The Wairarapa Daily. SATURDAY, APRIL 28, 1888. A Butter Factory for Masterton.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume IX, Issue 2885, 28 April 1888, Page 2

The Wairarapa Daily. SATURDAY, APRIL 28, 1888. A Butter Factory for Masterton.

We have been hearing a great deal recently about depression, ami various nostrums have been preseribedas a remedy. Some vaguely advocate what they are pleased to term" local industries, "and propose doctoring the tariff; others have inspirations about ilax, tobacco and beet. The first ignore common sense, while the second for the most part seem to forget that cheap labor is a necessary factor. So doubt the establishment of new industries on a sound basis is most important and desirable. Before looking about for something new, however, it would be well to satisfy ourselves that are making the most of what we hav& It may be possible for settlers in the Wairarapa to geow profitable crops of tobacco and hops, although the expsritoce of those who kve tried has net on the whole been a pleasant one;.but there is 110 doubt that dairy forming rare be made to pay in this district. It is now one of the most important of our mdustrit?, and it is capable of almost unlimited development, The establishment of cheese factories was a step in the right direction, Mistakes have been made, and even now after some years experimenting, the position of the Wairarapa cheese factories is not a satisfactory one. That they will ultimately prove in every sense successful—not perhaps in each individual case, nor 1 until further changes have been made —we cannot doubt. As yet we have no dairyfactory at Masterton, although meetings have been held and the subject has been discussed. We hope to see something donebefove next season. The experience of last season should open the eyes of dairy farmers to the necessity of finding a market for their products, outside the Australian colo-

nies. Now South Wales, used to be our largest outside market for butter, but it was always an uncertain one owing to the vagaries of the Home supplies in that colony. Last year butter was largely exported from Sydney, and New Zealand had to send her surplus to England; Some shipments from this colony sold well in London, but as a rule the prices realized were low. Shipped in a cool chamber at a total cost of about 2d per pound, butter can be sent from Masterton to London in good condition, and if of prime quality should fetch about Is per lb during the season in the Londonmarket. The difficulty is about the Dairy farmers on a largo scale, who have had experience in packing butter for export, may be successful, but it is practically impossible for the small farmer to get his butter into the London market in good condition. A settler milking ten or twenty cows cannot make up a cwt. keg of butter from churning, and unless be does so, the contents cannot be of first-class quality on arrival in London. That is only one disqualification out of many. Through a butter factory the advantages of selling in the best market couldbe extended indirectly to to the smallest settler, and it appears to us that there are few places in which, a butter factory could be started with better prospects than at Masterton. Probably a site near the railway station would be the best. Milk could be delivered twice a day during the season from all the immediately surrounding districts—Opaki, Te Ore Ore, Wangaeliu, Manaia, and Fernridge. Careful and skilful management of course would be required, and it would be necessary to have the plant—including cream separators—of the best and most perfect description. The milk would have to be tested and the butter graded and specially packed for export. It would possibly be found advisable to establish a bacon factory in connection with the butter factory. If not, arrangements might be made for re•turning the milk—minus cream—to suppliers. That, however, is merely a question of detail. If worked on a proper basis, there seems to be no reason why a butter factory should not prove a profitable undertaking from the beginning, and it is certain that, once firmly established, the scope of its operations would be largely extended year by year.