EMPIRE DAIRY FARM.

Shannon News, 31 December 1923, Page 3

EMPIRE DAIRY FARM.

WONDERFUL STORY OF PROGRESS. - r '

CO-OPERATION IN PERFECTION.

~ "The brightest gem in Britain's crown of colonisation in. New Zealand. A laud of untamed - wildness SO years ago, to-day it is clothed with lields of smiling green, and jewelled with cities pulsing with manufactures and throbbing with commerce. "In this rapid development the dairy - farmer has played a striking part. It is his pioneering work that has subdued the bush, drained the swamp and called into being those verdant pastures liecked with grazing cattle. It is his production that stirs the cities to activity, that calls to these shores those fleets of steamers which feed Britain yearly with 120,000 tons of butter and cheese. "It is his labour that to-day wins the honoured title, 'The Dairy Farm of the Empire' to this favoured land. "Under that title is given in the following pages some brief account of the evolution of his labour, the growth of the industry, and,' more of the evolution Of the biggest dairyingorganisation in the world. That this company is built entirely upon cooperative principles makes the story more entrancing, demonstrating, as it does, tho genius of the race for daring and doing— for blazing a path to success untrammelled by conventions and old company forms. "Under the co-operative principle each (individual farmer secures for himself flic fullest individual prosperity, and if home-building is Empirebuilding, then, this work has been an Imperial work of no small magnitude. "On behalf of the 8000 suppliers united in tho New Zealand Co-opera-tive Dairy Company, Limited, I commend this record of the attainments of the dairy industry in our territory to our overseas customers wherever they be, but particularly to those of the Homeland —our Motherland." In these words the managing-direc-tor of the New Zealand Co-operative Dairy Compafjßl jrifcd., Mr William Goodfcllow, introduces to his readers the story of the birth and growth of this greatest of all cooperative dairy organisations. The publication in Itself is a work of art both in. the matter contained in its many pages and the manner in which it is set up. The story is told from where it commences away back in 1882 and 1883,'at which period of Dime there were established in the South Auckland Province several small cheese factories. The difficulties and hardships under Vwhich these companies laboured are compared with today's modern efficiency and high standard of production. The amalgamation in I£2o of three important companies, viz., New Zealand Dairy Association, Waikato Dairy Company, and Thames "Valley Dairy Company, with the New Zealand Cooperative Dairy Company completed the largest deal of its kind so far recorded, and the birth of the new company has had far-reaching effects, on the dairying industry in the Waikato. Some- indication of the magnitude of the undertaking may be gauged from the ; fact that of it £18,000,000 which came into this country as dairy money during 1922-23 season, the Auckland province earned nearly £7,000,000 and of that total the New Zealand Cooperative dairy company received £4,500,000, representing the payment for 20 020 tons butter,34s'6 tons cheese, 3842 tons milk powder, and 826 tons ca.sein.

To-day the company controls 35 ; modern factories, and deals with some' 8000 suppliers.

The illustrations and graphs in the publication are particularly- well prepared and are intensely interesting, and all go towards telling the story of the development of this great organisation which, through the "Anchorf" brand- has become such a well-known factor in the New Zealand dairying industry.

One particularly striking comparison is that "Anchor" butter produced amounted to 22,020 tons, and the rest of the Auckland province made only 13,103 tons, whilst the Dominion, outside of Auckland, made only 32,000 tons.

The now company soon, started out to set. the standard Cor the Dominion as far as dairy products were concerned, and the plan of campaign was built up on education. The aim was to educate suppliers up to the last possible word in increasing production and raising the standard of cleanliness and sanitation. To accomplish this work the company took steps to — (1) Introduce, a grading system. (2) Appoint dairy instructors. (3) Establish a monthly newspaper

called the "Dairyfarmcr." ■ The work accomplished under each of these heads has become so well known that they are now firmly established features of the dairy industry, not only in the Waikato, but throughout the Dominion.

Tho purchase of the Glen Afton collieries was a broad-minded act performed by the company, and after spending a couple of years in development work thcre.thc mine was officially opened on 25th July, 1923, in the presence of 2000 farmer suppliers and shareholders. The whole property is tx model of comfort and efficiency, and should serve as a pattern for other coal mine owners throughout the Dominion. It is estimated that the Glen Afton mines contain approximately 15,000,000 tons of coal sufficient for the company's requirements for 100 "years.

All these and many other matters are dealt with very fully in the publication recently issued by the Company, and, it must he admitted,-that as a record of progress, and the application of science to the primary industries no better work has yet come into bur hands. One cain only wish the company the success which such enterprise deserves.