DAIRY FACTORY FOR GERALDINE.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1118, 14 June 1883, Page 2

DAIRY FACTORY FOR GERALDINE.

A public meeting was held in the Oddfellows' Hall, Geraldine, last Tuesday evening, for the purpose of establishing a dairy factory in the district.

There was a fair attendance, and on the motion of Mr Dunlop, seconded by Mr Mundell, Mr W. L. Slack took the chair. The Chairman thanked them for calling on him to preside, and, after reading the advertisement ca'ling the meeting, said it was not necessary for him to point out the importance to the district of having a dairy factory established in it. Farmers had a bad sfason, and in consequence there was general stagnation and trade was dull. It was their duty to do something that would improve trade, and he believed this was a step in the right direction. The population of tli3 district consisted of farmers, and it was to them they must look. He be'ieved a Butter and Cheese Factory was the best industry they could start, and he trusted that shares would be taken up rapidly, (Applause.)

The Secretary then read the report of the Committee, as follows : " Report of the Committee appointed to enquire what Industry to be started here is likely in some measure to meet the requirements of the district.

" Gknwlbmen, — The Committee appointed by you on the sth day of January lust to make enquiries as to the establishing of a Woollen Factory or some other Industry in Geialdine, have now to submit to you the result of cheir labors. " The general opinion expressed in January last was that an endeavour should be made to start a Woollen Factor}'. The Committee therefore in the first plaee directed their attention to that s.ibjecr, and opened up correspondence with the Kaiapoi, Mosgiel, Roslyn, Ashburton, and Oamaru Companies They also requested Mr Dunlop to make enquiries, find a personal inspection of the Mosgiel Works, and subsequently sent Mr Coltman to Oamaru for the purpose of gathering additional information by conferring with the manager, who had recently returned from England, and examine the machinery brought out by him. On Mr Coltman's return the Committee went into a careful consideration of all the evidence before them, and from the data obtained from all these sources the conclusion forced on them was to establish an Industry of this character with nny chance of fineness would requiro *t the lowest estmnte a capital of

£25,0000. Tlie Committee therefore thought that even if this sum would bo sufficient, it was greater than the district could undertake as a first venture, and consequently the idea was abandoned by them.

" The second industry to wliish the Committee directed their investigations was a Soap and Candle Factory, but the information obtained from the best and most reliable sources on this head quickly scattered all hopes of being able to start a businssß, as it would require as large a capital investment as a Woollen Factory. "The Committee then sought information as to the prospects thoy had wero they to confine the operations to Soap, ■without the Candle department. Under this head the calculations made clearly showed the district could not supply the requisite quantity of the chief ingredient, 'fat,' wnile to import the necessary supply would place the enterpise at too great a disadvantage with the kindred establishments in other parte of the colony. " Your Committee for the several reasons before mentioned having decided not to recommend your entering into any of the foregoing industries examined into the prospecis of the district as suitabb for an industry that has already been Btartdd in several agricultural districts with success ; indeed in one or more instances with results far greater than the most sanguine of the supporters anticipated. Tour Committee,; therefore, feel thoy can, with every confidence in the results, recommend the establishing of a Dairy Factory, and resolutions to this end will be submitted for your adoption in course of the evening. "Eobt. Fish, Chairman, "J. Y. Wasd, Secretary." The Chairman moved tbs adoption of the report, and ifc wa-s oii'ried unanimously. Mr Coltman moved—" That this meeting is of opinion that it is desirable to form a company, to be called the Geraldine Dairy Factory Company, Limited, with a oapital of £5000." With regard to the desirability of such an institution, the Committee had made inquiries into all kinds of industries, and came to the conclusion that this would be the most profitable of any. Ho then read the following extracts from the report of Mr Bowron's lecture published in the Temuka Leader of 30th December last:—" He had been a farmer in England, owning as much as 1000 acres of land, and had been connected with a London business. He had been 44 years connected with the choese trade in London. Now they knew ■who and what he was. During that time he had gained some experience, and that he would, impart to them that night. It appeared to him that the object of the meeting was to ascertain the best way to acquire wealth. He had seen the district, and would say that untold wealth could bo got from it. He saw in the lanes and highways, and bye-ways, the roads to pyramids of gold, and the question was the best way of getting at it. He be lieved the cow to be the best way of acquiring wealth. They might fatten their bullocks, and hare their sheep, buthe would take the cow before anything else. The next question was, what will a cow be able to produce in a yonr I He had gone through this carefully at Home on his own farm, an 1 his cows never failed to make him £2O per cow per annum. That was taking them together with the pigs, for the pigs must be kept in connection with the cow» one could not be well worked without the other. Things were different in , this country. In England they could ' make cheeso for only six months in tho year, here they could make it for nine mouths of tho year, and thus they had the advantage. For the most of six months of the yeai England was covered with frost and snow ;here grass grew for nine months of the year. They had fine land and good weather here, and there was not a better country on the face of the earth for making cheese. As to how much milk would one cow yield, his cows averaged two gallons a day for six months of the year. And he would maintain that a cow in this country would average awo gallons a day, at the lowest calculation for nine months in the year. A cow giving two gallons a day would give 558 gallons in nin« months, which woidd give scwt of cheese. Supposing there weie 500 of these cows sup. plying milk to a factory, they would produre 125 trns of cheese, which at 6|d per lb, ov £6O per ton, would repeesent £7500, or an average of £ls per cow. With the whey the factory would fatten 1000 pigs, as two pigs were always fattened by the mi'k of one cow. and the pigs would give at the lowest calculation £SOO, which, if added to £7500, would give 4:8000 as the gross profit of 500 cows. Supposing the factory gave the farmer 3Ab per gallon for the milk, it would in this way pay £4OOO to the owners of the cows, or £8 3s 4d per cow, and there would be S 4000 left to pay expenses and dividend " Statistics generally bothered an audience so he (Mr Coll man) would try to put the matter iu a more intelligible way. If you get three gallons of milk per day from a cow, and you sell it to the factory at 4d per gallon that is Is per day or 30s per month, or £l3 10s for nine months. Mr Bowron said that a pound of cbeese could be got from a galion of milk, and at that rate 39 tons of chese could be obtained from the milk of 150 cows. It was said that it cost the factory about a halfpenny per gallon to make milk into cheese, and at that rate the cheese would cost the factory 4U per lb. The question now wis whether there was an outlet for the cheese. In 1877 there were 3,000,000 loin of English and

3,100,000 tons of foreign cheese consumed in England. That showed there was a large demand for it. There were 6000 dairy factories in America, and all were doing well, but it was not necessary to go to America. We need not go any further than Ashburton where the factory made £IOOO profit last year, or 20 per cent on the oapital. This was sufficient to show that the project was bound to be a success. The next queslion was whether it waa desirable that they should amal gamats with Temuka, or start an indc pendent factory in Geraldine. In the interest of the trade of Geraldine he. thought they ought to start a factory of their own. If there were 300 gallons of milk per day sold to the factory that would represent £l5O paid in cash. This money would go to Temuka if they amalgamated, because headquarters would be there and farmers would go there to receive it. If the money were paid in Geraldine the farmers would spend it in their own town, and the townspeople would be benefited. Besides it was no small consideration that they should have the management of their own affairs. (Applause.) They might save lawyers' fees, the expenses of articles of association, etc, which would amount to £4O or £SO, but the question was whether it would not be worth their while to spend that in order to have a factory of their own. There were farmers in the district who had shares in the Temuka factory that would uevsr be benefited exespt to the tsstent of the dividend, they would receive as they could never send their milk to Temuka, and it would be well for these to havo a factory in their own district. There was a man told him he would nther empty the milk on the dunghill than to sell it for 4d per gallon, but it could be proved that in no other way could land be made pay so well. He was ready to prove this to any one. The next question was whether they would require £SOOO. They hud intended to make the capital £SOOO, but only £2,500 would be called up, or £2 10s per share. They would require a press, vats, tubs, boiler and engine, etc,, which would cost about £SOO. The Luilding would cost about £IOOO. The Temuka building cost £llOO, the Ashburton £I4OO, the Edeudale £ISOO, but there wore buildings erected in the Australian colonies for £SOO and £GOO. They would besides want a working capital. They had brought up this matter for the approval of the meeting, and hoped the matter would be taken up warmly. Mr Js T . Dunlop seconded the motion. He was sorry there were not more farmers present, as he thought the industry a most desirable one for that class. The Committee had ioquired into many industries, and he believed they had struck upon the right one ot. It was one that was bound to succeed, and he trusted it would be taken up by the fanners. The Eev. G. Birclay said he did not know much about the matter. He had not had the benefit of the previous discussion upon the subject, and consequently was not prepared to offer an opinion. He would, however, be glad to hear the opinions of some paactica' farmers on the subject before the motion was carried. Mr Cult man relied on the authority of Mr Bowron. He might be a very intelligent man, but he (Mi* Barclay) would rather Inar the opinions of Mr Postlethwaito, or Mr Slack, or Mr Shaw, or Mr Kelman, or some other practical farmer on the subject. He would like to see it a success, but he wanted to hear it well ventilated before they rushed into it, He supposed 41 \nv gallon meant delivered at the factory, and it would certainly cost a farmer something to deliver it. It was also said that one gallon of milk would yield lib of cheese, and he would like to hear the opinion of some practical farmer on that also. Id fact he woidd like to have the imprimatur of local men on the subject before it was undertaken.

Mr Farrell asked Mr Coltman his authority for the fig'u 'es he had quoted.

Mr Coltman said he had read them in the Geualdine Guardian. The editor of that paper was present, and would probably givQ his authority. Mr J. M. Twomey said the figures qouted were perfectly He had obtained the inform ition from the secreto the Ashburton Fjicfcory, and he had no doubt but it was accurate The man who had stated that he would rather throw milk o:i his dung heap than sell it for 4d per gallon knew very little about what he was saying If li3 compared the cow by selling her milk at 4d per gallon, with sheep, he would find the advantage greatly m favor of the cow. There was no other way in which a farmer could make so much of his land. Mr Postlethwaite said that being a practical farmer would not necessarily enable a man to know all about dairy factories. He was a shareholder and a Director of the Temuka factory, which he had entered believing that a branch would be started in Geraldine, and that it would be for the good of the whole district. When the matter of starting a Geraldine branch was mooted it was said the Geraldine subscribers were not numerous enough. He had asked how many shares would required to give a brancli in Geral lino, and was informed that about '2OO shares would be necessary. When hi foiin 1 out that, and that they could get a building up for £IOOO, he iliuiujlil it was as good for Hum to start

a factory for themselves. If the figures quoted were correct, there was no doubt but it would be more profitable than crops, and he believed the day would come when instead of grain they would have cows in their paddocks. The proper attention was not pa: 1 to the milking of cattle in this country. There was nothing to make a cow go dry so soon as not to milk her clean. When at Kiccarton he bought a cow, and was told she would be dry in three months, bnt she kept the family in milk and butter for nine months, and he sold her fat for £lO. The secret of good cattle was good feeding and clean milkinc. He was glad the Committee had turned their attention to this industry. Although he said nothing, he was opposed to a woollen factoiy, for he knew that sufficient capital could not be raised. They had better grass and better land here than in Ashburton, and he saw no reason why they should not succeed as well. Dr Fish was not a practical farmer, but he thought he might be ranked amongst cockatoos (laughter), and he felt a deep interest in the welfare of the district. (Hear, hear.) He had read the information given by Mr Coltman in the Gebaldine Guardian, but he knew it before from friends of his own who lived in Ashburton. He thought there could be nothing stronger than the fact that a man with 50 acres of land had been receiving from £2O to £3O per month all Inst season for milk supplied to the dairy factory. He anew all this to be a fact before he had read it in tho Gl'baldine Guardian, and had urged it on the attention of farmers ever since.

Mr Twomey said ho saw the man's receipts for the money. There were otliura receiving £46 16s per month for milk. Mr Coltman apologised for not giving more information regarding Mr Bowron. He was a man who thoroughly understood the business, or elsi he would not have been appointed by the Government as a lecturer on dairy factories throughout the colony. The small farmer depended principally on grain, and if that failed he was nowhere. If the factory started he would have two strings to his bow. Although he was no farmer ho would prove to any m?n that £2O or £3O a month could be made out of a farm of 50 acres. Mr Kelman : What kind of land ? Mr Coltman : Land that will feed cattle that will give three gallons of milk per day. Mr Allan slid that average iand would do it. He had cowb which gave from 5 to 7 gallons of milk per day. If cows were not properly milked they would not give it, for there was nothing to make a cow run dry so soon as bad milking. MrTvvomey m& that as the figures given by Mr Coltman appeared to be doubted, he would say that they had been supplied by himself. He had been 12 months now studying the question, and had collected all the information he could get. He had also been associated with the promoters of the Temuka Factory, and had hoard the pros and cons argued there. He had also consulted Mr James Guild, Chairman of the Temuka factory company, and a gentleman who had wide experience in cheese making, so as to give correct information regarding the industry to the people of Geraldine, and what he had collected he gave to Mr Coltman. He therefore could say that Mr Coltman'a statements were accurate in the main. As for Mr Bowron he was a gentleman who once was a large farmer, having as many as 200 cows in England. He had also two wholesale and some retail shops in the cheese trade in London. He hud been engaged in this for 44 years, during which time he visited every country in Europe, and also America, where cheese was made, and examined every system of making it. This would show that he was a man who knew his business, and in fact he did. He knew more about cheesemaking than any man in Mew Zealand, perhaps nil New Zealand put together, and it would be well if they could get him to give them a lecture. Mr Farrell thought they had b»tter land in Geraldine than in Asburton. Mr Allan siid they had. He knew Ashbuvton ; he knew the figures given were correct, for he knew the man who Mr Ivvomey said was receiving £46 per month The motion was then put and carried unanimously. Mr Shiers moved—' That the Company be floated with a capital of £SOOO in 1000 shares of £5 each.' Mr Bowron was a o-entleman appointed by Government temporarily, subject to ratification by Parliament for the purpose of lecturing on dairy factories. There was no district more suitable for a factory than Geraldine because they had pure water and that was necessary. He hoped the industry would be started, for cheese was gold in any country in the world. Mr Mundell seconded the motion. He thought the industry the best paying that could be adopted. Farming was very risky ; nearly as risky as horse racing (laughter and cries of ' Oh !') He said it and he would say it again. There were winds, rains, and prices to contend with He had seen fat cows at Tinwald sale yards which had been milked during the year for the factory, and every one there said the factory was a grand thing for the farmers. They had land here better than Ashburton, but they had not the same energe ic pf-ople. The leading men did not t<ke the same interest in matters, but he hoped they would all take this industry up now. and make it a success. Mr Muslin asked why it was that the shares had been altered from £2 to £5. Mr Coltman said that the principal reason was that many would not take more than one share, and that it would be as easy to get £5 as £2 out of them. They would want the money immediately if tliere was any possibility of starting the factory this year. If they could get machinery in the colony he saw no reason why they could not start it this year. He had been credibley informed by one man that machinery could be got in the colony, and it came to him from another sour-e that tliey could not. Mr Twniney said I hat it was he who had toll Mr Coltman that the necessary plant c mil be got in £Jc-w Zealand. He had asked the quest'on of Mr Guild, who told him that there were two firms in New Zealand who cjuhl supply the plant.

As Mr Guild had been making inquiries for tha last 12 months he ought to know. The motion was then put and carried unanimously. A list of names, amongst which were the names of the most influential men in the district, was then submitted to the meeting as a .Provisional Directory, and on the motion of Mr Dunlop, seconded by Mr Allan, it was resolved that they should be elected. The meeting then terminated, with the usual vote of thanks to the Chairman. About 150 shares was taken up at once.