RASTIC LEGISLATION

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 2969, 5 January 1917, Page 7

RASTIC LEGISLATION

A TOWN'S MILK SUPPLY % STOPPED. Sir,—l beg to call your attention to ] what appeal's to bo an unjust- and nil. 1 necessarv interference with tho milk L supply of the AVairoa Borough, on the \ part of tho Health Department. This t. borough has been.chiefly supplied with !- milk by an enterprising and honest * settler, who has striven to make his , business a success. Anyone travelling j on the Napier main road can see the ' paddocks, which are of tho best, and tho cows and calves, which aro quite a picturo as far as condition is concerned. Green maize, oats, and clover aro grown in case of shortage of feed, and during tlio drought of 1915-16 tlio t cows had enough and to spare. This t season, however, owing to continual ( showers, both summer and' winter, there j has been an unusual plenitudo of grass, , and for somo reason or other the milk -j does not quite answer to the Govern- ; nient test The manager of tho dairy ' factory has iuspected tho cows and all appliances, and tested the milk, and _ finds it tho same as tho health officer's ' test, which proves there is no adultora- , tion. The Health Department, however, has seen fit to prosecute and to . hold over tho decision of tho case till February. The sympathies? of the peoplo are wholly with the proprietor of ] the milk farm, as they know they havo ; been well served. , Tho Hon. G. W. Russell, Minister of Health, who as- • sured 1 us he was our friend not long ago, and the Hon. R. M'Nab have been appealed to, and find it impossible to help in the cause of common justice, 1 notwithstanding all their promises at election and other times. The proprietor of tho milk run, thoreforo, feels that his only alternative is to send the milk to the local dairy factory ._ Thus 1000 people : are deprived of their milk supply. (We ■ allow the odd 97 for those who have ■ oows of their, own.) It would be' well : for scientists to endeavour to discover a method by means of which the grass ■ can be made to adapt itself to the Government tost as regards butter-fat. Surely we have enough to contend with in this isolated district, with no adequate system of internal communication, no artesian water, no reservoir of any kind 1 for supplying the borough with water, without such needless drawbacks as the one mentioned in this letter. —I am, etc.-, ONLOOKER. Wairoa, H. 8., January 1, 191/.