THE MILK SUPPLY

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 2151, 18 May 1914, Page 6

THE MILK SUPPLY

DEFECTS & DANGERS AN EXPERT ON THE POSITION RAILWAY TROUBLES IMPROVED SUPPLY SYSTEM OUTLINED The problem of securing an improved city milk supply, which lias been dealt with in some recent articles in Tub Dominion, is at present receiving a good deal of public attention. Some illuminating comments upon the position as it now exists, together with a number of interesting suggestions as to the best methods of. bringing about tho necessary improvements, were advanced by Mr. H. U. Hill, general manager of tho Bristol and Dominions' Producers' Association when lie was interviewed by a Dominion- reporter on Saturday. Mr. Hill's experience in the dairying business is well known, particularly in connection with his position as managing •director in his late firm (Hill and Bai° ton, AVellingtoii), which conducted an extensive cream-collecting and buttermanufacturing business. When lie was approached on Saturday, Mr. Hill said that he had avoided taking any part in the milk-s,upply controversy when he was an interested party, but in his present position he was not so tied and had no objection to stating the opinions which Ji/d resulted from his practical experience. There wore three connecting links in this milk-supply question which had to be considered, Mr. Hill remarked:—(l) The farmer who milked the cow; (2) the Railway Department; (3) the vendor who distributed the milk. As to the farmer, the public seemed to have a hazy idea about the milk business, and it must bo remembered that the farmer was not in tho business for the benefit of his health, and had a right to expect that ho should get tho best return possible for his milk. "Of course," added i "* agrce '' wt; '" r °turii he should givo tho very best possible quality. One point tho public seem to overlook is that tho price of milk for tho city supply is determined by the price paid for- butter-fat at butter and cheese factories, and also' by tho cost of production.

Winter Hardships. "A largo number of people'whom I know personally seem to think that milk in winter should not cost them any more- than milk in summer, but I have pointed out' to them that this is unfair, for it costs the' farmer more to produce tho milk in winter on account of the cost of artificial feeding, etc., and he certainly is entitled to a bigger price in winter considering that lie has to get up early during the cold winter weather when city people are snug beupath the blankets. In fact 1 have proved to farmers many a time thateven with the increased price thev get for milk in winter it does not pav'them so well an if they confined theiroperations to tho summer, when Nature produces plentiful' feed and the conditions are more genial. Still, tho city requires milk in tho winter, and tho farmer ( is there to supply it, but it must be understood, "looking at it from his standpoint, that ho wants a fair return for his labour. In the Dairy Lands.

"I have been through almost evory inch of country that supplies Wellington with its city milk," Mr. Hill conturned, 'and have peraonallv visited a very largo percentage of 'the farms so occupied. Speaking, then, with first-band knowledge, I- am satisfied that a very great majority of these farmers are careful and conscientious people, who do their level best to send their milk away in the best possible condition. Of course there aro a few, as there are in every community, who are a brake upon tho wheels of progress Looking at the farmers' side of the position, I feel perfectly satisfied that any improvements that can bo suggested in the interests of the supply as a wholo will be very readily agreed to.

Ways of the Railway Department. "Then .we come to the question of tho Railways Department," said Mr. Hill, "and I was very glad to seo in The Dominion- article that they have get to the root of. things'wtih reference to tho Department's inadequate- regulations. It is an old saying that anybody's business is nobody's business, and this was never bettor exemplified than in the carriage of milk on the New Zealand railways. I contend that now regulations should bo framed making the Department responsible for the carriago of milk in a proper manner, and also for returning the empty cans. As you have pointed out in your article, the Department assumes no responsibility ■ for loading or unloading, and therefore can compel the farmers "to put the milk on board the train, the vendor who receives it to take it off, and the vendor to put the empties on again, and the farmer to take them off at their destination. The whole position is farcical because it is utterly impossible to carry out these conditions, and when damages and losses occur the Department shelters behind its inadequate regulations. I have myself seen cans, belonging to a farmer at Wnllaeovillo, on the Dannevirke station. I have seen Otaki cans at Mastcrton, and Pahiatua cans at Paraparaumu. I know individual ; farmers who lose from ten to fifteen cans a year, _ at a loss of as many pounds, and in my last year -with my' lato firm it cost us £25 for loss of cans on the Wairarap.i line alone. We mado an offer to the Department in writing to label our cans with 'the place of destination, and to pay for the cost of returning them if the Department would tako the responsibility for delivery. This it refused to do. sheltering again bobind its old regulations.' You will thus see that tho farmer who, puts his milk on board in good order runs a risk of serious diminution and tampering before it gets to Wellington. Seals have been found to he absolutely useless in n large number of cases in connection with milk and cream. We had a number of cans of milk weighed at Ekctahuna on the station, and there was a shortage at the time of arrival in Wei-1 lington of over forty pounds weight, which represented a sheer loss of £2. Mr. Hill added that it was not difficult to account for the battered appearance so often worn by milk-cans. They were so roughly treated during transit on the railway that an enormous loss resulted. "On one occasion," he said, "I saw a porter, or at any rate he was a railway employee of some description, taking one can out of the van and at the same time kicking out another. The cans mostly.used in New Zealand are mado of exceptionally heavy material in order to stand the rough handling on the New Zealand' railways, and even thoii I have seen one of these cans doubled up like a concertina through excessive rough handling." "Then," said Mr. Hill, "there is the, question of trucks, which you have dealt with fully. Looking at the position from any standpoint I do not think your readers will fail to admit that the connecting!link between the cow and the consumer wants bringing very much up to. date. Some Serious Abuses. "Now wo coiiie," remarked Mr. Hill, "to the last link in the chain—the vendor. Here again, of course, there arc exceptions to the rule, but my contention is that the present system lends .itself to serious abuses. The milk is

taken from the railway, on arrival, to ! the various dairies, then sent out in cans to bo measured out by tiro milkmen, I imvo known many cases during my seventeen years' connection with this class of business where a dairyman haii been the soul of homior, has measured his milk out of really tip-top quality, and given his men sufficient to allow for over-measure. I have also known of milk sent out by that dairvman being brought back and tested nnd showing a rang way below the official standard. | The matter was investigated, and the man wiio took the milk out to the customers admitted to selling more milk than he had accounted For, making up the difference with water, and pocketing the profit made by the transaction. In fact," said Mr. Hill, "under the present system I contend it is absolutely impossible to guarantee that the consumer gets what the honest dairyman sends ont iF the, man on the cart is inclined -to be dishonest. I have had milk delivered at my house in Wellington which was absolutely putrid, with a sediment oF preservative at the bottom covering the whole oF tlio can. At that particular time the milkman delivered my milk at 4 a.m., and I set-my alarm For 3 a.m. in order to meet him*. That was the 'end of it so far as that milkman _was concerned. He had been delivering stale milk and doctoring it with preservative. I quite espeot that a larse number of pconle will disagree with the views I have'stated," said Mr. Hill, "but as lam interested in this matter only as a consumer and have a knowledge oF the conditions under which the nroducers work, I think your .readers will agree that my impartiality may be taken For granted.

An Inquiry Advocated, "Now for the remedy. In the first place I think the Government or the municipality, or either, should set up an independent committee empowered to take evidence, and accumulate ail the necessary information. I submit the following as the general linos of a scheme I woulcKpropose to such a committee

ii it wure appointed. lic-gimuug with the tanner, regulations slwiiid be framed (if any additional ones are wanted) and a proper authority should he set up to see that these were enforced. Kw-ry fanner should lie compelled' to seal id's cans with a special seal, provided by the inspector, 'ilie Railways Department should be compelled to alter its regu-. lations to comply with the requirements of the business, and to acwmt the re* sponsibility of carrying the cans, with tuc seals intact, to H'eHitigton. The Department would get a receipt at Wellington for the cans in a similar condition, thus ensuring tho milk .arriving at tho central depot nntamjjerad with! Then at tho depot it would bo pasteurised, cooled, and put into battles, which also would be sealed with a special seal. consumer in his turn would bo assured of the quality of the milk by the fact of the being ur broken.* By this method tho' milk would be tinder seal from the time it leaves the cow until it reaches the consumer.

The Delivery Question* "Not only would this oiistir-e tho quality of the milk," Mr. Hill went- on to remark, "but it would, 1 think, do away with a good deal of unnecessary expense in connection with two deliveries of milk a day. The present method of the farmer getting up at three or four o'clock in the morning mid milking his cows, during the winter months, in bitterly cold weather, after having fetched them through paddocks which have become nothing short of inhuman, 'i'ho milkmen who have to deliver milk round town in the same hours are near-, ly in the same plight. Now, if milk is treated properly and hermetically sealed, it will keep long enough'to make it possible to milk tho cows, say, at 6 ii.m., and carry tho milk to tho railway and have- it in tho city by midday. Then, it could bo pasteurised, and: cooled, and ! bottled during the afternoen and oven- '■ ing, and delivered by carts starting, say, at G o'clock the next morning. This night milk could either be kept in properly _ cooled places on ttuo farms or sent into town by the night train for quick' pasteurisation and eaoliDi*. There ; is no doubt that this method of delivering in bottles would increase the cost of milk, but as a set-off I think there should be i sufficient saving in the methods of distribution to almost cover whatever that additional cost might I)o. At present, owing to there being two deliveries a day, the farmer has to get up early in order to catch file early morning train and have the milk in town for tho afternoon delivery, thefollowing morning's delivery being the 'previous night's milk. Under my scheme some of the milk would be twenty-four hours old when it was delivered, but under the methods suggested it would keep in perfect condition for a Swell longer period than at present. Even if the-public had to pay s slightly increased cost for tho milk, I am certain that under some such scheme as I have outlined it would more than pay tljem to have a first-class supply of one 'of the most valuable food products which Nature provides." In conclusion, Mr. Hill mentioned that in all the principal towns in' Belgium and Denmark, and in many other towns in various .parts of -Eurone, dealing in milk except hi sealed vessels is absolutely prohibited, and any person who tampers with .the seal of a milk-container is liable- to a very heavy penalty for the firs; offence, and in case of a second oflenoe is liable to imprisonment