FUTURE OF DRIED MILK.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 7, Issue 392, 16 July 1918, Page 1

FUTURE OF DRIED MILK.

(To the Editor.)

Sir—The Minister for Agriculture has sounded a warning note that the price of dried milk is inflated, owing to the Army Council's requirements for war purposes, there being no better food for wounded soldiers in the hospitals, but after the war a considerable drop in the price may be looked for. Tn this case, however, there need he no cause for apprehension, the demand far exceeding the supply. Many markets have not been reached owing to lack of shipping, hut after the war there will be such an inquiry for this product that the probability is that many years will elapse before the demand is in any way overtaken. Take Japan, for instance. with its teeming millions and its hive of industry: it will only be in the natural order of things for us tn anticipate to do a great trade with that country. as there are practically no cnws there, owing to the prevalence ~f i, variety of buffalo grass which |■ i'ives fatal to cattle. Intensive cultivation i- carried on there to the lli.-h.-t degree. (||,. |,|ollgll following tie- reapei- iii the .-juiie field, the land I••• illl- then flooded and planted with rice by hand. Almost every toot of land i- cropped to provide food tor the enormous population. Much of it i- terraced; there are no fences I let Weep the fields. I ill t they »rf' divided liv raised hanks, the tops of which Hie often sown with beans, so that 110 '.'round may be lost. There is not the slightest doubt l.nl there will be a great demand for dried milk in every patt of the world: dairying h'-re i- only in its infancy, and if only i cina ins for us to work and develop our land- to foiin! into tile heritage that is ours. I am. etc..

E H. .IT'LL.

Tc I! a pa. Otli July. ltd*.

(T-1 Hi'' I-Mif<>r. > Sir. It is ri-iilly Minn-iiiL' tn peruse I In- \ :i r i < 111 i \ • 11 I'V enlTc--1 ii. i n l» • 111 s njjiiiii-t tin' ' 11 i • I milk | >r< <- |n.~hh ii - i.nt 11in''I 11\ tic l iii;inaii• • i ~1 tin' Wnibiln |i"i;itiv«' Dairy ('.. I Until o 111; 11 111' ■ -1 lit till' "|)|I"II • litllki• " |-'ni ni'T'-i I'"<• 11'• t." or " Wil'l ' :it." tit'' it tiittnral trait of sikh a11i111;11 ~ nil' 1»-i fovernr ii"fii-il*--|>111m •*-=. pi' l-iilily t!"• 'in tli«* I'd ft 'lint tli'-y i'Yj,i'<t ♦" I'f \v 111?, dii'l ■ J..ll't \v;1111 tn l.i' 11!tini;i11 Ilailiili' d at. OppoMtion fj-<.in livul fnrnpaiiifs mit-t lie ' X|i<'( )'■<!. ati'l the writer can

well remember the wholesale condemnation launched out at Mr. Goodfellow by all and sundry a few years ago when he first propounded the Home Separation methods. In fact, I personally received sheaves of correspondence from a local Company, giving reasons and advice against Home Separation, and refusing absolutely to receive any home separated cream or ♦ o in any way encourage such a scheme. Now. I understand this same Company has closed down practically all its creameries, and encourages Home Separation to such an extent as to charge those few who still supply creameries with the cost of separating their cream. In those days —I speak of some seven or eight years ago Mr. Goodfellow made many predictions, based no doubt on reliable information and a keen foresight, and I believe in every case his forecasts have come true.

I was sorry to see, as reported in a recent issue of the "Times," that Mr. Dent, an official of the Dairy Association, tried to cast odium on Mr. Goodfellow as to his being essentially a proprietory man. Mr. Dent probably knows as well as anybody that the reason Mr. Goodfellow started the Waikato Company as a proprietory concern was that owing to the opposition stirred up farmers would not give the business a commencement, and to prove that his statements were right Mr. Goodfellow started the ball going on his own. It did not take long to give proof sufficient to turn it into a Co-operative Company, and the result is that in a few years the Waikato Company is one of the largest butter concerns in the Dominion. Also, can any other Company in this Dominion show more satisfied shareholders? I doubt it. Personally, I am connected with a number of Co-operative Companies, and I can confidently assert that 1 know of none where the management is held in such universal confidence as is expressed by directors, shareholders, and even opponents of the Waikato Co-operative Dairy Company. One has only to attend the annual dinner at Hamilton to get a very demonstrative proof of this.

As far as Mr. Goodfellow's statements regarding dried milk are concerned, he no doubt has first-hand information, and it is unlikely that he is going to give all his hand away to opposition. One thing I am sure of, and that is that he would not risk his reputation by making statements of which he had not a very good assurance of being aide to substantiate, and I am certain that this confidence is unanimous amongst all who have had dealings with him. However, a meeting is to be held in Patumahoe next Friday afternoon, when probably Mr. Goodfellow will deal with opposition arguments, and it is to be hoped that, for their own and the district's good, farmers will place reasonable credence on the statements made by the Waikato Company's manager.—Yours, etc., H. MELVILL CRISPE. "Te Mahoe." Mauku, July 15. 1018.