CORRESPONDENCE. HONOR TOWHOM HONOR IS DUE
Editor. Sir, —There, is one import. Nt feattl in connection
with the dairying industry in Taranaki that I never seem to. hear any
allusion to, and for great, number of years never mentioned in any of
the New Zealand newspapers,, and that is the name of the pioneer hand of
the present factory system a Mr Chew Chong
who (as far as 1 know, at any rate) had the first daily factory in
Taranaki up at Eltham; it may have been the fust dairy factory in New
Zealand. Mr Chong was not only
a pushing merchant, importer and storekeeper, having a business at New-
Plymouth as weil as at Eitham, but showed his great faith in this
dairying business by putting a lot of his money into it. and offering to
lend suppliers the cash to buy cows with. I write from memory, of
course, and would like to see this statement refuted if it'a not
correct. As I turn it over in my mind now, at this particular time
there was considerable bad feeling (I think it was really race hatred)
around this new Eltham factory of Mr Chong's. Some sneaky person or
persons (I don't think they were any of Mr Chong's countrymen though)
thought to damage his factory, reputation and. business by working up a
trumpery case of alleged fake weights at the factory. Inspector Duffin.
Inspector of Weights and Measures, New Plymouth, was sent for and came
to Eltham. The butcome of the Inspector's visit was that Mr Chong
came out with flying colors; he was actually cheating himself and
paying out more than he ought to hi» milk suppliers—the farmers. Milk
was purchased by weight in those days. The informers. were sadder men,
anyway; perhaps sorry financially they made a complaint.
I have
made these statements off and on for a good many years now to old
Taranaki residents, and have not had them so far contradicted. If I am
misrepresenting in any way I shall regard it as a kindness to be
contradicted. I only want to get the truth and to uphold it. I always
regarded Mr Chew Chong as a
splendid business man, a good pioneer, and a gentleman- Gladstone's
statement contained a lot of truth in it when he once remarked that the
"colonials disliked the Chinaman more for his virtues than hi» vices." I
don't know if Mr Chew ChoTi£ is still alive or not, but I beg to offer
one suggestion: it would only be an act of British, fair play and
longdelayed courtesy to tender Mr Chew Chong; some practical
appreciation of his pioneering services to the dairying, industry —say,
at the coming Winter Show at Hawera. In writing what I have I am only
prompted by the spirit of rendering HONOR TO WHOM HONOR IS DUE.
Kakaramea, May 26. Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LXV, 28 May 1913, Page 5
Saturday, September 1, 2012
MANAIA.(
MANAIA.(From Our Own Correspondent.) I MAGISTRATE'S COURT.
On Wednesday, before Mr W. R. Haselden, S.M. In the police case, Ching Moon
and Chun Shan Chong and R.
Donald, for] selling cigarettes to youths contrary to the Police
Offences Act, 1908, were each fined 20s and 9s costs. Ching Moon and
Chun Shan Chong were also
fined, with costs, the former 10s. and the latter 10s, for a breach of
the Shops and Offices Act, not closing their shops on the statutory
half-holiday in the week ending August 11th 1917. Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LXXIV, 21 September 1917, Page 5
The Chinese Benefactor.
CHEW Chong ESTABLISHES THE FACTORY SYSTEM.
The most remarkable personality in the establishment of dairying in Taranaki, as indeed of the Dominion, was.a little Chinese genfleman, Chew Chong. It was he who built the first dairy factory^and provided the struggling settler with his first means of making a cash transaction in having created a market for the fungus found in the bush and facetiously known as Taranaki "wool," Chew Chong was no ordinary Chinaman. Though not a mandarin, nor of the educated class, he well merited the high esteem in which he was held by all classes because of his high principles and generous instincts. To the first-settlers who faced the wilderness with determination and hope as their only capital the little Chinese pedlar (a buyer of old iron in the first place) came as a general benefactor. In his wanderings he recognised the fungus growing on the tawa, pukutea and mahoe trees as something similar to an. edible fungus greatly prized in his country as a vegetable. With that keen foresight which always distinguished him, he decided to establish a trade in it with his native land. A trial shipment was made, and the venture at once proved a success. It is difficult at this distance to realise what the work of Chew Chong meant to the pioneer dairymen of Taranaki. When he commenced to purchase fungus the settlers lived by a system of barter. Fourpenee a pound" was a high price for the butter they produced. The storekeeper accepted the butter in exchange for stores, milled it and shipped it Home in a salted condition in kegs as ordinary cargo. It was a matter of great difficulty to obtain sufficient cash to meet the annual rates levied by the local bodies, amounting generally to 5s or 7s 6d. It was not till they were paid spot cash for their fungus that the settlers knew the delightful sound of the clinking of coin of the realm. The trade in Taranaki "wool" rapidly developed until one year, about 1885, the export of fungus amounted to. £72,000, more than the total value of butter shipped from the province. This important means of revenue was a Godsend to many a settler, for the price of butter had fallen to about threepence a potmd at that time, and but for the fungus many a family would have had ruin staring them in the face. It was in the year 1868 that Chew Chong commenced buying fungus. For four years the Customs authorities of China kept no account of the amount imported, but when Chew Chong was in China later he was informed that from 1872 to 1904 the imports were valued at £375,000.
«as were the services rendered to the Taranaki pioneer by the establishment of a trade in fungus, which was all
profit, costing nothing to produce and being chiefly collected by the children, it was the part played by the Chinese storekeeper in establishing the'factory system of butter manufacture for which he is principally remembered. In 1870 Chew Chong settled in New Plymouth and established a store, other stores being subsequently opened at Eltham and Inglewood. His main, sphere of activity
I was at Eltham, for it was there that he became-the pioneer of the dairy factory movement in the Taranaki province. In erecting a dairy factory Chew Chong took a risky step, for it was a matter of great difficulty to procure a competent butter-maker,in those days. The refrigerator was unknown, control of temperature, an essential feature in the modern factory being thus impossible; separators were crude affairs, transport was difficult and costly, and the butter had to be shipped abroad as ordinary cargo. However, he was a man of exceptional enterprise, and having been approached by the settlers with whom he was doing business he entered into the work in a bold manner. Perhaps the best indication of the up-to-date nature of his enterprise may be gained from the following description of the factory given by the first Government dairy instructor in 1888:—'' Chew Chong's factory: This is one of the best factories I have visited. The machinery is good and in first-class condition, and'everything about it is thoroughly clean. The machinery is driven by a water-wheel. There are two Danish cream separators, each capable of putting through 150 gallons of milk per hour; one box churn capable of churning half a ton of butter at once, and a lever butter-worker. The water-wheel is inside the lower* part of the building. The butter when churned is taken to a space between the wheel and the outside wall to be made up. When the wheel is in motion it causes a current of cool air in the place, throwing at the same time a spray of water in the air, which assists to cool it in hot weather, a method invaluable for buttermaking. The building of a tunnel to bring the water to the wheel and plant cost over £700."
It is told by old settlers, as an instance of Chew Chong versatility, that the contractors for the tunnel were on the point of throwing up the work, as they could make no progress, when Chew Chong went into the tunnel and showed them how to go about it. It was in 1887 that the factory established a notable period for the industry. Being the year of Queen Victoria's Jubilee, Chew Chong named his factory "The Jubilee" and registered the word "Jubilee" as the brand of his butter. It was a success from its initiation, notwithstanding the difficulties which had to be faced.
The first year suppliers could only be paid 2d a gallon for the milk, but the following year 3d a gallon was paid. The first shipment of factory butter realised 24s a cwt. more than did the milled butter shipped by Chew Chong at the same time. The cost of marketing was expensive in those days. Roads were bad, and railage freights were high. To rail butter to Wellington cost £3 4s per ton. The butter Chew Chong turned out was of high quality for the period, and he gained the leading awards at the South Seas Exhibition at Dunedin in 1889, including a silver cup
presented by Messrs. A. and T. Burt. The history of Chew Chong was that of many another proprietary pioneer in the industry. When the wave of co-operative dairying carried all before it he struggled gamely for a time, but finally had to close the doors of his factory and three creameries, having failed to persuade the co-operators to take them over, with the result that his buildings and plant, which cost £3700, did not realise £400. Chew Chong calculated that he lost £7000 in the dairying business, for during the last five years his factory was in existence he had to pay very high prices to retain suppliers. Though his" services have not attracted the attention of the outside world, there is not a man of long experience in Taranaki who does not hold him in high regard and honour him for the great part he played in the development of the province. Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume XLII, 5 July 1923, Page 15
CHEW Chong ESTABLISHES THE FACTORY SYSTEM.
The most remarkable personality in the establishment of dairying in Taranaki, as indeed of the Dominion, was.a little Chinese genfleman, Chew Chong. It was he who built the first dairy factory^and provided the struggling settler with his first means of making a cash transaction in having created a market for the fungus found in the bush and facetiously known as Taranaki "wool," Chew Chong was no ordinary Chinaman. Though not a mandarin, nor of the educated class, he well merited the high esteem in which he was held by all classes because of his high principles and generous instincts. To the first-settlers who faced the wilderness with determination and hope as their only capital the little Chinese pedlar (a buyer of old iron in the first place) came as a general benefactor. In his wanderings he recognised the fungus growing on the tawa, pukutea and mahoe trees as something similar to an. edible fungus greatly prized in his country as a vegetable. With that keen foresight which always distinguished him, he decided to establish a trade in it with his native land. A trial shipment was made, and the venture at once proved a success. It is difficult at this distance to realise what the work of Chew Chong meant to the pioneer dairymen of Taranaki. When he commenced to purchase fungus the settlers lived by a system of barter. Fourpenee a pound" was a high price for the butter they produced. The storekeeper accepted the butter in exchange for stores, milled it and shipped it Home in a salted condition in kegs as ordinary cargo. It was a matter of great difficulty to obtain sufficient cash to meet the annual rates levied by the local bodies, amounting generally to 5s or 7s 6d. It was not till they were paid spot cash for their fungus that the settlers knew the delightful sound of the clinking of coin of the realm. The trade in Taranaki "wool" rapidly developed until one year, about 1885, the export of fungus amounted to. £72,000, more than the total value of butter shipped from the province. This important means of revenue was a Godsend to many a settler, for the price of butter had fallen to about threepence a potmd at that time, and but for the fungus many a family would have had ruin staring them in the face. It was in the year 1868 that Chew Chong commenced buying fungus. For four years the Customs authorities of China kept no account of the amount imported, but when Chew Chong was in China later he was informed that from 1872 to 1904 the imports were valued at £375,000.
«as were the services rendered to the Taranaki pioneer by the establishment of a trade in fungus, which was all
profit, costing nothing to produce and being chiefly collected by the children, it was the part played by the Chinese storekeeper in establishing the'factory system of butter manufacture for which he is principally remembered. In 1870 Chew Chong settled in New Plymouth and established a store, other stores being subsequently opened at Eltham and Inglewood. His main, sphere of activity
I was at Eltham, for it was there that he became-the pioneer of the dairy factory movement in the Taranaki province. In erecting a dairy factory Chew Chong took a risky step, for it was a matter of great difficulty to procure a competent butter-maker,in those days. The refrigerator was unknown, control of temperature, an essential feature in the modern factory being thus impossible; separators were crude affairs, transport was difficult and costly, and the butter had to be shipped abroad as ordinary cargo. However, he was a man of exceptional enterprise, and having been approached by the settlers with whom he was doing business he entered into the work in a bold manner. Perhaps the best indication of the up-to-date nature of his enterprise may be gained from the following description of the factory given by the first Government dairy instructor in 1888:—'' Chew Chong's factory: This is one of the best factories I have visited. The machinery is good and in first-class condition, and'everything about it is thoroughly clean. The machinery is driven by a water-wheel. There are two Danish cream separators, each capable of putting through 150 gallons of milk per hour; one box churn capable of churning half a ton of butter at once, and a lever butter-worker. The water-wheel is inside the lower* part of the building. The butter when churned is taken to a space between the wheel and the outside wall to be made up. When the wheel is in motion it causes a current of cool air in the place, throwing at the same time a spray of water in the air, which assists to cool it in hot weather, a method invaluable for buttermaking. The building of a tunnel to bring the water to the wheel and plant cost over £700."
It is told by old settlers, as an instance of Chew Chong versatility, that the contractors for the tunnel were on the point of throwing up the work, as they could make no progress, when Chew Chong went into the tunnel and showed them how to go about it. It was in 1887 that the factory established a notable period for the industry. Being the year of Queen Victoria's Jubilee, Chew Chong named his factory "The Jubilee" and registered the word "Jubilee" as the brand of his butter. It was a success from its initiation, notwithstanding the difficulties which had to be faced.
The first year suppliers could only be paid 2d a gallon for the milk, but the following year 3d a gallon was paid. The first shipment of factory butter realised 24s a cwt. more than did the milled butter shipped by Chew Chong at the same time. The cost of marketing was expensive in those days. Roads were bad, and railage freights were high. To rail butter to Wellington cost £3 4s per ton. The butter Chew Chong turned out was of high quality for the period, and he gained the leading awards at the South Seas Exhibition at Dunedin in 1889, including a silver cup
presented by Messrs. A. and T. Burt. The history of Chew Chong was that of many another proprietary pioneer in the industry. When the wave of co-operative dairying carried all before it he struggled gamely for a time, but finally had to close the doors of his factory and three creameries, having failed to persuade the co-operators to take them over, with the result that his buildings and plant, which cost £3700, did not realise £400. Chew Chong calculated that he lost £7000 in the dairying business, for during the last five years his factory was in existence he had to pay very high prices to retain suppliers. Though his" services have not attracted the attention of the outside world, there is not a man of long experience in Taranaki who does not hold him in high regard and honour him for the great part he played in the development of the province. Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume XLII, 5 July 1923, Page 15
Monday, July 16, 2012
Fungus Gathering.
—When Mr. Chew Chong first arrived in New Plymouth, says the Taranaki Herald, it was said
that he would be able to obtain but little fungus, as it would not pay
to gather. It appears, however, that persons were mistaken in their
surmises, for, as it now turns out, fungus-gathering is likely to prove a
profitable industry for some timo to come. We learn that Mr.Chong
paid away on Saturday last, between £60 and £70 for the fungus, that
wa3sbrought into town, and lie was informed that large quantities would
bo in d:;ing the week. From what we can gather respecting thi
collecting of fungus, wo learn th.it in bush clearings it is vory
plentiful, and a man can gather from two to five packs full in a day.
The price paid for it is six shillings the sack, so the wages made is at
the rate of from 12s. to 30s. per day. Tho Maoris are the principal
parties who have devoted their attention to gathering it at present; but
European, seeing the profitable nature of the industry, are also busy
at work collecting it. The fungus required is said to thrive well on
the fallen tawa tree.New Zealand Herald, Volume VIII, Issue 2406, 11 October 1871, Page 3
Thursday, July 12, 2012
"STAND OUT" STUDENT FROM TARANAKI
"STAND OUT" STUDENT FROM TARANAKI AWARDED TVNZ JOURNALISM SCHOLARSHIP
Taranaki has produced television stars Jim Hickey and Toni
Street&now another talented young broadcaster with a promising
career in television journalism has emerged from the province.18 year old Kimberlee Downs of New Plymouth has been awarded the Television New Zealand Journalism Diversity Scholarship at Auckland's AUT University.
The scholarship, which is valued at more than $30,000, is open to New Zealanders who are of Maori, Pacific Island or Asian ethnicity, are accepted into the BCS programme and meet strong community and media criteria. All fees are paid for during the three year degree and paid holiday work is offered at TVNZ.
Kimberlee is a third generation Chinese New Zealander with an excellent academic and sporting record from Sacred Heart College in New Plymouth.
Head of News & Current Affairs, Anthony Flannery said the scholarship was about telling all of the nation's stories and having all kiwis on screen.
"The scholarship is designed to make the TVNZ newsroom more diverse and better reflect the perspective of all New Zealanders in the news.
"I'm confident Kimberlee will help us achieve that goal, she was an outstanding candidate, and would have been in any field she'd entered. I'm sure she will be very successful and the Chinese community in New Zealand will be very proud of her."
Kimberlee began her first week of work experience at TVNZ today and has gone straight into the Auckland newsroom - the busiest television newsroom in the country producing 9 full news shows per day, hourly bulletins and 24/7 website news on www.tvnz.co.nz
The Scholarship Judges believe she can handle the pressure, they said Kimberlee was a stand-out applicant and a unanimous choice to be the second ever recipient of the diversity initiative. They also added that her, "down-to-earth, practical Taranaki can-do attitude will serve her well in journalism."
ISSUED BY:
Anthony Flannery
Head of News and Current Affairs
TVNZ
For an interview with Kimberlee Downs please contact Andi on the number / email below.
http://tvnz.co.nz/content/2830754
Thursday, June 28, 2012
VALUELESS CHEQUE.
ANDREW PLEADS GDUTY. SERVING REFORMATIVE SENTENCE. A plea of guilty was entered by Aubrey Lester Andrew, aged 27, in the Polic-e Court this morning before Mr. W. R. McKean, S.M., to obtaining £12 <V from Frank Wong at Eltham, on July 11, 1925, by means of a valueless cheque.
Chief Detective Cummings stated that accused had borrowed a blank cheque, filled it in and got Wong to cash it. Accused was last month sentenced to twelve months' reformative treatment on five charges of breaking, entering and theft.
Accused was convicted and ordered to come up for sentence within eighteen month*. He was ordered to make restitution. Auckland Star, Volume LVIII, Issue 284, 1 December 1927, Page 7
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