THE DAIRY INDUSTRY.

Taranaki Daily News, 13 July 1918, Page 4

THE DAIRY INDUSTRY.

Keen interest is manifested by dairymen in the dried milk industry, which, if the reports are justified, may cause a revolution in dairying. On the present market it is clear that dried milk will yield enormous prices. The managing director of the Waikato Dairy Company summed up the possibilities by stating that the cost of New Zea land butter in London would return 190s, whereas had the milk from wfaich this butter is made been converted into skim milk powder a return of 510s would be received, making it possible to pay out 3s Cd per lb for butter fat. The point is: Will the price for the product be maintained? That is difficult to say. Maybe the present prices are due to the war and will recede afterwards, but there is evidence that there will always be a strong demand for the product, ensuring payable prices to the producer. At any rate, the Waikato men who have investigated the industry in America are quite satisfled to take the risk of spending large sums of money in establishing and equipping factories for the manufacture of the product. The only information available concerning the industry has come from them. Had the Government been alivo to its business it would long ago have sent its experts to America and Europe to investigate this and other questions of importance to dairymen. Now the Minister for Agriculture promises to do something of the kind but urges caution in making the change from butter or cheese to the new article. This is good advice, but it would have been more valuable had it been backed up by logical reasons and reliable data. The Minister even hints that the Government may take measures against factories discontinuing the manufacture of cheese or butter, at any rate during 'the currency of the war. This jwould be bot/li a wrong and dangerous attitude for the Government to take |np. If dairymen can secure better returns from dried milk than from butter ■r cheese, it should be the aim of the Government to assist and not hinder them, for the sufficient reason that the more money the producers obtain the better it is for the State, especially in the near future, when New Zealand will have to carry the enormous war load. Apart from that, however, the Government would have no right to impose restrictions on the operations of one section of the community, the exploitation of which, by the way, it has done nothing to prevent since the war began, excepting its present feeble efforts to regulate the price of benzine. The shipping vampires are not interfered with. IPowerful interests like these must not be disturbed from their piratical enterprise. But dairymen as soon as they stand up for their legitimate rights are denounced by the Minister as voracious and unpatriotic. Their cheese and butter have been commandeered at prices much below what neutral countries are receiving from the Imperial Government, whilst the dried milk that is now being manufactured in this country by a private firm is allowed an open market and consequently making enormous profits. If it is right for the prices to be regulated in the one instance, surely it is also right that theyj should be-in tfaa other.'

This anomaly is one that members of the present Ministry will be asked to explain when they come before electors again. Meantime, any attempt on their part to prevent dairymen from getting the highest prices for their products will be energetically resisted. The dried milk industry looks a very promising one indeed. For dairy produce of all kind there must always be a strong and increasing demand, and few places are so favorably situated for dairying as is Taranaki. It is certain that if the market for dried milk is maintained at anywhere near the present price, the value of both butter and cheese will rise in sympathy. This may not be a cheerful prospect for the consumers. Just now the dairy industry is in a state of transition, and the developments will be watched with interest. Taranaki farmers cannot afford to lag behind. They have not done so in the past, and will not do so in respect of the new industry if further investigation and examination prove the correctness of the present highly favorable reports.