Taitapu Dairy Company.

Te Aroha News, Volume VII, Issue 454, 15 March 1890, Page 4

Taitapu Dairy Company.

The annual meeting of the Taitapu Dairy Company was held on February sth, and as the directors’ report contains matter of interest to shareholders and directors of other companies, I give it in full;— “ The directoi-s have pleasure in submitting to the shareholders their halfyearly 0 report and balance-sheet, and in doing so congratulate them upon the patronage and success that has attended the factory. Tho directors regret that they are unable to recommend a dividend to be paid to the shareholders on this occasion, but hope to be able to do so at the next half-yearly meeting, to be held in August next. The quantity of milk received for the period ending January 31st-, wa3 2,223,158!b3, and the output of butter for the same time was 75.9101 bs. Two large cream vats in addition to the present two have been acquired, which give ample room for ripening cream before churning, and thus obviate the necessity of churning unripe cream, which has proved a loss to the Company. The butter drier has not yet been used, as it has been found that butter for exportation is better not to be put through it. The new engine is now to hand, and, when erected, suppliers and shareholders can with confidence look for better results. Owing to tbe pump drawing up stones, it was found necessary to put down a tank and pump from it, which acts admirably. The directors are pleased to state that suppliers responded to their call to take up shares in proportion to the quantity of milk each supplied. The number of shares now taken up is eight hundred and seventy-one, leaving only one hundred and forty-one out of the nominal capital of the Company to be applied for.’ Directors, therefore, recommend, as indispensable, that the capital of the Company be increased to £4,000, as there is a probability of creameries being required in some of tho adjoining districts, and also a likelihood of the expansion of the bus'ness at the factory. The Directors have from time to time been in considerable trouble about the analysis of milk, principally owing to the fac that the samples have to be sent to Lincoln College for that purpose; and as the chemist at the College has not been able, owing to other duties, to attend to this matter, the directors have suffered great inconvenience in consequence. It is hoped, however, that a new appliance will soon be forthcoming and tests of the mkk made on the premises, and thus obviate all the trouble hitherto experienced through this want. According to resolution at a recent meeting of directors, it is my duty to lay before you a report made by a Committee on that behalf relative to certain analyses recently made, owing to rumour gone abroad as to unfair practices ; and as it is the wish of the directors, as far as they are able, to conduct the duties of their trust impartially, the following report is herewith brought forward for tho information of the shareholders. We are sorry to have to say that our present Secretary has, owing to other duties, been compelled to resign his office, as he has given every satisfaction during his term with us. Applications for the office of Secretary have now been invited, which will, in all probability, be decided to morrow evening.” The following is the Committee’s report on milk tests made at Lincoln College : “Your Committee met on several occasions to make inquiry into the results of the late analyses, and begs to report that, after much consideration in comparing the whole of the results of Nos. 8, 28, 19, and 11, respectively, from the same owner, which are as follows :—(8) August 29th, 3 21 ; (28) October 21sb, 3-71 ; (19) December 13th, 4-47; (11) December 21sb, 3'68 ; January 21st-, 4'02. We find there was a rise on December 13th of ’76, and a sudden fall after seven days of '79. This we are unable to understand, seeing that- on December 13bh the test was taken from the morning’s milk alone, while on October 21st and on December 21st, it was taken from the evening’s and morning’s milk, and showed a fall of '79, which is contrary to tests taken daily by the Aylesbury Dairy Company, where it was found that tho evening’s milk was richer in butter fat than the morning's, sometimes reaching -25. We also find that Nos. 23 and 10 carno out satisfactorily. We further find that it had been arranged to kee ( j back a portion of tbe good milk of No. 7 upon the analysis of December 21st, with a view to see what difference, if any, it would make between it and that of December 13th, and we found that it rose from 3'26 to 3'68, thereby showing that the percentage can be raised or lowered as desired. We find too, that No. 12, a single cow, said to be rich in cream, came out with a result of 4'35. From the above we are of the opinion that the morning’s milk of a herd of cows is nob likely to show a test of 4‘47, and we arrived at the conclusion, from tho above facts, that No. 19 must have been seriously tampered with. Your Committee wishes you "to take this into consideration, and recommends that the greatest possible care be exercised when taking milk for analysis. Your Committee are further of opinion that no supplier should know when his milk is about to be tested. This we have arranged, subject to your approval.” It was agreed to call a special meeting for the purpose of increasing the capital of the Company to £4,000. A discussion took place on the question of reducing the number of Directors, bub ultimately a vote of thanks and confidence in the Directors wa3 carried without dissent.

A hearty vote of thanks was ordered to be recorded to Mr Gray, of tbe Lincoln Agricultural College, for his kindness in gratuitously analysing samples of milk. The kindness shown to the Company by Mr Ivey, Director of the College, was also gratefully referred to. A vote of thanks was passed to the Chairman, Secretary and Treasurer, and the meeting closed. — Correspondent.

“Sturdy” in Sheep. —ln reply to the question “Is sturdy in sheep hereditary?” a correspondent, evidently a competent authority on the ailments of sheep, thus writes to Sheep and Wool : “ Sturdy in sheep is not hereditary ; and supposing the ram had been previously affected with sturdy, it would have no predisposing tendency to that malady in the lambs. Many absurd theories were propagated at one time to account for sturdy, but in 1853 Ruckenneister, a German veterinarian, enunciated as the result of many experiments the origin and the cause of sturdy, which is now adopted by all the scientific authorities who have given any consideration to the subject, and to have c’early established that sturdy is connected with the tape-worms in dogs, from which they discharge an innumerable number of eggs, which happen to be taken up by the sheep with their food, and which set free a six-hooked embryo, which enters, the circulation or bores through the tissues when it finds a suitable habitation in the brain. Numerous experiments weie made by feeding dogs with the sturdy cyst in sheep, and in nearly all cases produced tape-.y/orms in dogs, and by administering segments of tape-worm, to sheep more than fifty‘per cent, became affected >vitU sturdy.