Licence Granted To Carry Milk By Road

Chronicle (Levin), 20 July 1948, Page 4

Licence Granted To Carry Milk By Road

A yehicle aut%r|ty fpr t||.e partagp qf milk from Koputaroa to WeN li'ngtpn with a backloa-d of- empty cans was gran|ed tp Mr. D. Kgi'hqV. : hah, ..of"*|Jfiputarqa, wh'ph Ihe" Nq, *2 Transpoft Licpnsihg Authqrity/ Mr". J", P.'O. Skoglund, skt'in tlie- hlaii?" tfqte's Court, Levin, yesterday/ ' ' | The application was sought ■ oy ' Mr. S. McDowell for Mr. Kernoha'n, y/hile Mr. D. M. Hplt, on behalf of,|he New Zealand Railways Depart-. men|| * lodgpd a str-png prpyest. A i'ormal pro|est was lodged by thf representative of the Oil Fuel Gontrqller. ' The reason for the application wsis |hat 4he farmers of Koputaroa: desired to have "their* milk take'h toi Wellington by road and not by rail, said Mr. McDowell, The length of tirjie'whiph i£ tqok the milk to reach Welhngto'h by ?ail 'had hepn pau§ing the farmers great " incbnveniience, as the milk had deteriorated by t|ie time it reached its destin,q- i tiqn, and was consequently graded. A meeting had been cafied, at which representatives of the Weisiingtpn City Milk Department ' had been present, * " and " !t had* ' been depided tb make the applic"a|ip|i fpr the licence." *The cartage had "been 'carripd out . 'dbfing the * past ,feyr weeks urider a 'spepial licence. ' " - | Thomas Gaius "Viricent, a f armer j pf Levin, and chairman of" the Levin Dairy Compan-y, , gave evidence on behalf of the applicant. He tpld the- authority that'. he had

been present at the meeting of farmers. and related how for many year§ pasf the farmers and thg dairy company had been dissatislied with the servipe they had been receiving' from the Railways Department. The officers' of the Wellington Mil'k Department rpalised 'what difficultjes the suppliers had been working under! Mf.'Viq-' cent said that in April, 1947, he had made a trip to Wellington an'd had interyiewed one of thp oificials , pl the ' Railways Separtmehf . ' He had been told that the department WQuld look intoythp matter, bfd s'q far nothing .had been dpne. He had made a furthpr visit in May of this year and seen yet' another official, " but had received the sapie reply. Describing the grievance in full, Mr. yincent said that |hp mhk hqd tp be loaded in Koputaroa "by 7.45 a.m- and the train did npt arrive, ii| Wellington until any time be!weeh 12.30* p.m: and 4.30 p.m. " The * pf ice fafmers* received for their miik \yas based on the' quality of the milk wheh it arrived in Wellington. . After standing for some hours in a train durmg hot weather, a :great ' deal pf" ihe quality was lost. Thpyp' were hiahy • instances^ hf fqrmers not 'only- losing ali -their- milk, but aiso having tp pay fqr.:the rai|age-as Well- The • -return7 of the" empty cans was anpthpy prqbleni Ih' which g|pat' diffipulfies were- met/ i Questioned by Mr. Hplt,* Mr>Vincpht sqid thqt on one flc.cq^ipn np truck had been at the rail fpr the milk. • He .said -that, every |ime .the milk was handled", it deteriorated in quality-. . , . .=•:/ , . i A letter .from thp Milk Pppartment suppqfted the appUcatipn for |he licence up to Augugt 2f. : it "was explained that it was considered -that. by August 21 the milk,

from Koputaroa wouid np longer be rpquired for Wellington un|il ne?i season. Evidence qlQng the lines of , that given by Mr. Vincent was given ! by ThQmas McGill, a fariner of koputaroa. * David Kernohan, f armer and carrier of Koputaroa, ^.qid that he had contracted for tne cartage of the milk and at present was opprating uhder a temporary licence. Ile said that he left "his own farm at 7.10 each mornmg, collppted the, first cans at 7.15 and had all the' milk collected by 8 a.m. He was in Levin at 8.30 and ari-ived* in" Wellington between ,11 and 11.15 a.m/ He collected Ihe backioad of empty cans ancf^was home Iqy .3-§p p.m. If hepessaryf he made ;up|; a/full load of milk at Levin on the' * outward fourney. ' i It was submitied by Mr. Holt tfiat the licence should only be granted until the end of the season. It was possible that shortly the Railways Department wouid have a better servicig. Another factor Which could influence the arrarigement was the fact that the Milk Bepartment's tankers wouid soon he operating extensively over the Horowhenua district. Mr. McDowell said that the farmers had decided that they wanted tfie road transport as it proved much more efficient. He submitted that on the evidence the applicant was entitlea xo get a Ifpence for the ordinary terni. 1 He felt that road transport was proving more 'efficient for the fqrmers, said Mr. Skoglund -in giving his decision. For that reason they should carry qn with the present arrangements. As far as the pfotest from the |Qil Fuel C(qnfro|ler was concerhea, Mr. Kernohan had been doing the job for^ some time, and no obj.ecti,on had - be.en raised, "I think petrol could be restricted in other directions than that of milk cartage," he add,e'd. The licence was " granted imtil August 31, 1949. »