to the New Zealand Dairy Association in 1 901 , his two butter factories, Pukekohe and
52
Reynolds was also the originator of the 'anchor' brand.53
Equally the government initiatives in this industry benefited from the industry experience of Scottish trained John Sawers the first Government appointed Dairy Expert in 1 889.Ngaruawahia, supported 40 skimming stations in the district. The output of these two factories was
1 200
tons per year. 54The skimming process changed gradually after 1 897, when home separation was introduced providing farmers with the ability to separate cream from milk on the farm, often using Scandinavian-manufactured separators. The adoption of home separating machinery, a complementary good in Menger's economic schema, in itself provided an opportunity for promoters to enter a new market. Danish-born Carl Dahl, for example,
commenced production of wholesale tents, cordage, and waterproof clothing in
Palmerston North in 1 885. In the 1 8905, Dahl looked at diversifying and used his contacts in Denmark to import Danish cream separators. He supplied this new market from
1 900
to1 92 1 ,
when he sold his business to the National Dairy Association of New Zealand.E N TR E P RE N E U RS AN D T H E D"-\ I RY I N D U STRY
As with the production of frozen meat for export, possibilities in the dairy industry attracted investors and promoters from outside the agricultural community. Historian David Yerex identified four types of entrepreneurs who entered the race to
manufacture butter and cheese for export consumption: merchants, landowners, agents
of British [ums', and farmers' cooperatives.55 These were the dominant groups, but Yerex did not accentuate the importance of the rust group, the merchants, in the subsequent expansion of the dairy industry. Few had a farming background, yet it was their trade skills and commercial networks that that enabled them to maximise this new opportunity.
The merchants' position in the rural community as provider of goods, and more importantly credit, meant they had access to the raw material and the cash-flow with which to commence an enterprise. Taranaki merchant Chew Chong was a case in point. Exporting the Jew's ear' fungus to China gave him valuable exporting experience, while his branch network of rural stores provided useful links in the farming community. Commencing a dairy factory for Chew Chong was a way to increase his trade in butter and cheese, seizing a new and expanding opportunity with resources he already had.
Chinese-born Chew Chong opened his Eltham butter factory in 1 887.
54 See Warr, From Bush Bum to Butter, p.86.
INNO VATION D'rNAlvlIC
Not all the entrants to the dairy industry were immigrants. New Zealand-born
merchant Newton King established his first auctioneering business (aged 25) in
partnership with Robert Bauchope. The p artnership lasted a year. In 1 88 1 , King
commenced the stock and station business, Newton King Limited. Following a
programme of branch expansion in stock and station outlets serving the farming community around New Plymouth, it was perhaps not surprising that King too entered the dairy processing industry in 1 888 with the Crown Dairy Company. Eventually, he
maintained 21 dairy factories as part of his cooperative. Consistent with the
entrepreneurial personality, King continued to pursue new ventures
in
emergmgindustries even late in life. In 1 908, aged 53, he began supplying cars through the
Calthorpe Car Agency; in 1 909 he commenced importation and supply of milking
machinery through the Ridd Milking Machine Company. 56
New Zealand-born Charles Wilkinson started work as a store manager before
commencing his first venture, CA. Wilkinson Merchants, in 1 889. Like Newton King
and C hew Chong, his mercantile interests with the rural community were an obvious launching point for commencing a dairy factory, which he did in 1 89 1 , aged 23.57
Entrepreneurs entered the dairy industry with backgrounds other than the stock and station industry. Henry Brown and William Corpe were two dairy factory owners with backgrounds
in
the timber industry. English-born Henry Brown, a carpenter from missionary parents, opened his first sawmillin
1 863 at the age of 2 1 in Inglewood.Brown, who was to become a central figure in the development of the town, branched
out into other enterprises. He started a j oinery factory, and in 1 882, the same year as the DlInedin shipment, commenced the Moa Cooperative Dairy factory. For Brown it provided not only an avenue to enter what appeared to be an emerging industry, but also an outlet for products from his joinery factory including butter boxes and cheese crates.58
William Corpe immigrated to the colony from England in 1 858 aged 22, and his career bore sinUIarities to the other dairy entrepreneurs. Corpe settled in Makino where
5(, 'Newton King Limited centennial, 1 879-1 979', Taranaki DailY Ne}})s, 5 October, 1 979.
57 Another merchant also to enter the dairy industry was Henry Manoy. Born in New Zealand in 1 879, Manoy and his brother owned a number of shops in Motueka outside Nelson. In addition the 1\fanoy brothers ran a dairy factory and a bacon factory.
58 A dairy factory owner also with a trade background was New Plymouth born James Patterson. Aged nine Patterson went to sea as a cabin boy and in 1 882, after completing his blacksmith apprenticeship, opened his own blacksmith shop. He conducted this for 1 8 years before in 1 900, aged 41, he began a process of farm buying and land development that was to characterise the rest of his business career. At his height he owned 35 farms, with some 4000 cows and dairy factory.
he worked as a clerk then farm manager. At the age of 32, he started what would be the rUst of six entrepreneurial ventures. In 1 868, Corpe started a flax mill; in 1 872, he in opened a general store and transport company, and from 1 878 onwards, he established a number of sawmills supplying timber for railway contracts. In 1 884, Corpe founded the Makino Butter and Cheese factory-a venture that would prove to be the most successful of his career. In 1 903, he sold his Makino factory to a11Dther dairy entrepreneur with a mercantile background, J oseph Nathan.
Nathan and William Goodfellow were two entrepreneurs who s tood out in the history of the colonial dairy industry. Both the entrepreneurs were notable for different reasons; Nathan for his successful adoption of dried milk through the Glaxo brand; and Goodfellow for the amalgamation and centralised marketing of the dairy industry.
Goodfellow's entry into dle dairy industry was not unlike the other merchants discussed. Born in
T
e Awamutu in 1 880, he worked as a hardware merchant before starting a branch of an Auckland-based hardware fIrm in Hamilton, at the age of 2 1 . Thereafter, he worked for Green and Colebrook general merchants a s manager. In 1 909,Goodfellow founded the Waikato Dairy Company after being left with dairy plant and machinery following a customer defaulting. It was not long before all of Goodfellow's interests were absorbed in the dairy industry. In 1 9 1 5 he started the Waikato Cooperative Cheese Company. In 1 91 9 he merged with his competitor, Spragg's New Zealand Dairy Association, forming the New Zealand Cooperative Dairy Company. The company then pursued a process of acquisition to become the largest dairy company in the colony. Goodfellow remained managing director of the cooperative until 1 932,
when he left to pursue other initiatives. Goodfellow undertook at least 1 1 different entrepreneurial ventures over the course of his commercial career. Interestingly, the same spirit of cooperation that characterised his management of dairy companies imbued his other schemes, which were o ften undertaken with partners. While it is fair to state that the farming community were a vital part o f the rise and success of the dairy industry, it is also accurate to state that those who inititally gave the industry the most momentum and created the largest economies of scale were those outside the farming community.5�
59 One of the reasons for the rise in the popularity of the cooperative form of dairy factory ownership
among farmers was fUlancial. As Yerex pointed out in Empire of the Dairy Farmers, p.68. 'For others it was a
matter o f principle not to allow outsiders to dictate terms. More and more dairy farmers were becoming
aware that the retailers and agents in Britain, the shipping companies and the factory owners in New