New Plymouth lies on the west coast of New Zealand's North Island. The mountain at its back and the sea in front give this little town of less than 50,000 inhabitants an enchanting setting.

In a large suburban house full of the merry sound of children, Chew Chong's grandson, architect Brian Chong, speaks to us about his grandfather, who made the Chongs a respected family in the area.

"New Zealanders are always bewildered to learn that the dairy industry in Taranaki or even all New Zealand was established by a Chinaman," laughs Brian Chong. He pulls out old pictures and letters of his grandfather, and also plays us a video tape of a TV docu-drama on the history of farming in New Zealand, entitled "The Enduring Land." In it he plays his grandfather, reenacting the story of how Chew Chong ("Zhang Chao" in Mandarin) came to Tara-naki and founded his business.

Because Chew Chong died before Brian was born, the latter's knowledge of his grandfather comes entirely from stories told by his elders, documents kept by the family, and articles clipped from the press. But after playing Chew Chong in the documentary, he felt he had gained a real insight into his grandfather's early years as an immigrant and settler.

Later, guided by Brian's wife Margaret, we visit the Taranaki Museum. In a glass case, a silver cup more than a century old stands glittering before our eyes-a reminder of the high point in Chew Chong's life.

Looking at New Zealand's broad pastures, we reflect on the extraordinary life of Chinese settler Chew Chong （opposite）. （photo above by Hsueh Chi-kuang; photo opposite courtesy of the Chong family）

Butter like cart grease?

In 1889, Chew Chong's Jubilee Brand butter won the Silver Cup at the South Seas Exhibition in Dunedin, then a major commercial center. When the news reached Chew Chong he was both excited and moved, for when he had previously exported to Britain butter churned by Taranaki farmers, it had been received with the humiliating comment that it was "not much better than cart-grease."

Some time after that setback Chew Chong had decided to open his own butter factory, an action which propelled New Zealand's butter industry from the status of an agricultural cottage industry to that of specialized industrial manufacture. When he finally won the Silver Cup at Dunedin for the best half ton of butter packed for export, the previous disgrace was wiped away.

Although the settlers in the New Zealand of Chew Chong's day were, like himself, all immigrants, Chew Chong was probably one of the few people who can be said to have had an international perspective. He was born in 1828 in Guangzhou, and worked in Singapore, where he had his first contacts with the English language and with Westerners. After ten years there, he followed the Gold Rush to Australia, and in 1866 he came to New Zealand.

At first, he supplied miners with their daily necessities, and bought scrap metal which he sold to China. Later he moved to the province of Taranaki on North Island, where he opened a store in New Plymouth, and peddled sundry goods to the pioneer farmers of the surrounding countryside by cart. He discovered that growing abundantly in the local woods was a fungus similar to the "wood ears" (mu'er) eaten in China. Chew Chong with his quick business mind immediately saw an opportunity, and he advertised widely offering to buy the fungus. His advertisement in the Taranaki Almanac Advertiser read: "Cheapest Shops in New Plymouth. . . . Has on Sale for Cash, at very low prices, Teas, Sugars, Rice, Soap. . . . Highest price given for fungus."

At that time Chew Chong paid 4 pence a pound for fungus, but later he paid as much as 8 pence or 10 pence a pound-more than for butter, and the fungus cost nothing to produce. As news of this spread, poor settler families newly arrived from Britain went out into the woods to search for this "treasure." Their women and children came in a constant stream to Chew Chong's shop, bringing fungus to exchange for cash or provisions. This vastly improved their standard of living.

Chew Chong traded the fungus as an agricultural crop, and from 1872 to 1904, his exports of fungus earned New Zealand more than *300,000 and accounted for almost all of Taranaki's foreign trade. Later he opened branches of his shop in the nearby towns of Inglewood and Eltham. Chew Chong bought or bartered anything which he thought might have a market overseas, and exported it. This included butter, which he was the first to export.

This silver cup （below）, engraved with Chew Chong's name, was won in 1889 when he sent butter from his Jubilee dairy factory （left） to the Dunedin Exhibition. （photographed with the permission of Taranaki Museum）

The first butter factory

In 1874, Chew Chong bought butter from local farmers and sold it to Australia. Although this was not a success, he still wanted to try the British market. But with a sea voyage of three months, by the time the butter arrived it had long turned rancid.

In order to buy the best quality butter, Chew Chong offered a prize for the keg of butter which was opened in best condition after being stored for three months. A Mrs. Turner won a silk dress.

Around that time, refrigerated cargo ships appeared on the scene, and at the suggestion of one of his store managers Chew Chong tried an experiment: he had some butter sent to Britain on one of these ships, and then brought back to New Zealand. When the kegs were opened, the butter was in perfect condition. This was a great encouragement to Chew Chong, for he realized that the time was ripe to produce butter in large quantities for export.

Hence he built a superbly-equipped modern dairy factory at Eltham, using water from the Waingongoro River to drive a water wheel which generated eight horsepower. This drove New Zealand's first cream separators, and from the cream the factory produced high quality butter. Chew Chong himself invented a rotary butter-working machine, and the butter was also impressed with his "Jubilee" brand mark.

"This is one of the best factories I have visited," wrote New Zealand's first Government Dairy Inspector, R. M. McCallum, in 1887. "The machinery is good and in first-class condition and everything is thoroughly clean. . . . There are two Danish cream separators each capable of putting through 150 gallons of milk an hour. . . . When the [water] 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 the hot weather, a method invaluable for butter making."

A freezing machine which Chew Chong later had installed was also the first to be used in a butter factory in New Zealand.

Eighty-five Taranaki dairy farmers expressed belated thanks to Chew Chong in his old age. （courtesy of the Chong family）

No malice

The principles which Chew Chong applied in his business would not seem at all out of date today. He succeeded in expanding the scale of his operations and eventually opened three creameries and bought a local cheese factory. As well as diversifying his business he bought a share in the Egmont Box Company, to control the price of cartons.

Chew Chong also introduced many innovative management methods. After deciding to open his dairy factory, he invited local dairy farmers to a meeting, and signed contracts with those who were willing to work with him, giving them a guaranteed purchase price for their milk.

But after Chew Chong had opened up the market for butter, some dairy farmers began to protest at his prices. One farmer who stopped supplying milk to Chew Chong was successfully sued for breach of contract. Chew Chong devised one of the first "share-milking" systems, whereby he allowed farmers to graze their cows on his pasture and milk them using his facilities, in return for supplying the milk to his factory. He also cleared forest land for pasture, and it was stocked with 200 cows.

In the 1890s the farmers declared that they intended to set up a dairy cooperative. Chew Chong was willing to sell them his factory and creameries, but his offer was declined. However, the dairy farmers did later lease the factory from him while they improved their own production facilities. From then on Chew Chong's dairy business faced stiff competition, and finally as his losses mounted he sold or closed his factories. His 10 cream separators were sold for scrap to a foundry. Thus in his late years, what had once been a thriving dairy business was closed down.

Brian Chong recalls his father telling him how his grandfather had loaned money to those dairy farmers "with the shake of a hand." Yet when they set up their cooperative Chew Chong did not get his money back. "But I don't think he bore them any malice," declares Brian.

Although his grandfather left no diary to record his feelings, support for Brian Chong's view can be found in events recorded in New Zealand's medical annals.

From 1891 to 1892 New Zealand was hit by an epidemic of pneumonic influenza, against which doctors were helpless. Chew Chong himself was infected, and used acupuncture to treat himself. After he recovered, he travelled around Taranaki Province giving treatment free of charge, and cured many people using traditional Chinese medicine.

One patient he had treated wrote to the New Zealand Herald newspaper to say: "I was so bad I could not rise from my bed and after Mr. Chong's operation I was able to rise and milk my cows and continue my usual work."

However, Chew Chong's methods aroused displeasure among orthodox physicians, and on one occasion a prominent doctor berated Chew Chong publicly at an auction market. But one of the listeners seized the doctor by his lapels and told him that Chew Chong "was doing good where the medical profession could do nothing."

Chew Chong's grandson Brian Chong （1st on right） plays his grandfather in a docudrama on the history of farming in New Zealand. （courtesy of Brian Chong）

Tardy thanks

After his pioneering life, in his later years Chew Chong finally received apologies and recompense from local people. In 1905, before leaving on a trip to China with one of his sons, Chew Chong was presented with a purse of sovereigns by residents of Eltham. Five years later, 85 Taranaki dairy farmers presented him with an illuminated address in recognition of his achievements. Their tribute read thus:

"We the undersigned Settlers in the Tara-naki District wish to place on record our appreciation of the services which you have rendered to your adopted country. Your having on your arrival from China in the early sixties entered into the export trade in Fungus was the means of saving many a family from want and penury in the early days of settlement in the district by causing a circulation in our midst of over half a million of Foreign money and this the outcome of legitimate trade and not from loan. When later you entered into the Butter business being almost a pioneer in Factory Manufacture you led the way into what has become the mainstay of the district and helped to develop an export which materially assists in the prosperity of the Dominion. That this industry passed from private into co-operative hands and thereby caused you a considerable pecuniary loss is on your account to be deplored but cannot be traced to a want of business acumen nor to a want of desire to assist your fellow settlers on your part. We wish that we may for many years constantly meet you in our midst and that you may enjoy the rest to which your years and exertions entitle you."

To allow us to take photographs, Tara-naki Museum director Ron Lambert carried old pictures and belongings of Chew Chong's up out of the museum's storeroom. Carrying the items up and down, he got rather out of breath. When we asked him his opinion of Chew Chong, he thought for a moment, then said quite earnestly: "He was very much respected in New Plymouth. Even in those early days, he integrated completely into the community. He was a pioneer, and highly successful."

Chew Chong lived to be 92 years old. He had six children, sixteen grandchildren and "countless" great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren. Today, they are found in all walks of life, from architecture and medical practice to a news research bureau. Although none of Chew Chong's grandchildren can speak Chinese, and one cannot detect even a hint of Asian ancestry among his great-grandchildren, in Brian Chong's home we can see Chinese lamps and an embroidered dragon, which add a flavor of China to the ambience.

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Looking at New Zealand's broad pastures, we reflect on the extraordinary life of Chinese settler Chew Chong (opposite). (photo above by Hsueh Chi-kuang; photo opposite courtesy of the Chong family)

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This silver cup (below), engraved with Chew Chong's name, was won in 1889 when he sent butter from his Jubilee dairy factory (left) to the Dunedin Exhibition. (photographed with the permission of Taranaki Museum)

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Eighty-five Taranaki dairy farmers expressed belated thanks to Chew Chong in his old age. (courtesy of the Chong family)

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Chew Chong's grandson Brian Chong (1st on right) plays his grandfather in a docu-drama on the history of farming in New Zealand. (courtesy of Brian Chong)

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These are just a few of the grandchildren, great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren left behind by Chew Chong in his adopted homeland. Don't the decorations in their home reveal a hint of nostalgia for China? (photo by Hsueh Chi-kuang)

These are just a few of the grandchildren, great-grandchildren and great -great-grandchildren left behind by Chew Chong in his adopted homeland. Don't the decorations in their home reveal a hint of nostalgia for China? （photo by Hsueh Chi-kuang）