The Waikato Times ANDD THAMES VALLEY GAZETTE.

Waikato Times, Volume XXI, Issue 1733, 14 August 1883, Page 2

The Waikato Times ANDD THAMES VALLEY GAZETTE.

Kmi.il nul o\ irt nistu i- to ill nu 11, 01 wli iKoe\er state 01 pcrsu.ibion, icliyious or ITero'l! i lit ho Piossthu People's riffh' maintain, Un.iwcd In influom c .md unbribed liv tf.un.

TUESDAY, AUGUST l> h 1886.

The frozen meat movement and cheese- making under the factory system will revolutionize and resuscitate the agricultural interests in New Zealand. Kut to the latter the small settlers especially may look to bring about so desirable a change with the quickest despatch, and with the smallest outlay. The men who havo not the means at command to raise sheep and cattle in flocks and herds and fit them for the market, have all a larger or smaller stock of cows and the land to feed them, and with the factory to purchase tho milk, a monthly casli return will be available for their produce. Throughout tho colony the farmeis, and especially tho smaller farmers 1 , are awakening to the importance of tho mo\cmimt, and the industry, though yet in its infancy, has been so far tested as we shall presently show, as to wan ant the most samjuino expectations that have been formed of it. .Not loijrr since, as our readers aro awavo, JUvViowion, a gentleman whose oxlH'iienee in cheese-making in Uio Old Country dates hack nearly a i-L'jK'ivit ion, nml whoso practical acquaint anco with the working' of the factory system in America, and his connection "\\iih tho Ashburton Kictory in the Middle Island are snitLLient giuuantceof hisauthoiity on the^o matters, "was appointed by the ( jfoYcrnment to visit the country districts, and agitate tUo movement. Mr Jiowron visited Wnihito, lecturing privately and distributing' pamphlets, and subscmionlly visited Pukekohe, Wainku, and other country settlements near Auckland. Woodvillo, Hawera, Fielding, New Plymouth, and other settlements in the "Wellington and T.inuiaki districts, in all of which the movement has boon successfully started. In nil these places the basis of operations is similar to that in vogue hero, the purchase of tho milk at 3JUI and 'Id per gallon. M first f armors were unwilling to believe that this ■would pay them, but in the lew instances in which _ tho matter has been put practically to tho test, experience has proved (he reverse. Perhaps no bettor instance of this mil bo taken than the <msp of tho Ashbuvton factory, as having' been the longest established, though it is well known to ninny of our readers that in tho case" of tho To A"wamutu factory, where tho price given for the milk is ]d per gallon less, the settlers have never made so much by their cows, or with so little labour to tho Giniily as sinco tlio starting of tho factory. In the Ashburton factory, then, -Jd per gallon is given for the milk, and this is found to pay both the supplier and tho shareholder, giving to tho latter 8 per cent, on his capital. The more important question, however, is, How did it yay the milk-producer? Captain Jluneinian was thought to bo overstating' tho mark "when, on his return from America, ho said that his observations there led him to believe that settlors might look, even at -Id per gallon, for a return of from £9 to £10 a cow for tho eight months tho milk is supplied to the factory. Tho Ashburton factory returns show that lie really was far within the mark. A report recently laid before the provisional directors of the Wanganui Cheese and Bacon Pacfcory Company contains an* extract from the contributors' monthly account-book which will be read •with interest by farmers. No doubt these were not average, but picked returns, but what one man can do another can hope to do also by using similar diligence, care and intelligence. Iv November last, the first month of the working of the factory, we find 2-1 cows, the property of Mr 11. Ai&ders'on, took £24 l#s 7d, 'tat 22 cows in the same dairy in Janu-' ary, took £4c6 Us. In the same month W. Aaadorson, with 15 cows, f,ook £29 12s. Messrs Donaldson, ■Small and Smith, with 12, 10, and 12 cows respectively, topk,£|4, 14s" ;£2l 18s 'and^«£24/ss' : 2d,\«oii,:an

During thji -JBSBflfSfalkP company made 52 totilrollchedaffwi, a coat of 5d per lb, the jfcholo^gf | which, at the time of tW^frepor% was under offer 60 a Christohurchiimerehant at 6^-1 per lb. j • Wilkti st\ch %\ f j>V6sppct before thornf the settlers of' Waikato need not halt between two opinions. Do they wish to see what must be the outcome of extended operations in this direction, let them turn to the statistical report of the Ameiican Government for the county Ashtubula, laid with others on tho table by Capt. Eunciman, when he lectured, after his return from the States, in Hamilton. There, in a country no larger than Wai pa., the export' of cheese for the year amounted to a sum of £75,000. Need we say what such a state of things would mean to Waikato, if it wore brought about here, as assuredly it may be in a few years time — that it would mean prosperity iv every homestead, briskness of trade in our local townships, an increased and fixed value to every acre of land in the district. Nor lot producers fear that a large number of factories would overstock tho marke*"-, and spoil the sale. On the contrary, the larger the production of cheese, the better the price to the factory, the more ready the sale. If Imt a comparatively few tons arc produced in the district wo shall have but a single purchaser proI Imbly, who will really control tho i market. But let the production bo so largo that three or four agents cuter the field as purchasers for a foreign market, and competition will e-nsuro to the factories a more ready sale and better piicos. The larger, therefore, tho number of factories winch go up in the district the "bettor for each ono of them and for the community generally. One thing has been proved both at To Awamutu and Ashburton, and that is that the sale of milk at 3-kl and kl per gallon will give a large return to the farmer, and if receiving this direct benefit as a supplier and doing away with the drudgery which ordinary dairy work entails upon his wife and family, he is still further repaid by a return of 8 per cent, or evim the half of that as a shareholder, he may therefore congratulate himself that he has at last " struck ilc.*'

The improved prospects for farmers and graziers which the starting of thoN.Z. Frozen Meat and Export Company will tend to bring about is a matter upon which the whole country is to be .sincerely congratulated. For months past things have been going from bad to worse with many, if not all, of our farmers, and there is no use trying to hide the fact that thoy could not have gone on much longer as they have been doing, the country would voy soon have come to a dead .standstill, and nothing short of bankruptcy would h,i\e stared them all in the face. We do not like looking at tJio cktik .side of things as a rulo, nor th we usually do so, but really when there is nothing whatever ahead to look forward to, as was the oise a few months ago, it isjiust as well to acknowledge the fact right out, and then ,seek for borne way out of the difficulty. " When things get to <ho worst fhey then b'gin to mend," is an old and very true saying, and no doubt it will prove to bo the ease in reference to farming matters in tho Waikato. We have got to the worst, cannot, in fact, get any lower, so must rise. The starting of this company will ut once give a fresh impetus to all our operations, and has, moreover, this advantage about it, that it will benefit tho small fanner with his 50 or 100 acres quitt as much in. proportion as the runholdcr with 50*0 or 10,000 acres. He will! be able to send down his 200 or 300 sheep, as the case may be, and receive his advance just the same as the larger proprietor. In 12 months time it is confidently anticipated that operations will be in full swing, and a large demand will immediately be created for all the fat stock that can bo raised in the district, a demand in fact which will take our farmers all their time to supply. A cablegram has lately been received from Mr Banks, who is now visiting America and Great ! Britain, in which he states that ho would have no difficulty whatevei in disposing of in tho English market a cargo of frozen meat per week at 7cl per lb. if it could bo supplied. Now here is something tangible to work upon. 10,000 carcases a week arc wanted at home, for which they are prepared to pay us 7d per lb. Here in Auckland is a company prepared to freeze and convey it home for us at a cost of 3d per lb, leaving us a clear balance of 4d. A slight difference upon prices we have for some time past been receiving. The only thing now for us to do is to produce the 10,000 carcases required each week, and a suro, certain, and a highly profitable return is at once to hand. Of course, we are not going to jump right into this fortunate position right away but the fact that it will be there awaiting us, say in 12 months time, should be a sufficient stimulant to renewed effort. This freezing company means business, there is no doubt about that, the right men are In it to make it go ahead, and it is their intention to > have everything ready to commence operations on a large scale in 1-3 months from the present time, so that it behoves our farmers tobeup and doing, preparing to meet the demand that there will then be for all' kinds of fat meat. , y^p do not consider it at all an .'exaggerated' , idqa to suppose that in three years from now 10,000 sheep a week, o ; r at the rate of half a mill ion a year, will be rquirod in order 'to* supply* the- demands " of th<> company. - ■Here then is a fine c field;'to work upon, "and the r m&n''t]^%tyß 'splf 'MV : W 'UiUnW^^f- gjwap:

fit from his farm. The greatest difficulty, we anhrehend, will be the\ breeding of aPf suitable class of* wethor|?ajLa lupfciontiy fist ratef but o|(coiff6e tip wilj^pnly be'?6r a year 6r t\^p, ans, a fine^haivyest is**m store ftor ffeoso >yho ar^ Iher* foijtun.: 1 , ate possessors' of ffbbd 4'brc%Jing Sstock. Ewe lambs will now be considerably enhauced in valuo, and worth fully 50 por cent, more 'than j they have been. >On the vvhole we j really do think there is a splendid future opening out before the occupier of the land, and it only remains that they see to it, and prepare to reap tho benefits which will so soon be within the reach of evoryone of them.