PIONEER OF INDUSTRY

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 270, 4 February 1928, Page 19

PIONEER OF INDUSTRY

Co-op DairyCoy’s Director

The commercial development of the New Zealand Co-operative Dairy Co., Ltd., the largest organisation of its kind in the world, has been mainly due within the last decade to the activities of Mr. William Goodfellow. Probably no more dramatic rise in business circles bas ever occurred than bis. Eighteen years %go he trudged the countryside in an effort to secure supply for his first factory. To-day he is the head of a co-opera-tive organisation comprising 8,000 active suppliers, owning 60 factories and creameries, producing approximately 35,000 tons of dairy produce worth nearly £5,000,000 annually. Fate threw Mr. Goodfellow into the dairying business about 1909 in a rather peculiar way. While operating a hardware store in Hamilton he sold a small butter-making plant to a customer. Through a land deal failing this client was quite unable to complete payment, consequently Mr. Goodfellow was obliged to resume possession, and becoming interested in the possibilities of the dairying industry, he decided in conjunction with a practical partner to erect the plant and operate it himself. INDUSTRY REVOLUTIONISED

He entered the industry at the right time. The development on creamery lines was limited hy the distance which it was practicable and profitable to haul whole milk. Thp home separator, destined to revolutionise the basis of the industry, was just being introduced as Mr. Goodfellow took this decisive step in his career. With a wide vision as to future possibilities, he foresaw the effect of this adaptation of machinery to farm work. He fotesaw what it would do for dairying—that it would widen the circle of productivity, and make it possible to bring in dairying areas that hitherto had not been touched. This was possible simply because of the economy in handling concentrated cream instead of bulky milk. Mr. Goodfellow’s foresight was correct.

Improvements on the farm were followed by improvements in the factory. The coming of the machine age in the dairy industry enabled successive records of attainment to be rapidly reached. An amalgamation effected in 1919 saw Mr. Goodfellow placed at the head of the combined company as manag-ing-director. Since then he has guided it forward to new records of attainment and expansion. In business me*h~ds and principles, he combines the best in English tradition and American practice. EFFICIENCY, HIS KEYWORD

To the integrity and stability of the British merchant whose word in his bond, he has added much of the business drive, hustle and manufacturing energy, typical of the best American business men.

Efficiency is his keyword. He has a happy knack, too, of imparting that driving force and keenness to the whole of the staff operating under him. Combined with this appreciation of the value of mass production in cheapening costs, and improving marketing capacity is a very British sense of J '' e need for high quality in goods manufactured.

It has been his aim not to manufacture the most butter, but rather the best butter: The product of today from the rich pastures of the Waikato is his reward.

Wonder of Waikato (Continued from Page 17) Among the matters upon which the ratepayers will vote will be the Garden Place scheme, a proposal to which the city engineer (Mr. Morley) has given consideraDle attention. Garden Place is a smail park, oil Victoria Street, in the centre of the town, which, while supplying some use ns an open space, would, under this scheme, become the civic centre of Hamilton. Hamilton would then possess a civic square, a modern development which the original town planners did not take into account. It would appear that the increased values would more than compensate the city for this step. It would mean the removal of the major portion of the hill now used as a park, but this would give the city a second main artery. The proposal is favoured strongly by a large section of tile business community. The other proposals include a now bridge, an extension of the w aterworks scheme, and essential kerbing and channelling. The bridge, according to the Mayor, is a stern necessity. The present traffic structure can no longer fulfil the requirements of Hamilton’s 16,000 citizens. A second is demanded. For Hamilton, like Rome of old. is a city of hills, and the hills extend on both sides of the Waikato. There are admirably situated residential areas on either 'tjank. No longer ooes the old water tower, a picturesque monument to the former Franktou Jlorough Council, which erected it, serve the requirements of the district. it merely supplies a small area surrounding it. Thirty miles of asphalt streets is something % ihrt Hamilton citizenshave every reason to feel proud of. Clean and well cared for, they give the visitor a d’stinctly good impression. Hamilton with a general rate of sid in the £ compares favourably with other centres of similar size. Ove'r £22,000 was collected * last year in general rates. Salaries paid to officials totalled £1,827. Total payments approximated nearlj r £50,000 —in somewhat striking contrast to the few pounds expended by the first borough council nearly 50 years ago!