774 



Production of Lactose from Whey 



[Dec^. 



average, the}' are now not more than 60 per cent, above the 

 pre-war level, an increase which is almost exactly comparable 

 with the position as regards farm produce, but appreciably 

 below the increase in the cost of living. 



The figures for wages given above are averages for the coun- 

 try as a whole, but as is well known the pre-war rates of wages 

 varied considerably in different districts and this variation still 

 continues (though to a somewhat less extent than was 

 formerly the case) the areas where exceptionally low rates were 

 formerly paid having benefited by a rise proportionately greater 



than tiiat obtained in the better paid areas. 



******* 



In January, 1919, the Ministry, on the recommendation of the 



Development Commissioners, obtained Treasury authority to 



, o establish and conduct an experimental 



Production of ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^t. 



_ . o Lactose Factory, ejrants tor the purpose 



Lactose from , . -j -, r ^ I t? a 



bemg provided from the Development iumd. 



^' A site for the factory was thereupon ob- 



tained at Haslington. near Crewe, adjoining the premises of a 

 co-operative cheese factory, but owing to unavoidable delay in 

 carrying out the necessary building work and in obtaining suit- 

 able plant, etc., the Lactose Factory did not commence work 

 until February, 1921. 



The object of the Factory is to experiment in the extraction 

 of lactose and other products from whey, and to ascertain the 

 economic possibilities of the processes adopted. 



The circumstances which caused the Ministrv to think that 

 it was both necessarv and desirable to establish a factorv of this 

 kind are as follows : — 



(1) One of the phases in the development of the dairying 

 industry which has taken place during recent years is the 

 establishment throughout the country of dairy depots. Some 

 of these depots are owned co-operatively by farmers, and others 

 belong to private individuals or companies. Some depots have 

 been expressly established for the manufacture of cheese ; 

 others are for the purpose of dealing with " surplus " milk, 

 often bv convertino; it into cheese, and the result has been the 

 concentration of cheese-making at depots instead of at farm 

 dairies as heretofore. 



Cheese-making gives rise to a by-product — whey — which 

 in bulk amounts to about 85 per cent, of the milk used. It 

 therefore follows that the concentration of cheese-making 

 results in a large bulk of whey being produced at the depots. 



