White Ciffs
Dates: 1908-1938
Location: 831 Pukearuhe Road, Waiiti, Taranaki (-38.911385, 174.493483)
Registration No: 1839
Brand name: WHITE CLIFFS
The White Cliffs Co-operative Dairy Company Limited was incorporated on 9 September 1908 with capital of £2,000 and with farmers Ernest Skinner, Willie Freeth, Walter Davis, Charles Rowe, Arthur Davis, Alfred Watkin and Archibald McEwan as the initial subscribers.
Tenders had earlier been called by Ernest Skinner for the erection of a small cheese factory on site given by Alfred Watkin.
1959 factory location
The cheese factory opened in November 1908 with Mr S Jones (ex Edendale) as the first Manager.
The initial years were successful with favourable reports received from London about the quality of WHITE CLIFFS cheese. By 1921, as a result of increased milk supply, extensions to the factory were made including the installation of another vat. Although the factory predominantly made cheese, it also produced whey butter for a number of years
After 21 years, the old wooden factory was largely replaced by a concrete factory. After closing for around three months from 15 May 1929, the rebuilt factory was reopened in August but the rebuild was £287 over budget.
The company only lasted another nine years before going into voluntary liquidation in 1938 due to a combination of factors including a decrease in supply with one large supplier turning to sheep, one going in for home separation, increased costs of production and the loss of the factory manager’s house to fire.
The remaining suppliers sent their milk to the Waitoetoe factory on the main road.
A 1941 approach to have the White Cliffs factory restored and reopened as a branch of the North Taranaki Co-operative Dairy Factory Company Limited was unsuccessful.
Long standing and highly regarded manager Norman Shogren faced more than his fair share of adversity.
In 1912, his two year old son drowned in the Timaru (Tataramaika) creamery race.
In 1934, he fell from a ladder on to the concrete floor of the White Cliffs factory breaking bones and being unconscious for two days.
In 1938, his factory manager’s house and its contents were destroyed by fire.
In 1943, his 29 year old aircraft gunner son Jack was killed in Denmark when his Stirling Bomber was shot down.