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49

R. T. SOUNESS.

34. In many cases dairymen would be compelled to buy another cart? —I think in my district the have all two carts. 35. Then it would only affect poor men. Do you think that if these regulations were enforced as printed they would cause hardship to settlers?— Not if tact and judgment is used. 36. That is, if not enforced? —Yes. 37. But if enforced as printed, would it not cause hardship to a large number of milk-pro-ducers ? —Yes; but I do not think it is intended to enforce them strictly. 38. Mr. Bollard.] What standard do you set up in receiving and rejecting milk? —In some districts, where the factories are close together, you cannot set up any standard. 39. How do you judge between good and bad? —By smell and taste, and also for acidity by the alkaline test. 40. What was your output of butter in the season? —In our factory we made cheese for three seasons. We turned out over 16,000 tons of cheese. 41. Butter? —The output was five or six hundred tons. We had at Kaupokonui seven outside branches besides the main factory. 42. How was it treated in the grading? —I think the percentage of second-grade was sto 6 per cent. 43. Hon. Mr. Duncan.] Do you think you will have to insure your life if these regulations were enforced? Could you enforce them without trouble?—lt just wants tact and judgment. Ido not find dairymen hard to get on with if taken in the right way. 44. Mr. Okey.] In your grade-cards did you lose many points by feed-flavours? —Very seldom feed-flavours were mentioned in"the grade-notes. 45. Even in the spring months? —No. 46. Have you had any experience of the selling end of the business?— No. 47. You say in your evidence that this is going to affect prices by 2s. to 3s. a hundredweight? If the managers of New Zealand had a good raw material to work with they would be able to turn out a better article than they are able to turn out now. 48. Would you be surprised to hear that we have evidence before this Committee that it will not affect butter by Jd. a pound? —In my opinion it would affect first-grade butter by 3s. a hundredweight, and by bringing second to first it would affect it by 4s. or ss. a hundredweight. 49. That means bringing it up to Danish? —Very near. There is a big difference between New Zealand and Danish. 50. If you get the milk-supply up to the standard of the best 60 per cent., is there any reason why you should have any second grade at all?— No. I am quite certain our factory-managers are competent, with a proper raw material, to turn out a high-grade article. 51. You are expressing the opinion of the trade in saying that. Feidat, 25th September, 1908. Arthur Edward Remington, M.P., examined. (No. 17.) Witness: I may say, Mr. Chairman, that, in response to the letter I received from you stating I might be able to give some information regarding ihe configuration of the country in which dairying is carried on in the Rangitikei, and some of the conditions dairymen are there working under, I attended this morning. One of the points I would like to draw attention to, from a very extensive knowledge of dairying in that district, having visited during the last three years most of the dairy-farms in the Rangitikei, is regulation (c) of No. 8, relating to the flooring. It says that the floor of every cowshed shall be of an even surface and formed of concrete or other material impervious to water. When I tell you it is almost impossible over a large area of that country to get-shingle, except by rail, and to the dairying districts it would have to be railed forty to a hundred miles, it would be very expensive indeed to concrete the floor of every cowshed. I know instances where dairymen have attempted to do it, and they have told me that if they had to do it on a large scale they would have to go out of the business. They have tried it as an experiment. I had the privilege of giving to the Minister of Lands and Agriculture a letter sent to me by a dairyman at Mangaonoho, in which he speaks of the excessive cost of the railage of cement. He had to pay 4s. a barrel railway freight on cement. I was over his country. I know all the_ roads are very bad —in fact, during the time of year concreting could go on —that is, when dairying was not going on —it was impossible to cart shingle or cement. They could not cart a bucketful over some of the roads over which they have to cart their milk. And Ido not know if there is a possibility of these roads getting metalled. I have brought it under the notice of the Roads Department', and they say it is impossible to provide the money for the roading. (/) of _ the same regulation says the manure must be removed 30 ft. from the shed within two hours of milking. I have spent two or three days in one part of the district —the Ngawaka district —and have stayed overnight in a settler's house. I saw the milking operation after the cows were got in over broken country; then getting the milk away either by cart or packhorse. By the time they have got back with the skim-milk it has been past 1 o'clock. " Had they waited to clear up after milking, as stipulated, they would not have reached the factory in time. In (7c) it says a yard sufficiently large to hold all the cows brought in at one time, properly concreted or paved, must be provided. There, again, it is an impossible regulation. If they wished ever so much to comply with it in this back country they could not do so. In the Mataroa, Raetihi, and other districts in the Rangitikei it would be impossible. Any officer of the Department who went over that country after the month of May, and saw the condition of the roads, would himself realise it was an impossibility. Another

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