THE DAIRY INDUSTRY.

Taranaki Daily News, 7 April 1917, Page 6

THE DAIRY INDUSTRY.

To the Editor. Sii;.—Seeing a notice in your paper calling on the dairy farmers to attend a meeting at Hawera last Wednesday, a party of lis decided to go down to sec if we could do any good, and also to try and get some explanation irom those responsible for the selling of the output of cheese and that 1% commission to be paid. Well, Sir, to make a long •story short, 1 must say I returned homo thoroughly disgusted with the whole performance." It appeared to me from the very start that tiie whole thing had been cut and dried, for from the tone of the debates and from wlint transpired Messrs Powdrell, Marx and Co., had made up their minds to go to Wellington, not to right the wrong but to move the tax from the cheese to the butter suppliers. I was indeed sorry for those representatives of e'heese factories who were present when they were coolly told by Mr. Powdrell that l-'A per cent, commission would not aft'ect Taranaki very much, it would affect only those who had sold, and this though he was in Wellington all the time the negotiations were 011 and knowing full well that the South Island factories wore working strenuously to have their contracts broken. He (lid not do anything, as he had no instructions! What was the outcome? The Government took the cheese at fl'/sd, the South Island gladly paying the I'A per cent.—in round figures about £4,soo—and making a clear £<>o,ooo at the expense of the North- Island people. I say right here that those who .represented Taranaki then woefully neglected their duty to those who had sokl and sent them down. I lmve been told that when the deal was arranged the merchants, who had done most of the buying, met and, summing the position up, found that if they pooled the'whole lot it had cost tlicin exactly fli/jil. They-therefore suggested to the Government that -they should buy from them at O'/od. They would pay to the factories the prices agreed upon and keep '/jd the business. If this is correct, and I believe it is, why 011 earth was it not accepted? I consider it the finest proposition that could possibly have been made and a splendid way out of the difficulty that presented itself, and had I been connected with a factory that had sold I am afraid I should' be tempted to ask some pointed questions. Well, Sir, I think the only redeeming feature of the whole meeting was the splendid way Messrs. Maxwell and Okey placed the matter before us, Mr. Okey telling the chairman that it was useless going to the Minister to put the burden on to the butter people, but it was no use. But the very men who were sent to Wellington before are going again, and considering that when the voting on Mr. Marx's resolution was only earned by three votes, 23 to 20, you can see how divided the meeting was, and [ think the end only eame because we all got so sick and tired at the resolution being read and reread til we knciv it off bv heart. By this time a long overdue luncheon adjournment; was announced, and that was the end. \V{ were told that after lunch a discussion on casein and sugar of milk was on t . and as -some of us still had lingering ideas of asking one or two questions that we had gone, down to ask we turned up again. Well, Sir, the discussion soon got going, and I was indeed surprised when we were told by Messrs Marx and Powdrell that it :\vas contemplated by the big factories in South Taranaki to give up cheese and go in for buttar and casein and sugar of milk. When Mr. Powdrell was asked what thev were going to do about their calves and pig? that gentleman calmly said theie would be only the steam from the vaporiser to feed t'nem on. Well, I think I see i fine smile on the face of Messes; Dimmock and Co. when they hear this. Did not a great amalgamation -scheme take place last year and the fanners took Tip a liability of £120,000, and to-day we are getting Id to l'/ 2 d less for our pork, and 41/jd less than the South Island farmers, and this company is nil to be swept- away and another £50,001) to £G0X)0O blister to he put on the imlustry?

At this stage Mr. Marx was asked to address the meeting, which lie did. We were told by this eentleman that there ■was an unlimited demand by the Japs Aor tile casein for the manufacture of high explosives, and that a German chemist was making sugar of milk very profitably in the South Island. Now, Sir, T say is not the production of foodstuffs absolutely the most important thing the farmers of this country can do? Therefore arc the loyal and patriotic dairymen of this district going to allow an industry that has takeii twenty years of strenuous labor to place in its present splendid position to be swept away, and the making of casein to be sold outside the British Empire to take its place when the nation and army is calling aloud for cheese and butter, pork and beef! All, too), for the sake of a few extra pence for us whilst the war lasts! Then there is the'question, if you are going to lake the whole of the nourishment out of the milk ■where are you going to i-eplcnish your dairy stocks? To-day the ruthless slaughter of calves in this district is sapping the very foundation of the industry. As little as I like the Government dealing with private enterprises, I say they should step in and make the cheese factories keep to the making of cheese until we are assured the'iiTmf requirements are fulfilled. The whole trouble w: i tlio industry appears to be there is no head and no financing reserve. Every time our representatives 'have negotiated for the last twelve months we have gone down (see reports of taxation, Military Service Board, anil sale of produce). Whilst the industry had the backing "of the merchants, who. arc, I suppose, the smartest business n en in New Zealand to-day, dealing with the companies' secretaries, who arc also second to none in this particular lino we got along all right, but to-day we are in a state of drift because the Government has bought our output, ami there appears to he no one in charge who knows anything about the business. What would have been the position of those factories in Tarauaki which lad cheese on board the Corinna, when she went to Wellington with £430,000 worth of,cheese and no insurance if anything had gone amiss? The remedy for this kind of business is to form an association comprising the whole of the dairy farmers in Taranaki, place at their head the best organiser that can be got, he to belong to and absolutely have" no connection with any other company or institution, and each month to report to and advise all companies in the proving. Then to assure us an absolutely and regular finance, -each factory should place to reserve 1 per cent, sinking funS, tie whole to be pooled to form a fund * " ~ '"A~< .

for those factories wlioh ave the bad luck to have their cheese hung up, or fires, or affected by strikes. They would lie able to keep going and not have the present unsatisfactory position of the L'Oth of the month and no cheques. This would lead to a very'much greater confidence in the industry. If this was considered too self reliant a policy} another system might work. The whole of the factories might sign a joint guarantee at a selected bank, and as this would he a splendid security if hacked by tlie whole industry, there should be less trouble with finance. Then we should do away with the irritating and annoying ly 4 (l butter-fat tax. It is admitted by all to be a serious blunder and unfair when ypu s ce cases of one man Who milks paying 13s per acre and his neighbor who grazes pays nothing and another, when a poor widow with very small family paying 10s per week, to supply cheap butter to the wealthy. We all know the taxes have to be paid, but .we demand a fair deal. Therefore put a 10s export tax on all produce. This would be collected with a minimum of cost, and would riot be noticed by anyone. An I have already encroached rather much on your valuable space, I will close but sincerely trust something will he done this winter to put the industry into its proper position.— I am, etc., WILLIE J. FRKETH. Pukcaruhc, April 4.