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J- B. MURDOCH.]

machinery patented in other countries for the. manufacture of these products, and there is a compulsion on the users of it to sell to a spiecific person or body. Not only is there that burden, but also a commission to a person who sells our product. These machines are also patented in New Zealand. It is not a question of the patent we are looking at, because we expect to pay for a patent, but after we have made the piroduet we object to that product, being handed to a firm to be sold on the market of the world. We hope that the Committee will look into the matter and see that we have a free market. To the Chairman: There is no difficulty in regard to casein, but there is in regard to dried milk. My complaint is in regard to the machinery and the control over the product that the company manufactures. The Trufood Company have control of the product in England. There may be other machinery available, but the machinery I refer to is the best for our requirements, and it is a pity that the best machinery should be under restrictions. 1 think that the Government are not aware of the restrictions placed on commodities manufactured with certain patented machinery, and I consider it is the duty of the Government to go into the matter with the imperial authorities to see if something cannot be done to overcome what might be a dangerous precedent in the future. With regard to our attempts to establish casein and sugar-of-milk branches, we are on the eve of sending experts to other parts of the world to find out the conditions obtaining there. The Chairman: Can you suggest how an increased production could be brought about per cow I —A suggestion in that direction was made some years ago. We considered at the time that dairy stock should be judged by an expert dairyman. If he found that in a particular herd there were cows that were unremunerative for the production of butter-fat those cows should be disposed of. If they were sold they should be branded, so that a dairyman would know that he was buying a cow that had been rejected by another man. I consider there is not enough being done in regard to the dairying industry. Take, for instance, the .manufacture of our products. There has been nothing done in the way of educating experts in the industry. We should have a dairy institute to turn out men capiable of manufacturing cheese or butter. At present, when a factory wants a manager it picks up whoever it might be. That man has to be proved, and he may be a success or he may not. He has no certificate to show that he has gone through any course of instruction. If we are going to increase production a dairy institute should be established in New Zealand as soon as possible, and we should get the best expert in the world to teach our young men in the dairying industry. Does your factory do anything in the way of cow-testing?—We had it running for a number of years, and it was a great success, but it was all hung up during the war. Do you suggest that the Government should do more in that connection? —What I suggest is that, the Government should make it easy for us to get expert men. We cannot get them in Now Zealand. And if you got the men you would pay the salaries?— Yes. After a cow is tested and found wanting what happens?—lt is sold and another farmer buys it, and that is the trouble. To Dr. A. K. Newman: Casein has been manufactured in Taranaki for a number of years. We have just established a rennet-manufactory in Taranaki. We tried to obtain from abroad the services of an expert, but were unsuccessful. We could get no information at all from abroad. We were blocked. We then experimented under one of our own managers, and now this man has made a success of it, and we are establishing a manufactory for rennet. To Mr. Hornsby: The patent rights in connection with dried milk make it imperative for those who manufacture it to sell the product to a certain firm. The makers of the machine make it compulsory to sell the product to a specific firm or to hand it to them for sale, so that they may get the commission out of it. 7'o the Chairman: No cow should produce less than 2001b. of fat, and that is a low figure. Some cows go up to 4001b. or 6001b., and even higher. There is not sufficient being done by the Government to raise the standard of production per cow. Tt pays to go in for the high-priced cows. T suggest that the rejected cows ought to be branded. To Mr. Veitch: The man who does the branding should be a Government officer. Ho should have power to do it without consulting the owner. He would get the test from the factory. Of course, the farmer might use the cow, but if he sold it it would be branded. Witness: I also desire to draw attention to the question of railway rolling-stock. At the height of the season trucks that are used for carding meat are also used for taking dairy-produce. Then we have difficulties in getting trucks to bring timber for our dairy factories; and the timber through want of proper covering gets saturated with coal-dust when going through tunnels. The tarpaulin sheets cannot be got at times. We cannot hold our foodstuff in Hie yards, and we have to send it to our cool stores for proper keeping. We have tried to shake up the Department, and we hope the Committee will assist us in this respect, I may mention that during the month of February the dairy compiany had some three hundred crates of cheese waiting for trucks; the trucks had not come along, and the cheese was left in a position where it was open to rats and everything else. There is another thing in regard to which this Committee may be able to assist us, and that is in obtaining machinery from England. Some dairy companies, and also other industries and local bodies, have had orders placed in the Old Country for machinery for quite a long time, and it has been absolutely impossible for us to get this machinery along. We would sooner obtain our machinery from the Old Country, but we are practically forced lo go into the American market to obtain our machinery. We think that something should be done to bring before the Imperial authorities and manufacturers the desirableness of supplying as early as possible the machinery necessary for our industries. With regard to local bodies' requirements.

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