A Pastoral Province

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 923, 17 March 1930, Page 8

A Pastoral Province

AUCKLAND LEADS THE WAY MORE than 60 per cent, of the total output of butter in New Zealand last year was produced in the Auckland Province. It also accounted for 15 per cent, of the Dominion’s output of cheese. A marked increase in the total is expected from New Zealand’s largest province this year.

The province has greater possibilities for the development o£ the pastoral industries than any other part of tlie Dominion. More and more land is being brought under cultivation each year, more especially in the North, which is coming into its own. The freer use of fertilisers is producing richer land capable of carrying more stock, and tile advent of herdtesting is culling out those cows that do not give the maximum return, and putting dairy-farming on a scientific basis. The old haphazard methods have gone, never to return. From new on, each year must.show a substantial increase in the output of the province. The wet summer just experienced has been productive of phenomenal growth, and everything goes to show that the present year will be a record one. In the Auckland Province alone, 109 factories deal with the pastoral products. This number is made up of 11 cheese factories, 50 butter factories and 48 factories that make both butter and cheese. The industry provides work for more than 1,500 people directly, and involves a wages bill of almost £370,000. There are 62 women employed, principally in butter-making and clerical work, and they divide £B,OOO between them in wages. Some idea of the vast extent of the industry can be gauged from the fact that the approximate value of the plant, machinery, buildings and land involved is £1,800,000. In addition, there are various byproducts, such as dried milk, sugar of milk and casein, that provide work for other New Zealanders. The ramifications of the industry are extensive and, either directly or indirectly provide hundreds of workers with permanent or temporary jobs for varying periods. More than 20,000 separators “whir” in the province every morning in farms and factories doing their part in the production of the £10,000,000 worth of dairy products raised on the rich, green pastures of Aufckland annually. To supply motive power to the in-

i dustry, steam, gas, oil, electricity and { water are harnessed. It is estimated that about 615 engines are used for the purpose in the provincial district, approximately made up of 120 steamengines and 4SO electrically-driven engines—other 15 being spilt up among the lesser motive powers. Who can imagine 56,000 tons of butter? Yet that is what the province can show for a year! It can also produce 12,000 tons of cheese, and in addition, by products to the value of approximately £ 500,000. And to produce these astounding figures about 21,000 suppliers are kept busy all the year round. ) It is estimated that about 100,000,000 pounds of butter-fat is received by the factories in the province annually for the making of butter —nearly 45,000 tons. Approximately 10,000,000 pounds of fat is used for cheese over and above the previous figures —approximately 4,500 tons. The cost of the butter-fat to the factories is in the vicinity of £8,250,000, other materials being worth about £290,000, bring the total cost of materials used up to £8,500,000. Milk and cream cartage costs £166,000, the working expenses of manufacturing are nearly £330,000, and marketing entails the •outlay of about £400,000. The immensity of the industry is scarcely realised by town-dwellers, though it is so closely entwined with their businesses. A bad year for the farmers is followed by a correspondingly had year for the business people. When the farmer has the money he spends it, and channels of business operate freely again. What the next few years will show in the advance of the pastoral industry can be gauged when it is stated that the value of the output of butter and cheese for the Dominion is increasing by approximately £750,000 a year. With the bringing in of new land and the employment of better methods the increase will be much greater, proportionately, in the future The Strawberries and Pansies of the Auckland Province have proved their worth.