Behind Seemingly Commonplace Household Milk Deliveries Lies Big Undertaking

Chronicle (Levin), 14 July 1948, Page 4

Behind Seemingly Commonplace Household Milk Deliveries Lies Big Undertaking

The delivery of a household's milk each morning is just another off thos^ accepted daily hapj),enings which is ta^en for grahtp'd and to which little, thought* is given. Few realise. the vasfc uhdei'takihg which -lies behmd milk distribution, important as it is but seemingly commonplace. « : V '.No less than '260,000 piiit bottles inwards and outwards are handled daily in Wellinguon City and the area extendiiig to as far north as Shannon* and Foxton by the Wellington City Milk Department. The am.ount of milk handled, last year reached the all-time rec'ord of 6,711,000 gallons, The annual revenue was £854,487, exceeding either the Tramways or Electricity Departments. The department* budgets for 600,000 new bottles each year and 40,000,000 cardboard bottle tops.

These and a number of other interesting sidelights on the de-j partment's operations .were given by the general manager, Mr. E. LBenseman, as guest speaker at the Levin Rotary Club's luncheon this week. It was just on 30 years since the Wellington City Council had sot about providing the citizens of , Wellington with milk, the quality of which was destined to become the best obtainable in the Dominion, said Mr. Benseman in his opening rehiarks. At that time the council, . along with the producers and cohsumers, had little dreamt that' it would deveiop into the huge organisation -it was today. The project had been Taunched amidst a whirl* oi criticism. and doubt, he added, but under capable guidance it had proved highly successful and had grown tremendously. Mr. Benseman paid tribute i to ' those members of the council who had been responsible for the undertaking over the years. During the first year, 1919-20, the department had ' handled an .average of 4400 gallons of milk daily, said the speaker. Ten years ilater in 1929-30 it had only increased to 5900 gallons, which indicated the hostility shown towards the scheme in its early stages. In 1939-40 the distribution averaged 9600 gallons daily, but in the succeeding ten years it had made a spectacular rise to- 18,337 gallons jih 1947-48. j Touching on the transportation I of the milk, Mr* Bfcnseman said ,'that prior to the war the Railways ■ Department -had made, ia j-sjoecial tr^iin' available each day.to convey the milk from the farm to .Weiyngj ton, but' during the wgr and sinoe hothirig iikp the Iqecessary iacflities had . been obtainable/ with ' the. re1. sult that motor tirucks had- been i utilised. - .The gross inward weight tof milk and cans was 110 tons daily 'and with a similar outward. weight it.made,220 tons .to be handled each day. This was lifted by 60 motor trucks and 42 horse-drawn vehicles. The milk tanker, by which Inilk could bb trahsported in bulk, was

the completq answer to the problemy averred the speaker. One of these was On trial between the department's factory at Rahui and Weliingtbn, convey ing 8|- tons of milk daily. it had proved a complete succe'ss and it was hoped to haveanother two on the road by • next June: The. first tanker had. cq'st £5600, but in spite of this . heavy expenditure the overall cost of operation was much less than the old and out-dated system of cartage by trucks ..and cans. The number of suppliers varied according to the seasons, continued the speaker. In the summer they totalled about 200 and some 10,000 cows were involved. Iri the winter or off season some 500 suppliers miiking about 22,000 .cows were called upon. Everything possible was done to ensure that the quality of the milk' before it reached -the. consumer was the best possible, and in that the department's well equipped laboratory played a conspicuous part. A daily check was made on the milk from every supplier. When faults were shown to them, suppliers co-operated well in having them eliminated. Briefly .refefring to the school milk supply, Mr. Benseman told his hearers that it had been inaugurated in 1937 in Wellington City and had now become Dominion wide. His department supplied 139 schools in the city and the area. to as far north as Shannon and Foxton. The number of children estimated to be r(eceiving it at these, schools was 20,000. Concluding, Mr. Benseman gave a.sum-mary of the main financial features of the department's operations. The capital expenditure inivolved was ,£344,783, of which about £134,000® had been, iproyided by i way: bf i ;loa>ns ? and the; balance from amount obtained from or invested. in- the undertaking.- A depreciation fund had been established for the replacement of buildings and plant, andj-.ftoday that had a - credit .-of £90,000. ' • Mr.. Benseman wajs accorded a hearty vote of tha'nks for his informative -talk. . / .