PIONEERING THE DAIRY INDUSTRY

Taranaki Central Press, Volume IV, Issue 291, 21 November 1936, Page 3 (Supplement)

PIONEERING THE DAIRY INDUSTRY

TARANAKI TOOK THE LEAD IN NEW ZEALAND. COMMENCEMENT OF BUTTER AND CHEESE FACTORIES.

The Dairy Industry in New Zealand lias increased in volume more thai twenty-fold since the beginning ol tin’s century. From haphazard farming it has developed into a highly organised industry and this little country ranks, as high as fourth in the world in point of production of but.tor and cheese. As an exporter of butter it is eclipsed by Denmark alone, while it takes first place in the quantity of cheese exported. According to a little treatise on Dairy Science written by Messrs A. IT. R. Amass, and 11. C. Johnson of the. Stratford Technical High School, the first butter and cheese exported from New Zealand were produced by individual farmers. In 1871 produce to the value of £3-50,000 was exported, mainly to Sydney. Enterprising farmers in some districts bought milk from their neighbours and manufactured butter or cheese with their own plants. In 1885 the first registered factory was formed at Opunake. It

| had a 500 gallon circular vat for | cheese manufacture. Then in 1887 a proprietary butterfactory was established near Elthani. Two Danish separators, each capable of dealing with 150 gallons of mi'k I an hour, were installed, together i with a half-ton box churn and one of the oid type lever workers. The formation of these factories was followed by others in various parts of Taranaki, with the result that prices fell, for the market was I soon overstocked. The factories exI permneed financial difficult i<>s and . most, of them closed down. Incidentally, the price of milk in those days, ; irrespective of quality, varied from 2d. to 2 Id. per gallon. About this time farmers began to consider the pooling of their resources for mutual benefit. In ISSS a meeting was attended by about twenty settlers at Cardiff. Among! them they subscribed £4/10/- in 1 cash and obtained £2O worth of t.im-1 her from a sawmiller giving a pro-1 missory note for the balance. With this capital a packing house

was erected and operations commenced by the Cardiff Butter Packing Company. Butler was delivered || by the farmers twice weekly in a| j. granular and unsalted state, when it | U was bl< lided, worked ami packed into |1 tofura kegs containing 1 cwt. eacli.i d The company was successful and I [j from this small beginning arose the' 2 huge co-operative dairy industry of J IJ New Zealand. i p I ° In 1890 a cooperatiive factory for I 0 the manufacture of cheese was form-1 ed in the same district. The nominal! Il capital was £l,OOO, and the Nation-1 <? al Bank of Now Zealand agreed to I |( finance the business. A loan of £G5O[ X was obtained to build and equip the ! U factory, the farmers agreeing to re- i f| pay the loan by deducting one shilling i o for c-very sixty gallons of milk sup-! p piled. The factory .made good pro- ! 2 gross, a payment of 3d. a gallon be- | IJ ing paid out on mi’k supplied, but.! 0 many difficulties confronted the direc-1 d tors especially in connection with thel fl shipping and marketing of tin? cheese. o