TE A WAMUTU CHEESE FACTORY.

Waikato Times, Volume XXIII, Issue 1909, 30 September 1884, Page 2

TE A WAMUTU CHEESE FACTORY.

The directors of the cheese factory held a meeting on Wednesday evening, at which they decided that the factory should reopen for work on the Oth October. The price to be given for milk is 3^d per gallon, but instead of measuiing as "has been the case hitherto, the milk is to be weighed, lOAlbs is to be the weight allowed for a gallon. It is to be hoped the directors will devise some means this season for com pelling suppliers to keep up the supply of milk throughout the season. People are glad enough to send nulk to the factory when butter is worth only 8d or Ud, but a* soon as it goes up to a shilling or more they stop sending and make butter iu.stc.id. This may pay them very well, but it is the reverse of paying to the factoiy. It is .i very nice thing, no doubt, for them to make a convenience of the factory, to send milk there when they could not get a price for their butter that would be equal to 3d a gallon for the milk. If all the fauneis did that sort of thing the factory would soon be bhut up ; they would then perhaps fully appreciate its value. This factory is not singular in this respect ; from what I hear, others are in precisely the same position. Many men's world lies within their ring fence, and one might as well expect to gather grapes off thistles as expect any display of public spirit from such men. If they possessed any, they could not fail to see that the more factories there were, and the better supported, the better it would be for the whole district. Instead of looking to the future they look only to the pie->ent, and to the amount of dnect benefit that will accrue to them. It is very convenient to get a cheque every month during the season without any deductions for commission, and if people want to make sure of getting these cheques, they should not try to kill the goose that lays the golden eggs. Most of the cheese .sent to England fetched from 63s to (>ss a cwt. ; a small consignment which arrived rather late in the maiket brought nBs. The quality was spoken of very highly, ard had it anived a month sooner would have '■old at a much higher figuie that G"h. Unfortunately when it got home the English and Ameiican ait'cli 1 was coming into tiie market, consequently the pi ice fell considerably, but as it was, it sold for of more than the American. I see by the Auckland market quotations that local cheese is quoted at the same piice as the Canterbury ; this is as it should be. For a long time the southern aiticle bt ought more than the local, but now that factories aie in full operation, and cheese of a uniform quality is made, there ii no excuse for the dealers giving more for the imported article, I think the diffetencc in price was in a gieat measure owing to piejudice. I know such was the case with regard to bacon. I have already mentioned in these columns how a man shipped a large quantity of Waikato bacon (which he was unable to sell at a fair price) to Lyttleton, and had it re. consigned to Auckland as Canterbury bacon, when it sold at the top price. A good market could be found in India for our cheese and frozen meat. India can compete with us in growing wheat, but they cannot make cheese, or raise good mutton there, and though they may be contented at present with such mutton as they have, if some of our New Zealand meat— which cannot be beaten in the woild— weie i -ent to some of the thickly populated cities it would sell well. I ha\e been told by those i\ ho have lived there, that more cheese is consumed in proportion to the population than in almost in any other countiy. The lowest retail price is Is per lb ; at this rate the wholesale price could not be less than 9s or 10>. Bay that freight and commission amounted to 2W, this would leave from (J Jd to 7\d tor the produce, a price that would pay very well indeed. — (Own Coi respondent).