scents had to be used generously when passing. It wa3 a common joke then if one smelt anything offensive to say: "Oh, that smells like passing the factory!" Mr

' Kir.psf, :rl in turr, after only a short ; reifi?, sold the place to an lirglish firm, Me3=rs Lnvell at d Christmas, | and a butter f ctory under the [.resent name, viz., the New Zealard Da ry : Association, v\as staited in 1888, managed by Mr Wesley Sprang, the late manager, why iiist made the affair such a real success. Still, those, no, were the small days, winn the pries paid were poor in companion—when tha hope of the farmer was to get 7d per lb for his butter-fat! How different row, when he larger creameries ate paid ov<r 'is per lb for butter • fat. Twentyfour years ago the suppliers of our company numbered ab.ut 50; the .butter fr.r the sea Eon 40 to 50 tons. Now, -the suppliers numLer nearly 2000, ard the baiter manufactured last seascn was 4000 tons, the turnover for the jear exceeding half a million sterling. Up fo 1901 the New Ze.land Paicy Association was canied on as a proprietary business by Mr Spragg. In that year the business was conve ted into a Co-operative Compar.y, and -has since ben lun on co-operative lines, in the interest of the share*holding suppliers, ihe business of tha company has more than doubled itself in the past tew years and is new considerably the largest butter manufacturing concern in the Dominion, ard the third largest in the world. So that Mr Bnwron's forecast in* 1883 has exceeded even his then most sanguine expectations. Besides this factory ai Puktkohe there are two others, one at Hamilton and another at Ngaruawahia, and 80 creameri-.e. Milk or separated cream wiil now be taken at any of the creameries Though the present managers are not in sympathy with its formidable rival, "home separation," they are too far-seeing not to advance with the times. Home separation is in the air; it has come to stay. Which *.ver method is best is left to wiser heads than mine, but a few facts re home separation may bi intere-ting.'. There must te some great advantages in it when we know that, two of the largest companies in -toe world are run on the home separation systtm, viz., "lhe Beatrice" company in Canada, with an annual output of 12.000 tons, and "lhe Byron Bay Company," in Australia, with an output of 8000 tons, to whiih the largest N;.w ZeEland factories are babi s. Our own company, according to Mr Pacey, the present manager, is third in the world, a fact to be proud of in these little New Zealand island?. [The next article will relate an incident of 1863, entitled "Running the Gauntlet." It tells the itorv uf a man who desirid to go bush contracting, hut was s-.eitt to ihe lace-about by the l.ostile bullets - of the Maoris.—Ed.]