CORRESPONDENCE.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume VIII, Issue 2470, 7 December 1886, Page 2

CORRESPONDENCE.

A MASTERTON CHEESE FACTORY.

[To the Editor.]

Sir.-It is surprising that in a largo district like this, peopled with an enterprising class of settlers, that no stops are taken to establish a factory for the manufacture of cheose. We have around us a class of settlers of small means, who are mainly dependent for a living on the produco of the dairy. Their farms being not only too small, but in most cases tim-. bered, will not admit of successful agriculture. Butter, the staple article of small farmors, owing to tho amount man-, ufactured and want of good markets, returns the producor an exceedingly meagre remuneration for the capital - aiid labour he employes in- this industry, Were, it not for tho existonoo of a large cheese factory at tlie Taratahi many of the dairies of this district would have been practically suspended'. The. Taratahi Cheese Factory lias now proved itself a profitable investment for the money of the shareholders. It has ■enhanced' the value of farm properties in the neighborhood, and increased the mcome.oftho"milk" suppliers fully 50 per cent. Dairymen will readily accept this statement as true when I inform them that the gross returns:' Her; cow to those connected'with the Factory has averaged £9. With suoh encouraging ■prospects'' '■beforethem, surely the-settlers of this district ought» up and doing, and follow the example of- pluck and ontorprise that.their Wends south of the Waingawahave so laudably set. It is needless for me to discourse at length on the advantages of a Cheose Factory inour midst. lam aware that this question would be a suitable one' for discussion by tho Farmer's Club, but that institution'is mainly represented by men whose minds are wholly absorbed in the.Bucoess of the grain and wool industry, henco the importance of tho question has not received the consideration that it Merited,' For the benefit of those whom it may concern, 1 hope, Mr Editor, you will find space for this letter in your valuable columns,

I am, etc., Farmer. [Three years ago we made a.oanvass of tho farmers in this neighborhood, and found that they would'be prepared to. guarantee an ample supply of milk for' ft Cheese Factory, but the leading storekeepers of the town wero against the project at that time, and it was abandoned on that ground.—Ed, W.D.]