TE PUKE DAIRY PRODUCE COMPANY LTD
TE PUKE, NEW ZEALAND
OCTOBER 1884 - 26 JUNE 1888

HISTORY OF:
1884 March — A move to establish a Te Puke Dairy Produce Company Limited is made and a prospectus issued for prospective suppliers. Directors are given as: John Hodgson Lee, JP, (Chairman); William Charles Berridge, farmer,Te Puke; Ernest Woodward Boucher, farmer, Te Puke; Samuel Crawford, farmer, Te Puke; Robert Sharpe Galbraith, BSc, CE, Te Puke; Thomas Hingston, farmer, Te Puke and Caleb Lally, farmer, Te Puke. Solicitor: James Galbraith, Tauranga. Secretary: John Cameron Galbraith.
1884 October - The Te Puke Dairy Produce Company Limited is formed. It has a capital of £5,000, and 600 shares have been sold. Tenders are called for "a building necessary to hold a 1200 gallon cheese plant". The land for the site is purchased from George Henry Lee and the first cheese factoryat is built at a cost of £298 by David Highland Harvey, of Te Puke and Richard Blake and Thomas Borrie, of Tauranga. It is decided to make Cheddar cheese, and it is planned to export this to Britain.
1885 December — The Te Puke dairy factory opens for the season under the management of Stephen Weston Goss. There are eighteen suppliers: — Bird, Foster, Heatherington, Jetter, Ryan, McGhie, Malyon, Spence, Witherow, Washer, Williams, Harvey, Smith, Boucher, Crawford, Galbraith, Hingston and Lally. There is an atmosphere of optimism for the success of the venture as the beef market proves to be too erratic.
1886 - Captain Philip Bennett, of Norwood Farm, (between No 1 and 2 Roads) establishes a private dairy factory with milk from his own fifty cow herd, plus milk purchased from other settlers in the area. This begins a price war as well as a trade war, as Bennett also exports directly to Britain in direct competition with Te Puke Dairy Produce Ltd.
1887 June - The Te Puke Dairy Produce Company Limited is put into voluntary liquidation by its shareholders due to the ‘unfavourable state of the company’s affairs’. Captain Philip Bennett is appointed liquidator. The building is bought by Mr Ley for £350 — a bargain, as the full cost of setting up the factory was said to be £1000.
1887 September — A number of milk suppliers rent the dairy factory off Mr Ley, and George H Lee, A H Norman and Samuel Crawford are appointed as a committee to employ a factory manager. They hire Jesse Mead from Paterangi, Waikato.
1888 January - Jesse Mead at the Te Puke Dairy Production Company factory is receiving 260 gallons of milk per day at the Te Puke cheese factory BUT Captain Bennett is receiving 320 gallons a day at his factory.
1888 - 26 June — The Te Puke Dairy Production Company is put into liquidation, the liquidator being Captain Philip Bennett (again). Jesse Mead purchases the plant and buildings from William Neville Ley, of Tauranga and advertises that he intends to work the factory on his own account next season. Mr Mead also advertises that those who wish to grow wheat can have it ground at the Te Puke factory as he intends to start grinding wheat next winter.

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