THE DRIED MILK RUSH.

Taihape Daily Times, 27 August 1918, Page 4

THE DRIED MILK RUSH.

Judging by the high, prices realised for milch cows at the Taihapc stock sale, ); aome; settlers hereabout are becoming., badly! affected with .glaxo fever. An> ~mals of,doubtful value readiiy realised from sixteen to ■• i twenty pounds .per bead, in fact, r3upc*9ttftfe P°% mutingindications that a commencement bad been made towards a boom, in dairy cattle. It is also noticeable that within the last month there have been several clearing sales on dairy farms, the astute old dairymen recognising that the time had arrived to sell out to the very best advantage, but it is remarkable that these old dairyfarmers, with all their experience should be selling out just as the dairying industry has struck a heavy paying lead, and that men with little experience should be buying up everything in the nature of a cow to get a share in the new find. Who is it that is creating this unrest about fortunes in dried milk, and why are they so disinterestedly disorganising an industry that it has taken many years to build up, and has absorbed hundreds of • thousands of pounds of the taxpayers' money in the building? Before rushing into salcyards for cows to produce dried milk, it would be as well to ( avoid those who have .already been | inoculated with the fever germ, and hie away to honest, capable business men who have no axe to grind, and seek their advice. It will be as well to hiave in mind the methods of trusts and combines before launching into the glaxo business. With the initial operations there are very liberal buyers who go round buying up at prices far above market normal, and this goes on until all opposition is eliminated and the producers iaro well under control from wheh they cannot fr'ed thcmsel 1 ves, then down goes'" the price's 'offered and still' further' down they go untii' it becomes unprofitable to grow stock. With a little of the money the trust makes out of its ruined victims it starts a new lot of men who have no money to start themselves, or it dummies the land and so scoops all there is to 'be made. We would suggest to those who are being inveigled into the glaxo business, that they should watch for evidences of trust methods and operations, and act accordingly. We are not particularly' solicitous for the men who allow themselves to be hoodwinked by promises of untold wealth for their butter fat, but we are solicitous* for the welfare and continuity of the magnificent industry every man j woman and child in this Dominion

assisted to build up. 'We venture to say .that there is far more"'mono,- in butter and cheese : iri the long run than there possibly" eari be :; in dried' milk. Dried milk' is' 'slummed milk, as only'" skimmed -milk will keep; it is claimed • that 'this dried skimmed stuff will fetch a higher price than the ordinary full ■' cream milk, but the authorities are not going to allow such dodgery of the pure food laws. Whether milk is sold dry or in its prestine form there must be no avoidance to comply with the law, and inspectors should be instructed to take samples and tost it for butterfat just as they do the ordinary milk taken from the dairyman. It would be manifestly unjust to go on prosecuting the dairyman for shortage of butterfat while dried milk is allowed to be foisted on the public with no butterfat in it at all.