FARM AND DAIRY.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 71, 14 September 1911, Page 7

FARM AND DAIRY.

MR. F. B. GREVTLLE ON THE DAIRYING INDUSTRY. SOME HINTS FOR THE DAIRYMAN. T

11l responding to the toast of "The Dairying Industry" at the Rongotea banquet on Friday, Mr. F.lB. GreviHc, editor of the New Zealand Dairyman, in a characteristic and vigcrous speech, made some pertinent lemarks on dairying (says the Feilding Star). ,He said lie had been much disturbed in his mind over the conundrum whether the, new factory was the best In New Zealand or not. lie had put the question to one of the leading authorities of New Zealand, who said it n-as at least one of the best. There wan a question, which he wanted to put to tie dairymen of Rongotea—had they lost more money in the manufacture of butterl before they installed the freezer or afterwards? When he first came to Rongbtea, he had been horrified to see the way they Were trying to make butter without a freezer, and when he had come along some time afterwards he was horrified- to see the way in which they were making the butter with a freezer. ; (Laughter.) However, he did not think i they couki have a factory and appointments better than they now had. He had had 21 years' connection with j the industry, and he remembered liiany years ago when Parliament set up 'a Commission to inquire into the .dairy, flax, and wine industries. The butter produced at the time was not 1 very good. He was on the staff of the. New Zealand Times then, and the icditor used to say to members of the' Parliamentary Commission that he had on his staff a man who knew more about the dairy industry than the whole of them. "Why don't you bring him along, then?" he was asked, and the consequence was the speaker was sent along. He had.'as

rrauui- on xne paper, naa tne advantage of reading everything the other witnesses had said to the Commission. When lie went before the Commission he was astonished at the ignorance of the members on dairying matters. They did not know whether freezing injured butter or not. He used to wonder in those days what New Zealand would be like when she exported one million pounds' worth of dairy produce. Now she exported three million pounds' worth of dairy produce. There was one fact which he wished to impress on the people of Rongotea, who no doubt thought their dairying land was high- | priced. Whilst the price of all other farm products had steadily decreased during the past 50 years, the price of dairy products had increased. That was the reason for the high price of dairying land. Fifteen years ago the dairymen were getting C'/ a d per lb. for their but-ter-fat. Now they were gcting Is. But the main factor in the industry was always overlooked. He had asked a big man in the dairying industry what was the most, important question in dairying, and he had replied he did not know. Mr. Greville was pretty sure no one in Rongotca could tell him either. The most important matter was the economic I production of butter-fat. If the butter- | fat was costing them !)d per lb. to proIduce, they should aim at producing it for Art. The questions of the right cows and the right fodders were the import ant ones. He wanted to put this ques F,| tion to the dairy farmers: If a ton o bran was worth £5 as feed for a cow I what was a ton of clover worth, ani

I what wns a ton of lucerne 'worth ? Again I he expressed the opinion that none o£ (his hearers knew. He had been asked /if he did not think the price of lifcid •was getting too high in Tarnnaki, and 'he said certainly not. He knew a dairyIman in Tarana'ki who milked 24 cows ' on 32 acres, who had received £360 in cash from the factory for his year's but-ter-fat. If they allowed two-fifths for labor—which was a fair proportion— iaii balance would pay interest at the rate of 5 per cent, on the land, valHed at £l-20 per acre.