COAL AND DRIED MILK.

Taranaki Daily News, 24 June 1920, Page 5

COAL AND DRIED MILK.

THE OHUEA DEPOS\TS. " •Hie following remit irom tiie Te Roti branch was discussed at the last meeting of the Taranaki executive of the h'armere' Union:-'-That the Government he urged to expedite the Stratford railway line so as to open up the coalfields in the Taungarakau and Ohura districts." The chairman said that coal obtained in the district had many advanta"es from the consumers' point' of view over that which was sea-home. It was very necessary, in the interests of the dairyins industry,, that lite coal deposits "in Taranaki should he opened up. lie believed that good steam coal could he obtained at Ohura, and as the representatives of the 'farmers thev should push the matter as far as thev could. Mr. Owen said he had been 'told by the director of a dried milk factory at Warcroa that an advance lor a considerable amount hud been received from the bank for three yemv, on condition that fid per lb was paid on all butter-fat in liquidation of the .debt. The suppliers quite anticipated jetting 2s fid per lit on their latter-fat after paving the fid per lb due to the bank. Taranaki companies were, he pointed out, a 'l«ng way behind that. Mr. Washer said it had been stated in the press that the price of dried milk had dropped from £Hjf! to JCIOO per ton, anil i» - slewed that (he market for dried milk was not stable, and i's manufacture could apparently be.overdone. * Mr. Owen sajd he had been (old that tho market could he extended and that dried milk eould be reconstituted Info ordinary milk. , Mr. Maxwell: It can, but not profitably. Mr. Cleaver: Without a large and reliable supply of coal dried' milk conW not be manufactured, He bad'visited a dried milk factory up north, and had come to the conclusion that without an almost unlimited supply of coal the industry could not go on. In Taranaki they had plenty of water, but no coal They could not do better than support tho remit. Mr. Buckeridge referred to a dried milk factory which used 20 tons of coal * (lay and had a stack of 160 tons of coa! in reserve. Mr. Cleaver said that after his visit up north he had eome to the conclusion that Taranaki dairy farmers were not in it. He referred to a* case in which 2s 8d for hutter-fat had been guaranteed for five yearg. The remit was adopted.—Star. t