The Sun THURSDAY, AUGUST 16, 1928. THE FRIENDLY COW

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 434, 16 August 1928, Page 7

The Sun THURSDAY, AUGUST 16, 1928. THE FRIENDLY COW

AUCIvLAND’S dairy herds are bellowing prosperity. A lump sum of £400,000 at tlie least is to be distributed this month by the New Zealand Co-operative Dairy Company, Limited, among the dairy farmers in the Waikato. It represents the aggregation of bonuses during- the past year on a record production of over fifty-two million avoirdupois pounds of butter-fat. It also demonstrates the splendid business success of tlie greatest dairying enterprise of its kind in tlie world. If there should be occasions when the man on the land can break from an exaggerated traditional gloom and laugh, this must surely be one for true joy. The friendly cow that appealed so much to R.L.S. lias given cream with all its might, and has proved again that it is for Auckland the supreme animal. This is the cow with brindled horn. In every way the annual report of the progressive co-opera-tive dairy company is the bearer of appreciable news, the herald of better times for everybody—an economic improvement which has come more slowly to the Auckland Province than to any other district in the Dominion. Though an embarrassing drought seriously affected the dairying industry for a long time last season, which had opened with exceptional promise, the total production of butter-fat supplied to the company’s efficient factories throughout the Waikato topped the previous year’s record output by 20,0001 b. Payments for the whole season’s supplies totalled £4,086,002, an increase of £346,000. The company reduced the aggregate cost of manufacture and administration by £28,000. This is proof of efficiency in business, and is in welcome contrast to those big public concerns whose administrators have to boast how their financial losses would have been more calamitous if the management had been less excellent. There are so many good features in the report that a hundred copies of it should he gifted to Parliament, where Ministers and Opposition members are wrangling like fishwives over production, one side claiming an increase, the other deploring a decrease. It may be noted that the farmer continues to lead in lifting the track and finance of the Dominion out of the depression which has lain like a blight on the country for the past two years. This fact should he emphasised now and recorded for future reference because, in a month or two, from many platforms, politicians, whose production has been a sorry record, will have the fortitude to assert with brazen conceit that the better times were brought about entirely by their exhaustive and excellent work. The efforts of farmers at greater production have been aided by slightly better export prices, by remarkably favourable climatic conditions in spite of the spell of drought, and by the wonderful ability of Great Britain to buy our products and lend us money to balance the accounts. The help given by politicians was microscopic; their hindrance to greater prosperity alone is easily measurable. Between seven and eight thousand dairy farmers will benefit directly by the distribution of the Waikato bonus of £400,000. Their pleasure will be shared throughout the whole dairying industry of the Auckland Province an industry which now employs close on 32,000 workers. It is to be hoped, however, that the stimulus given by good results to provincial trade and general prosperity will not be abused by another orgy of extravagance and foolish land speculation. If the gain he spent wisely, the increased prosperity will be of immense value to the province as a whole. Meanwhile, let the Government and Parliament emulate the dairy farmer, and strive to do better work.

THE BISHOP OF AOTEAROA

ANEW page has been turned in the interesting history of the Anglican Church in New Zealand. The first Bishop of Aotearoa has been appointed to exercise episcopal supervision over the Maori people. The Rev. F. A. Bennett, of Hastings, whose mother was an Arawa ehieftainess of high rank, has accepted office as suffragan to the Bishop of Waiapu. The appointment of a bishop to attend to the spiritual needs of the native race has long been under consideration, and in April last the General Synod passed a hill making possible the realisation of the desire of 'many of the Maori people that one of their own race, if possible, should hold episcopal rank. The new bishop will have no actual diocese and, outside the see of Waiapu, will exercise supervision over Maoris only where other bishops so desire, but it is inconceivable that any of the bishops will fail to welcome the Bishop of Aotearoa in their dioceses, and the appointment should virtually mean that the Rev. Mr. Bennett’s influence will extend among the Maoris in all parts of the Dominion. The creation of the new bishopric will give pleasure to Pakeha and Maori alike. It is but another tangible expression of the sympathy that exists between the two races in this country. The importance of the position is not to he lightly regarded. The work will he onerous and will call for the exercise of tact and a complete, understanding of the Maori mind. The Bishop of Aotearoa fortunately possesses the qualities necessary for the success of his office. There has been some discussion on the ideal site for the consecration ceremony of onr first Maori prelate. What plaee more fitting than the Bay of Islands, so indissolubly linked with the early history of the Church in New Zealand?