Kiwis wary of the cost of butter a century ago
The Heretaunga Plains were said to be very suitable for butter due to the amount of lime in the soil.
In 1892, a company called the Heretaunga Co-operative Dairy Company Limited was formed.
Its creamery opened on the corner of St George's Road and Havelock Road in 1893.
Butter produced there was all sold locally for 10 pence in winter (it kept longer) and nine pence in summer.
Butter was made using a separator. This process was also conducted at many homes, where cream was skimmed off the top of milk and then allowed to sour for butter-making.
By using a device, which resembled a concrete mixer, butter fat was separated from whey (skim milk) and formed real butter around the paddles inside the machine. Before electricity, this was described as a 'laborious process'.
As there were no refrigerators then, to preserve household butter as long as possible, many families wrapped it in muslin cloth and placed it in a pan of cold salt water to be stored in a cool place on the south side of the house.
The St George's creamery struck some supply problems due to the small number of cows supplying the factory, especially when 23 out of the 81 cows tested positive for tuberculosis and had to be destroyed.
More dairy farms would soon be established, especially around Mahora, Raureka and Clive.
A hundred years ago, the New Zealand public were concerned about the cost of butter. There were no processed foods then – and any changes in prices to staples such as milk, flour and butter played havoc on the mostly static incomes.
It's like what is playing out today – in 1920, high export prices dictated domestic butter prices.
Although beyond the scope of this article, there were many attempts to juggle (by the not-so invisible hand of the Government) butter prices between farmers, export and domestic markets.
Butter was a difficult market to be in for dairy companies. The Heretaunga Co-operative Dairy Company in 1931 paid out advances of £30,000 (2025: $4.1 million) to its suppliers, only to see world market prices for butter (and other commodities) collapse during the Great Depression.
Careful financial management was then needed to avoid hardship over the next five years in adjusting supplier payouts without sending both the company and farmers broke.
While life was at times difficult for the dairy farmers and companies, it was also hard for the consumer – except for 1925 (100 years ago) – there was simply too much butter flooding the London market. Butter prices in New Zealand were then reduced domestically.
In 1935, the situation had reversed and due to the high London market prices, butter production in Hastings rose.
During World War II there was, of course, butter rationing – and just before this was announced, shops in Hastings noted the extra demand for butter. Mothers sent their children along to buy extra butter – and when shopkeepers asked what their mother was going to use the extra butter for, in many cases the children replied: 'Mother was going to lay in a store of cakes.'
Refrigerators were not common household appliances then and those who had them purchased excess butter to store – but this came with a warning: 'The butter will not keep indefinitely.'
Butter rationing was lifted in June 1950 and the end of government subsidies to producers meant it went up in price.
One Hastings grocer noted there was no increase in demand for butter after the rationing ended, believing the price increases affected sales.
Bakers in Hastings also suffered from the price increases for butter, saying the demand for small cakes had dropped. 'Block cake and sponges are still good sellers,' he said. Another said he wasn't worried about the falling-off of 'smalls', as 'housewives, if they have not lost the cake-making 'knack', are loathe to bother with cake-making chores'. In other words, the demand for the larger cakes would not diminish.
The price increases in June 1950 also applied to bread, eggs, tea and milk.
Interestingly, margarine sales did not increase to the detriment of butter.
The Consumers Price Index (CPI), formed in 1949, showed the effect of these increases in 1950.
Businesses who provided 'cut lunches' for the hard-working people of the Hastings CBD were especially concerned about these price increases, as any passing-on of these costs had to be approved by the Government's Price Tribunal. In that highly-regulated environment, this was confusing, expensive, baffling and complex to many businesses and consumers.
One café owner said he needed to increase prices by 30% to keep up with the price hikes.
'I'd hate to be a restaurant proprietor,' remarked a hotel keeper – 'they had no bar trade, so would feel the increases more.'
Price controls were part of the Economic Stabilisation Scheme post-World War II to manage inflation and ensure stability to create affordable living standards for returning servicemen.
Any retail increases in prices over the set limits were punishable by a trip to the Hastings courthouse.
It would be many years before price controls were lifted – but most were gone during the 1960s. (The 1980s economic reforms deregulated prices, wages and many other parts of the New Zealand economy.)
After World War II, returned servicemen established dairy farms around Tūtira and Pūtōrino, but process-cropping and other types of farming yielded better returns and dairying began to decline in the 1960s.
Dairying was not a sustainable business in Hawke's Bay – our warm, dry climate was against it as 'cows need a flush of soft green feed'.
The Heretaunga Co-operative Dairy Co merged with the Tui Co-operative Dairy Co in Pahiatua in 1974, and in 1975 it was liquidated.
Consolidation of the dairy industry occurred in 2001 with the formation of Fonterra, which today collects a share of around 77.7% of New Zealand's milk pool.
– Michael Fowler is doing a talk on the history of Hastings' Fantasyland on Wednesday September 3. Check eventfinda.co.nz for details.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
NZ Herald
a day ago
- NZ Herald
Pastures Past: Breaking in the land for farming
It was slow work, often involving fires, bullocks, and axes. The Vogel Era (1870s) marked a turning point, with major infrastructure investment, with roads and railways making rural land more accessible. The pace then accelerated with technological advances and growing markets for agricultural products. This included advances in fertiliser (especially superphosphate), mechanisation and eventually refrigeration. Breaking in gum land New Zealand Herald, January 21, 1927 'Opus' writes:—Just before the war I purchased, at £11 an acre, 15 acres of gum land midway between Birkenhead and Albany. With the exception of four acres of bush, the land was covered with fern, ti-tree, gorse, and blackberries. At the time I was 67 years of age, and so had to employ most of the labour in breaking in the land, and soon had 11 acres in grass, and divided into paddocks, and ring-fenced. I erected a cottage on this homestead, which I occasionally occupied. In laying down the grass I put 6cwt. of manure to the acre. The greater part of the improvements were done during the currency of the Great War, when labour and material were both scarce and dear. After a few enjoyable years of occupation, for family reasons only, I disposed of the little farm at a profit, and, for eight years, the purchaser has been successfully farming it. What I did under great difficulties, younger men can do much better now if they will only work and forego the pleasure of play, race meetings, etc. The Minister of Lands can know very little of the potentialities of the North. Breaking in land Sir Apirana Ngata's policy Bay of Plenty Times, December 30, 1929 In commenting upon Sir A. T. Ngata's policy of breaking in large blocks of land by organised native labour, subdividing it, and settling on it those whose labour has contributed to its development, a North Island paper states that there are hundreds of thousands of acres that could be broken in cheaply by massed organised labour, which under individual effort unsupported by essential machinery, would take years to bring to production point and at a cost incomparably greater. The creation of a company of land workers, who could, for either Government or private individuals, contract to take and break in blocks of land expeditiously and efficiently, would in itself be an asset to New Zealand. Breaking in land Effect on valuations Department's methods Court questions practice New Zealand Herald, November 28, 1939 [By telegraph—own correspondent] Palmerston North, Monday Further interesting evidence detailing methods by which land valuers work was given at a sitting of the Assessment Court inquiring into objections to Government revaluations in the Manawatu County. Two valuers called by the department stated that they did not allow as improvements initial cultivation and cropping prior to the establishment of virgin land in pasture, because the owner derived benefit from the crop, which recouped him for the expenditure. If a farmer spent £5 an acre breaking in land to pasture, and in the process got back £2 an acre from the crop sown, then the real cost of breaking in the ground could only be regarded as the difference of £3 an acre. The chairman, Mr. A. A. McLachlan, of Christchurch, questioned whether such a practice was a correct one. He contended that what was done in the original cultivation had an unexhausted value for all time. For instance, in the particular case before the Court the owner used large quantities of lime, and although he got back something in the first crop the lime was still having its beneficial effect and so should be allowed for and allowed for as an improvement. Counsel for the objecting ratepayer stated that it was just as necessary for his client to use lime in the initial process as it was for him to fall scrub. The Chairman: If a farmer benefits in the initial crop, then it should be regarded as a windfall. - Source: Papers Past
NZ Herald
2 days ago
- NZ Herald
Southland's wilding conifers: Concerns battle is being lost, amid funding uncertainty
In late July, the Government announced an extra $3 million over three years for wilding pines controls in Molesworth and Mackenzie Basin areas, funded by the International Visitor Levy, adding to the $12m already allocated this financial year. Industry group Federated Farmers' pest animal and weed spokesman, Richard Dawkins, said wilding pines posed an 'ecological crisis' – and while the funding was welcomed, it fell short of what was needed. 'The battle against wilding conifers is being lost,' he said. 'Some funding has been allocated over the years, but it's been patchy and nowhere near enough to tackle the problem properly.' Southland Regional Council councillors were told this week the spread of Douglas fir in particular was accelerating across the region, and current investment and control methods were 'inadequate' to keep pace with the scale of spread. Environment Southland's report author warned that the cost of controls increased exponentially over time, once trees matured and seeded. 'Without further intervention, vast areas of northern Southland could be overtaken within 30 years, resulting in irreversible environmental and economic loss,' it said. 'Wilding conifers are spreading at a scale and speed that outpaces current control budgets and operational efforts can contain.' Biosecurity New Zealand co-ordinated the National Wilding Conifer Control Programme with landowners, industry groups and councils. Manager Sherman Smith said it was working to manage a dozen problematic species across 42 areas nationwide that threatened biodiversity. 'They form a monoculture of these unwanted and pretty much useless trees,' Smith said. 'They shade out all the native plants and animals, they increase the fire risk warning because wilding pines are quite flammable and there are no fire breaks, so they can cause some significant increase in fire risk. 'They can also reduce the amount of water that is going into streams, particularly in those drier areas of the country, which has some flow-on effects in terms of irrigation and hydro generation.' Smith said they also had effects for tourism. 'Obviously, it has quite a landscape impact; it cloaks a lot of the iconic New Zealand areas in these forests that are exotic, so collectively those impacts are worth billions [in costs] to New Zealand if we allow these things to keep spreading.' He said the programme prioritised areas, then developed plans with regional councils and landowners that contractors helped implement. 'I think at peak, we had about 500 contractors on the ground. 'It's a little bit less than that at the moment, obviously with their funding being a little bit lower than it was at peak.' More than $150m of government money has been committed to the programme since it was launched in 2016, with another $33m from landowners and communities. The Government established a baseline funding model of $10m in 2023/2024, excluding top-ups, which deferred some work and prompted concerns among Southland officials. Smith said there had been some success in control areas where seeding trees were removed, then seedlings were controlled in three-yearly cycles before they coned. 'We've got some really good success stories that are getting to the end of the journey and really at a point that we can hand back the management to the landowner to manage as part of their day-to-day farming operations or land management work.' However, he said there was more work to do. 'There are still some big challenges in front of us,' he said. 'We've done the first round of control across about three-quarters of our known infestations, so there's a quarter out there that we haven't started into yet, and obviously, the gains that we have made, we've got to keep on that maintenance to lock in those benefits that we've achieved.' Smith asked farmers to check that there were no 'problem-tree species' in their shelter belts and small woodlots, which were two major sources of the trees. – RNZ
NZ Herald
2 days ago
- NZ Herald
On The Up: Three new rescue helicopter pads officially blessed on the East Coast
Three new or upgraded rescue helicopter landing pads at Te Araroa, Ruatōria and Te Puia Springs (pictured) were officially opened and blessed on Friday. A Government-funded project to help shore up health equity and community resilience on the East Coast culminated on Friday with blessing and dedication ceremonies at three new or upgraded rescue helicopter landing sites. The official opening of three strategically positioned chopper pads at Te Puia Springs, Te Araroa and Ruatōria
