No Better Butter

Taranaki's dairy industry has been garnering high praise for more than a century and one of its first leading lights was the Chinese entrepreneur Chew Chong. This handsome silver trophy, awarded for the best half ton (500 kilograms) of export butter at the South Seas Exhibition in Dunedin, was won by Chong's Jubilee factory of Eltham in 1889. The award confirmed the factory was one of the best in the country and rewarded its commitment to cleanliness and quality.

On his return from the exhibition Chong and his trophy were given a rousing reception by the local Chamber of Commerce and paraded as evidence of what local enterprises could achieve. According to an enthusiastic Taranaki Herald correspondent the province made a strong showing at the exhibition including displays of horse shoes made from Taranaki ironsand, "Maori curiosities" and "all kinds of destructive implements of war".