OUR DAIRY INDUSTRY.

Te Aroha News, Volume XXVII, Issue 4395, 6 April 1909, Page 3

OUR DAIRY INDUSTRY.

To the Editor. Sir, I noticed an able article in your paper of the Ist inst., entitled “ The Dairy Farming Outlook. ■' Your Contributor very opportunely bits the nail on the head when he deplores the utter carelessness of the ordinaiy dairy farmer in culling his herd. Is it not the height of folly that a farmer should feed and milk a cow when she is not bringing in enough to even pay for the labour of milking, leave alone the cost of her feeding and the profit needed, etc. 1 But I think there is another very important thing needed in dairying which perhaps your correspondent would have TJoticed had he more space. I refer to the proper feeding of the cow. Is it not astonishing that a farmer should expect to get milk from half-starved cows when he might as well try to get blood out of a stone.

Your contributor very wisely places before us an example which most of us

v ould do well to follow. Before, however, we can agree with the statement that Mr Driver’s cows have created a record for the Auckland Province, we would like to hear a little more about them. Would Mr Driver kindly let us know what his cows have done in the past, say for the last season and this present one ? Perhaps he would not mind us trespassing so far on his t’ud • ness as to ask him to make his statements in pounds of butter fat. In those times when prices paid to suppliers vary so much the result, if stated in £. s. d. is very misleading. Of course Mr Driver will be careful to see that his statements are coirect. When we are speaking i o our neighbours about our cows a stii per or two either way perhaps, does not matter much, but it is altogether different when the result is going into print and vouched for as correct. I trust, Mr Editor, that you will be al >le' to find space for the above and also allow me to say that I have noticed with ■ pleasure the interest you have taken in all matters pertaining to the farm. Your articles from time to time ha ve proved very helpful, not only to me, but-I am sure to many another.— I am, e(c.,

Dairy Farmer. Manawaru, April 4, 1909*

(To the Editor )

Sir, -Captain Montgomery accuses me of rushing into print, without making inquiry whether, there was a telegram sent congratulating Sir Joseph Ward on his sp'riled action in offering a Dreadnought from the people of the Dominion to the British Government. Surely the Captain is not serious in suggesting that I should go round making private inquiries whether ary individual sent a telesram to Sir Joseph Ward. I fancy I would receive a warm reception, if I had the impertinence to put such a question to the Captain, whether' he,' as an Imperial Officer and a man who has served his country and a thorough Tn.p irialist sent a congratulatory wire to Sir Joseph "Ward ?I am sure he must have given Sir Joseph Ward a cheer, when he read of. his spirited action, whether he sent a telegram or not. The Captain has mistaken my object in drawing public attention to the fact that To Aroha was the only Borough in the Auckland province .that ignored the action of the Government. All the other Borough Councils discussed the question and also the Harbour Board, Chambers of Commerce, Education Board, . City Council and School Committees. But Borough Council Te Aroha, we are informed is of a retiiing disposition and d'd not want to flout its loyalty before the Public. This reminds me of an address I heard given many years ago in a small'mining township by the Rev. Mr Gillham, now of Auckland, He said there was a lot of people who told the world they were Christians, but unfortunately they had to keep On telling the same sort of thing or no person would believe it. If the Captain had not informed us that our Boi’pugh Councillors were, of such a shy and retiring disposition, we would never have believed it. And Oh, what awful bounders the other lot must be to go flouting their loyalty and confidence in Sir Joseph Ward and the Ministry. I will just mention a few well-known names : Auckland Harbour Board (Hon. Mitehelson), Board of Education (J. C. Pair, Esq.), Auckland City Council (Mayer: Charles Gray, Esq.), Chamber of Commerce, and a host of others ; and, by the way sir, the first three gentlemen are native born, and what pride those young natives must feel in having such a man as Sir Joseph Ward, who is also a native, at the head ot affairs, who has lei the whole British Empire, and brought it into (ouch with the Mother country. As a humble individual, I take off my hat to Sir Joseph as the great leader of our country; hnt if I am to follow the Captain’s argument, those men are only a lot of bounders whose only object is to bring themselves under the notice of the public. As this is one of the loveliest spots in New Zealand I certainly do not like to see us one of the loneliest, and I sincerely hope our Borough Council will shake a little of its diffi- . dence off and lose no opportunity of bringing us under the notice of the dominion in season and out of season.—l am, etc., John Wuxiamb. P-S.—l never received any crumbs from the Government.—J. W.