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Cheese Making On The Peninsula.

The prosperity of Banks Peninsula is intim ately connected with cheeee making, and an account of the progress of this industry would be of interest to many. Mr James Hay, whose memory goes as far back as the early forties, kindly supplied an account of the early dairying days in Pigeon Bay, and Mr J. D. Bruce, who was born and brought up near Akaroa, has given a most interesting history of the cheese making methods on the other side of the Peninsula. These two reports embrace the whole of the district, and give an excellent idea of the early dairying on Banks Peninsula. The following is Mr Jas. Hay's account:—

"In 1844 my mother made a few cheese in Pigeon Bay for family use only. The great trouble at first in cheece-making was to get the appliances. There was a cooper named Philip Ryan, who had a whaling station at Oashore, and he sold out to Paddy Woods, and then commenced bis trade. My father got him to make all sorts of dairy implements He did not know what a chesset was, but my father had bought one from Scotland, and it was from this one that Ryan made the first chessets for all the old settlers. He made everything from kowhai split in the rough and steamed and he considered that it was equal to the best English oak for dairy utensils He made dairy utensils for the Hays, McIntoshs, Gebbies, Mansons and many other, and had it not been for this man, dairying would have been delayed some years He was a first class tradesman, and died at Little River some years ago at the good old age of 98 In 1845 cheese was made in Pigeon Bay for sale. In 1846 Captain Sinclair, of Pigeon Bay, set sail in a small cutter laden with dairy produce for Wellington. Unfortunately, Captain Sinclair, his eldest son, and two other young men were all lost. This was the first shipment of cheese sent from Canterbury. Not only was the loss of so many good lives great and sad, but in addition, the families were left almost destitute, as the whole year's produce was lost, and there was no insurance page 353in those days. In 1850, when the Melbourne diggings were in full swing, Mr. Peacock, senr., purchased cheese from Messrs McIntosh, Gebbie, Manson and Hay. Generally the price was 1s per lb., and sometimes 1s 6d. Mr. Peacock used to get 2s 6d per lb, in Melbourne. It was from these four dairies that Port Cooper cheese got such a good name in Melbourne. The greatest trouble in the forties was the pressing of the cheese. To do this two posts were put into the ground between five and six feet with a bar morticed right across, filled up, and well rammed. Then another piece morticed about three feet above the ground. The chessets were put under this, then a long lever with weights put under the cross beam and on top of the chessets, thus giving tremendous pressure. Sometimes a slump of a tree was used, a hole made in the stump, and long lever used. In 1854 my father imported a lot of iron cheese presses from Scotland. I think these were the first used in Pigeon Bay and the Peninsula in general Butter was made in the spring of 1843 and 1844. This was taken to Akaroa and sold to Mr. James Bruce, of Bruce's Hotel. The man who has done most to further the cheese industry in the South Island was the late Mr. Thomas Bryden, the manager of the New Zealand and Australian Land Company. He erected factories at Edendale, one of the Company's largest stations in Southland, and they were carried on for many years under his management. He died in London in 1904. The names of some of the principal and earliest cheese makers were Messrs Hay, Gebbie, Manson, McIntosh, McQueen, Price, Birdling, Rhodes Bros, Lucas, Wright and Boleyn."

Mr J. D. Bruce's contribution is as follows:—

"The dairying industry was commenced here in very early times. In the sixties Akaroa cheese was well and favourably known throughout New Zealand and further afield than that. At that time it was a very profitable business, cheese selling at from 5d to 6d per lb, and in 1862 realising in one instance at least 1s 3d wholesale. So great was the demand that cheese were sent away direct from the press. The gold field rushes created this page 354 abnormal demand. As a consequence, as fast as the bush was cleared and a few acres grassed down, dairies were started, small at first; but increasing in size as the land came into profit. Whilst the majority of the holdings were small, there were some that held large herds from 50 to 100 cows, notably, Rhodes, of Flea Bay, Narbey, Long Bay, Lelievre, Akaroa, Haylock, Piper, of Duvauchelle, Wrights and Parkinsons, of Kaituna, Malmanche and others. One can easily imagine the difficulties the early dairymen had to face. The implements were of the most primitive description, and it was really cheese making under difficulties. The wonder is that such an admittedly good article was turned out. What is now known as the cheese vat was a large tub with holes bored in the side —one near the bottom with others higher up—used for running the whey off. There were no taps, but the tubs were fitted with wooden plugs. Many of these tubs were made square, boxes in fact made by the dairyman themselves where the ordinary tub was not procurable. The moulds, or chessets as they were called, were made mostly of oak, old barrel staves, perforated freely, and with a following lid for pressing the curd. They were not always made very true. When this was the case they were the cause of much strong language, as if the mould happened to be larger at the bottom than at the top it was a work of some difficulty at knock the cheese out. At first there were few, if any, curd mills. The first implement used for cutting the curd was shaped something like a trident with three short steel blades on the end of the prongs, the curd being minced to the desired size by chopping in the bottom of the tub or other receptacle. The presses were built by sinking two posts in the ground with a cross bar morticed in about 2ft 6ins from the ground. Below this, and a little in front, was a strong shelf on which the chesset stood. A long lever was inserted under the top bar, and the cheese in the mould placed on the shelf, becoming the fulcrum on which the lever acted. Stones were then placed on the end of the lever until the desired pressure was obtained. Very often a stump was made use of, the heels of the page 355levers being let in to it and the chessets accommodated amongst the roots. The heating wag done in pots or socalled coppers, usually made of galvanised iron, and set in clay, stones and occasional bricks. The dairy requisites such as rennet, coluring, etc, were also hard to procure and not always of goood quality. The rennet was usually supplied dry, that is the calves' stomachs were salted, dried and pressed flat, and sold by the dozen usually, although they were sometimes sold in jars undried The rennets from any calves killed were saved by the dairy people and used also. The extract was obtained by placing two or three rennets in a jar and adding salt and water. The strength of this mixture varied considerably. In some cases where the makers were not too particular rennet after rennet was added until the jar was filled with a very unsavoury mixture, the extract being used from the jar as required. The first colouring or annatto that I remember seeing used was supplied in cakes something like Windsor soap. This was rubbed on a piece of slate in a small quantity of milk until the maker judged it would be sufficient to colour tbe whole It was stirred into each day's make, and, as can be imagined, the cheese was not of a uniform colour. Thermometers were rare, the temperature being judged by the finger being dipped in the [unclear: mik]. The heating was done in large cans lifted in and out of the coppers by small home made cranes. The system of making was what was known as the Dunlop. The evening's milk was heated and mixed with the morning's, and then the rennet and colouring were added and it was left to coagulate. When sufficiently set it was either cut or broken by hand, and the whey, as it exuded from the curd, partly slipped and partly run off through the holes in the tub previously described. When the whey had been removed in this way the curd was cut up into cubes and placed in a dripper—usually a square box opened at the top and perforated, having a lid working down inside. Light pressure was applied, the cutting being repeated several times until the curd was considered dry enough to put ia the chessets. Then it was finally page 357minced up, salted, cheese cloth was spread over the mould in which the curd was placed and pressed in. The curd was then placed in the press. The cheese were knocked out of the moulds, and a fresh dry cloth applied twice a day for two or three days. When considered ready they were taken out, smeared all over with either butter or lard and placed on the shelves and turned daily As time went on slight alterations in the methods of manufacture were introduced somewhat in the direction of the Cheddar system. The whey, or some of it, was taken off, heated and stirred into the mass, raising the temperature sufficiently to partly cook the curd. This cooking was largely a matter of guess work until the thermometer came into general use, and even then was very unevenly done, the dripper being still used and the curd being almost invariably cut sweet. Later still acid development was tried by some cheese makers, but the only acid test known then was by Litmus paper, which was not used much. About this time there were some new arrivals from the Old Country, who used the newer methods with success, but the half and half methods of the majority had a prejudicial effect on tbe bulk of the output. The cheese was not Dunlop, neither was it Cheddar, and shipments of cheese in the early eighties were of the most mixed description, all [unclear: sizes], shapes and quantities. Under these conditions it is not surprising that the starting of factories in Otago and elsewhere with the production of a scientifically made artiele told heavily against the Peninsula product, so much so that the writer has known in the early eighties average Peninsula cheese sold at 2½d per lb:, and largely a case of barter at that, the producer being required to "take it out"—that is take stores in exchange. The Home market was tried, small shipments being sent Home as general cargo. Some of these arrived in good condition, whilst others did not. Then a rather ambitious attempt was made. A number of farmers arranged a special shipment, each sending in a quota towards it, and arrange were made to put up a cool chamber in the sailing ship "Orari." This was to be kept cool in some way by page 358chemicals The experiment proved a failure and the farmers not only lost their cheese, but had to pay some thing for expenses as well. Towards the end of the eighties a Farmers' Association was formed on the Peninsula, which did excellent work for the cheese makers. Dairy supplies of a superior quality were procured, and in formation as to markets and prices distributed amongst all sellers of cheese. The Association also applied to the Government Dairying Department for assistance. Mr John Sawers, one of the Government instructors, was sent down to the Peninsula, where he gave exhibitions in the new system of cheese making at various selected dairies The value of these lessons cannot be exaggerated. At first some of the old fashioned dairymen argued that the old methods were good enough; but these doubters were soon convinced when they saw the excellent article turned out by the Waireka factory, where the methods used by Mr Sawers were employed. These schools of instruction were continued for many years, the Department sending down various experts to demonstrate to the dairymen. The introduction of the new methods did not see the end of the cheese makers' difficulties. Many farmers could not carry on the new system successfully, as greater care and more skill were required. The question of building co operative factories was then mooted, and after many lectures by Mr John Sawers and others, the Alpha factory in German Bay was erected, The first meeting to consider the erection of the factory was held in July, 1891, but it was not until December 1893 that the formal opening took place, although the factory had been worked for a short time previously. The first manager of the initial Peninsula factory was Mr. James Adamson, who came from the Waireka factory. In the same year the butter factory at Le Bon's Bay was opened, and then followed the erection of cheese factories at Wainui, Barry's Bay, Okain's, and Little Akaloa. A creamery was started at Little River in connection with the Central Dairy Company in Christchurch. Only two years ago a cheese factory was started in Pigeon Bay. For a page 359number of years the Le Bon's Bay factory has been turned into a co-operative cheese factory, as the difficulty of shipping their output prevented their making an equal profit from the working of a butter factory. There are still in this year(1914) many private dairies on the Peninsula, where cheese of an excellent quality is turned out, the [unclear: private] dairyman in many cases obtaining a better price for his cheese than the average obtained from the factory's output. The advantage of the factory system cannot be too much emphasised, as farmers receive their monthly dues for milk supplied and at the end of the season their share of the profits on the sale of the cheese. There is no longer any need of the old system of barter, and the factories can naturally demand better terms for the sale of their output than could a single dairyman,"

In this year (1914), a butter factory is being started in the township of Akaroa, and the Barry's Bay factory is erecting additional plant and buildings for the manufacture of whey butter. The history of the dairying industry on the Peninsula is simply an account of the gradual development of the district. From wild bush clad holdings, with a few bare spaces where cattle could graze, the land has been converted into well grassed properties where dairymen have outbuildings fitted with all modern appliances and labour-saving machinery. In looking back, one should not forget to pay a tribute to those early dairymen who had such natural difficulties to face. It was these men who laid the foundation stone of that successful institution commonly termed the dairying industry of the Peninsula.