The Temuka Leader SATURDAY, OCTOBER 28, 1882. DAIRY FACTORY.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1023, 28 October 1882, Page 2

The Temuka Leader SATURDAY, OCTOBER 28, 1882. DAIRY FACTORY.

A notification appears in the Mataura Ensign to the effect that five-pence petgallon for milk in any quantity will be paid at the Edcndalc Dairy factory, which is now in full swing again. When the factory system wis under discussion a few months ago in this district certain wise-acres laughed at us because of the statements we made with regard to the value of a cow under the dairy factory system. Of course they knew better than anybody else how things -would turn out. The factory would never pay, no one would sell milk to it at three pence per gallon and the whole thing would hurst up in no time. This was the way they argued, without giving any reasons whatever for the conclusions they had come to, in fact people who condemn in a random sort of way like this seldom give reasons for what they say, obviously because their reasoning faculties arc net of the highest developed kind. Wo have no douht that Professor Ido Medo would find the reasoning humps’' of a areal many of the anti-Putter-and-Checso- Factory - Company people very small indeed, and their pelf-esteem bumps very large. Now the fact that five pence per gallon can be gnen for milk ought to be sufficient to show these people that tney do not monopolise the wisdom of the worhl, and that there are other people capable of forming opinions just as well as themselves. When the

question was mooted, and three pence per gallon put down as the probable price of milk, we. pointed out that the company could give much more than that price for it. By referring to our issue of the 21th of Juno last the following will be found in the leading column :

“ It is quite possible that the factory may be able to give od or Gd per gallon for milk. Mr Sando said that there would be 4d per pound profit on cheese after paying all expenses, and buying milk at 3d per gallon. If this is a fact the company could give much more

than 3.1 per gallon for milk. The quantity of milk required to carry on a factory lias been set down at 400 gallons per day, every gallon of which will produce a pound of cheese. That would be 400lhs of cheese per day, and we think that a profit of 2d instead of 4d per pound would give the shareholders splendid interest on their capital I Any one who will go to the trouble of making the calculation will find that 400 lbs of cheese per day (Sunday included) at & profit of 2d per pound will yield a weekly income of £23 ss, and pay shareholders about 35 per cent on a capital of £2500.” This is how we discussed the subject on the 24th of June last, and now the news from the Edcndale factory shows that we formed a correct estimate of the price that could be given for milk. On the 31st of August last we again expressed an opinion that at 5d per gallon tor milk a good cow would yield £l4 worth of milk in a year. This, of course, was met with ridicule. The anti-Butter• and-Cheese-Company people were up in arms again, and said it was wrong, but gave no better reason for saying so than they did for anything else they had said. Now we ask our readers to examine the question.—Can £l4 a year be got from the sale of a cow’s milk at 5d per gadon ? Experienced people who have tried it say that a good cow will yield 3 gallons of milk per day—that is 1A gallons each milking—for about 32 weeks of the year. That leaves the cow dry for ten weeks of the year. Now 3 gallons a day at 5d per gallon means Is 3d per day, or 8s 9d per week, for the cow will milk on Sundays, and if that is multiplied by 32 weeks it will give a result of £l4. We remember very well the way we were ridiculed when we expressed this opinion. There were certain people, who know everthing, who thought no language extravagant enough to ridicule this idea, but in our

opinion our calculations ore net so far wrong after all. Of course, they will not allow us to know anything at all about farming, in fact one of them was good enough to say that we would .not know a bull from a cow. Still it is very remarkable that with all our ignorance we were able to see, on the 24th of June last that 5d per gallon could be given for milk. r ihat fact is in our favor at any rate, and goes very far towards showing that wc can put two and two together just as well as those who do know the difference between a bull and a cow. We think also that we have made it pretty clear that if £l4 can not be got from every cow, it can be got from some, and that, at any rate, the factory will prove very profitable to fanners. Of couise, all this would not be worth discussing now only that these learned people who had such a thorough knowledge of the difference between a bull and a cow did a great deal of harm by their croaking? when the company was being floated. The cry they raised that it would

never pay ramie a great many obstain from taking up shares, and thus the whole thing was crippled. It was useless to point out to them that dairy factories were immense successes wherever they had been established. When we pointed out that 5d per gallon could he given for milk they would not believe it, and so they went on insisting that only 3d per gallon could ho be given for milk ; that no farmer would keep and milk cows at that price, and in this way the project was nearly destroyed. The result is the Directors have not sufficient funds to go on with it now, because a good many of the shares were not sold, and so they will hare to wait until the shareholders have paid up all their shares before they can commence operations. Now we have given advee frequently to our readers with regard to this matter, and lime is proving every day that our statements have invariably have to been. What we would suggest now is this : Let all the shareholders pay up the full amount of their shares at once, and let those who have hitherto refused to take up shares take them up now. If this is done the Director! can go to work at once, and by pushing on operations will he rea.ly about the middle of January to buy milk. If not, the dairy cannot he opened until nextseason. Let farmers ask themselves is it worth their while ? Supposing that instead of £ll they only make £lO out of a cow, can they make ; s much out of their land in any other way ? These are the questions they ought to put to themselves, and if they find they can answer them satisfactorily they ought to act on their own judgment, and never bother about those highly enlightened individuals, who have such a thorough knowledge of the diffeience between a hulland a cow, and whose knowledge is frequently limited to that.