NATIONAL DAIRY ASSOCIATION.

Taranaki Daily News, 21 June 1919, Page 9

NATIONAL DAIRY ASSOCIATION.

! ANNUAL CONFERENCE., REVIEW OP THE INDUSTRY. ME MORTON'S TEENCHANT. REMARKS. (Own Reporter.) !!i The twenty-fifth annual conference of the National Dairy Association was held at Palmerston North on Tuesday. Mr A. Morton (president} occupied the chair, and there were also present: Messrs A. MacFarlane, W. Fisher, T. Bassett, J. B. Gow, W. D. Powdrell, E. Allen, J. D. Brown, members of the executive, J G. Harkness, secretary, and representatives of about 90 factories and firms. The following Taranaki factories'were represented: Awatuna, Alton, Bell Block, Eltham, Hawera, .Toll, Kaponga, Kaupokonui, Mere Mere, Mangorei,, Midhirst, Maketnwa, Moa, Ngaere, Normaahy, North Taranaki, Omata, Okato, Puniho, Riverdale, Stratford, Tikorangi, and Taviki.

PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS. The president expressed his pleasure at meeting members under much;happier conditions than during the past four years, because hostilities had ceased, and, although pefl.ee had not yet been signed, he hoped it would not be long before it was. The Empire and New Zealand as a part had made great sacrifices in connection with the war and he hoped that the sacrifice would not have been in vain and that they would have long and lasting peace. New Zealand had responded nobly and well. The burden cast on them as the result of the war was very heavy, and it was going to cause a lot of Consideration by the leaders as to how best the burden was to be met. They had seen a statement made by some of the leaders that the best, methods of providing for this would be by enormously increasing production. As representatives of the primary producers of the Dominion, they would recognise that they were now doing their best to increase production, but they were up against difficulties on all hands. They had only got to look at the figures published to see that production had not increased much, but there were conditions that militated against production.

SHORTAGE OF LABOR. A large number of men engaged in primary production had gone to assist the Empire, and, in addition, a number had been drawn into other branches and the primary industries had suffered. Owing to being unable to obtain labor for primary production, many producers had been forced to reduce their herds, or to do away with them altogether, and go in for some other branch that did not require so much labor. Expenses also had been considerably increased, nnt only in paying such labor as could be procured, but in maintaining efficiency of the farms owing, to the cost and difficulty of obtaining manures, etc The policy of the Government in fixing the prices at which staple products should be sold had not had the tendency to increase production, but hod, on the other hand, the opposite effect. To obtain as much for his produce as it cost to produce, there was no encouragement, but rather discouragement, to increase production. The Government had been advised by officers of the Dairy Department that it was impossible for farmers to produce butter to sell at the price fixed for local consumption, yet they persisted in that course. The mattc'r liad recently been brought before Cabinet. and it had been pointed out. that if it were necessary to fix the price so that, the poor man could get as much butter as he required, then the difference between the market price and the export value prieo should be paid by the consolidated funds. So far they had received no definite reply, but were told that decision would be postponed till the return of the, political leaders. Probably soon after ilieir return a decision would be arrived at, when it was hoped that it would be on the lines of that asked by the dairying community.

PRODUCTION HAMPERED. In connection with production, climatic conditions had to be considered, and as far as the year gone through was concerned it was one of the worst experienced for a long time, and, without exception throughout the whole of New Zealand, production was loss on that account. In the first place, they had a cold and wet spring, the bad weather extending until well into the present! year, and in consequence there was only a short summer. Severe frosts cut down the growth of grass in the autumn, and thus also tended to lessen production. Notwithstanding the fact that production had been maintained with difficulty and that labor for manufacturing their produce had been difficult to obtain, the quality of the output had been well maintained. It certainly had not "shown the advance that those keen in the industry would have liked to see made, but, on the other hand,, there was little or no deterioration, and it was very creditable indeed to the managers and staffs that, under the disabilities of labor . they had been able to produce such a uniform good article during the past few years. The fact, too, that for years past they had been selling to the Imperial Government did not tend to improve the quality, as the fact of there being only one customer and one price, whether the butter was of the choicest, grade or just first grade, did not tend to produce the same rivalry among factories to out-do each other, as was the case when they were selling to different buyers, and naturally there was not the same rivalry among the managers themselves IMPERIAL CONTROL.

it was possible that the policy of disposing their produce to the Imperial Government might be continued for a long period. In fact, he had seen in the press that, the Hon. W. D. S. MacDonahl had made a statement to the effect that he intended shortly to call the producers together to discuss with them the question of Imperial control for several years. Personally, he did not know whether that meant the intention of the Imperial Government to purchase their produce for several years longer, or their intention merely to control prices at the other end. Whatever the retentions were the producers would be enlightened in the course of the next few weeks. In connection with the storage and handling of their produce, he stated that though during the previous year very considerable additional accommodation had been provided by factories, yet in some cases this had not proved sufficient in view of the congestion last year, which was the worst yet experienced. By November, 1918, they were clear of all the previous season's cheese, but it was not until well into January of this yenr that they were clear of last year's produce. At present the outlook was much brighter, owi ing possibly to the mimfcer of ebioa

bringing back soldiers. More ships were available this year, and there haa been a considerable clearance during the past four months, and he was hopeful that the whole season's stock would he cleared by the end of October and November. From the tables in the report it would be noted that there was a considerable quantity of cheese in store in April. Since May Ist 87;00tl crates had been shipped, and at present allocations had been made for a fnrther 30,000; BUTTER BOXES,. In connection with the packages in which tliey packed their butter and ■cheso for export, the difficulties of the white pine industry had not been decreased much during the year. At the beginning of the season some factories were faced with the difficulty of obtaining their white pine supplies, and the difficulty was so acnte that in some parts of New Zealand factories had to resort to some other timber, particularly in the case of cheese. As the result of repeated representations the Government had, set up a board, which caused regulations to be made and gazetted re the export of timber, and. foT some time to come the conditions re the supply of white pine -would, be much easier than for some time past, The matter of afforestation on the growing of some suitable timber to replace white pine should be thoroughly discussed, and something practical. should be done, for if all the white pine in the Dominion wasi conserved to the industry, it would only supply the needs for a comparatively short time, so that the sooner it was decided what was a suitable substitute and the proper steps were taken to grow that the better for the industry.

OTHER PRODUCTS. During the past year dairy factory suppliers; had been taking considerable interest as to the value and possibility of producing something other than butter and cheese from milk. The Waikato people were so satisfied with the result of their visit to America that they were now building factories for the production of dried milk powder. The majority of the factories in Taranaki and some in Wellington province had recently sent a delegation consisting of Messrs Murdoch and Forsyth, to America and the continent and England to obtain all information as to what it was possible to obtain from milk and its by-products. In addition, they would look into all mat' ters of interest in the industry and he hoped as the result of their visit they' would be able to improve conditions in various aspects.

THE QUESTION OF MARKETING. The" question of marketing after the Imperial Government contract had expired and their produoe would again have the open market would require consideration, and it was probable that on their return they would be accompanied l>v the N.D.A. London representative (Mr Ellison), when they would place the result of their visit b'cforc different meetings of dairy factories, and ho hoped that before long some tangible steps would be taken to improve the conditions in regard to marketing. During the year two of the largest concerns in the Waikato had amalgamated. Amalgamation on sound lilies and under good management must be in the interests of the factories concerned and their suppliers, and he hoped this example would be followed in other districts'.

NO STAFF TROUBLES. The relations between directors and their_ factory managers had been of the happiest description. Last year a confoience took place between the factory managers' representatives, and a srale ot salaries was agreed to and this, as far as the general body of factories were conconcerned, had been given effect to. There were a few isolated eases possibly where the directors did not, come much into contact with other directors and so did not know the trend of thought elsewhere. It was necessary that, the relations of companies and their managers should be of the best. Managers were an integral part of the companies and they expected them to look after their interests.

He considered that the balance-sheet was of a satisfactory nature. The accumulated profits and annual subscriptions had been transferred to the capital account, and it was the wish of the directors that this should continue. The trading account was very satisfactory, and the volume of business had been very large, probably because factories were desirous of holding as large stocks as possible In concluding, the president stated that they now had the loyal support of the bulk of the companies, but there was no reason why they should not do all the indenting for their mem"•ii .. relations of the association with its members had been excellent He paid a high tribute to the efficient work of the staff. He then formally moved the adoption of the report and balance-sheet for the past year This was seconded by W. V. Harkness (ianki), and carried without discussion.

RESULT OF ELECTION. r /?Z P r/ dent , anDmraced tb « result the election for vacancies oft tlip di rectorate as according to the resolution passed last meting the election now LeeW tv> P ° St t0 annual, meetin B . The Yetmng directors were lessrs E .Allen. (Auckland), H D Torsyth (Taranaki) and A. McFarlane (Wellington). The last named did not seek re-election. The election resulted: Auckland E. Allen (re-elected imop posed);; H. D. Forsyth win * 3 Gorri !? an (Hawera) 42; Wellington Th ° B . Mosa (Eketahuna) 75 48 J P'i 1 im , Ewiß^on (Masterton) ■ ? (Maharahara) 18, E. HardT l7 ' G " D " |aii£i°3 McFarlane (OarLJLvr r f olv<!d to P lace on record the associations appreciation of Mr. McFarlane s services «n the directorate during ,rV 8 yea *' S and wishili S TI? pr , ospent y in tlle future. tw , ? ne ' in responding, stated that when he joined there were t; memoers aTid now there were 257. This meeting was the first on record at which no questions had been asked, showing the confidence members, now had in tlie dayT' at '° !I: a COnt)r9fft witk t,le early Mr C D. Morpeth (Wellington) was re-elected auditor. Hie honorarium of the chairman and directors was fixed at the same as last year. SCIENTIFIC INVESTIGATIONS. < The president stated that at the rejcent North Island Dairy Conference it was considered that the time had arI rived when the Government should asJsist factories by the establishment of a proper investigation department in connection with the dairy industry. They hed passed a resolution to this effect, and he considered the conference might support it. The department might have had a, properly equipped scientific labonitouf, is oaaaaetiM ra-

cent developments that had taken place it had been felt that the Government should have undertaken the work tb&t dairy factories had done in the of sending delegates to America. Certainly the Government had sent with the dairy representatives a delegate who would report to the department, but what was waited was something permanent. Thoy wanted a department so equipped that when they wtffired to know anything about the raw jjaterial, its products and by-products, they would be able to do so. It was a matter of regret that New Zealand had nu proper laboratory equipment. He moved that tlie resolution be endorsed.

Mr Williams (Mere Mere) seconded. They had a tremendous lot to learn, even in connection with the ratio of cheese. Some managers got as high as 2.78 lbs of cheese with a 3.9 test, whereas another only got 2.G lbs with a 3.2 test, meaning that one factory got 2(1 per lb more for its butter fat, this being a considerable loss to the Dominion, Then there was the question of the low yield in January. Mr Basaett (Northern Wairoa) said that his company dabbled a lits.-o in ; I scientific investigation. Lately they had sent samples of casein made from butter milk to various places, and America was the only place they got any information. New Zealand was now turning out dairy produce valued at nearly £8,000,000, and the time had arrived when a properly equipped laboratory should be established at which dairy companies could have samples analysed and where research work eould be carried on. Mr Singleton said that the reason for the lower yield in January was because of the richness of feed, there was more butter fat. The resolution was carried. The president stated that the Auckland Education Board were holding dairy schools a fortnight each year at Auck>» lr.sd and- Hamilton under experts, and , , these classes were' subsidised by the