THE MILK SUPPLY

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3152, 2 August 1917, Page 5

THE MILK SUPPLY

ANOTHER CONFERENCE TWO INTERESTING LETTERS At the last meeting of the City Council, the Major (Mr. J. P. Luke) announced that he had arranged for a conference to lie held with the : milk .vendors, dairy farmers, and the council,; it which the council was to be represented by himself and Councillor E. A. Wright (chairman of the Public Health Committee).' The conference took place at the Town Hall on Tuesday evening, when a long discussion took place about the conditions attending the milk supply and delivery in Wellington. The matter of price was also under review, an aspect of the question that has been madeacute 'by the possibility of supplies now coming into the city being diverted to butter or cheese factories.

The Mayor stated to a Dominion reporter that the conference was a\ perfectly amicable one, and the information the council's representatives had gained was of considerable value as bearing on the intended municipalisation of the city> milk supply. The Mayor was asked about the reports of the two experts who were to formulate schemes for the munickialisation of the milk supply, and stated oy him at the last meeting of the City Council to. be in his possession. The 'Mayor stated that the reports "would be.' circulated anion? councillors, but lie did not think that anything would be available for publication until the council had adopted something—not, perhaps, until the next council meeting. The Vendors' Position. The position of the milk vendors of Wellington at present is said to be very unsatisfactory. With the -council's scheme of taking over the whole of the milk delivery, they (according to Mr. A. Petherick, secretary of the association) do not exactly know, where they are, and as the result there were very few of them who would refuse a reasonable offer to buy them out. They could not, under the circumstances, launch out in any way that would mean tho development of their businesses. All were simply marking time until they knew precisely what the council intended to do. The position was vny upsetting to a number of members of the association, and lie honestly believed that Wellington would have'been much better sff as'regards the price, of milk if the City Council had never interfered in the industry. In a letter (published below) the association had protested against the cancellation of the license of a milk vendor (decided on the casting vote of the Mayor), and tie result had been that the one man chieflr concerned had joined up with a larger firm in Wellington.. A Protest. The following letter has been forwarded by the Milk Vendors' Association to the Mayor and each of the councillors:— "At a meeting of my executive yesterday (Tuesday) the vice-president, Mr, Edward Orsborh, in the chair, it was. Tesolved that the protest of my members against the action of the council in determining the license hitherto issued to. the Wellington Dairy Limited be communicated to the individual members of. the council. Members have read with interest and astonishment the reports on, this matter which have appeared lately in, the columns of the daily papers. Notwithstanding difficulties due to war conditions which the vendor has to contend with during the present time, he has also the old difficulties still in operation, of carrying the farmers' burden of liability in distributing milk which the vendor may not have the opportunity of testing or otherwise proving to his satisfaction that such is fit for distribution. Mr. Myers and Mr. Williams waited on. the Health Committee of the council and laid before it details of the difficulties . which vendors are under, and stated ' clearly that as a vendor Mr. Williams could not undertake to promise that during the next three months the banie conditions of affairs would not be.repeated. Surely members of the council should look further into the pros and cons of the matter before taking- the extreme step of causing any section of tie community to suffer extreme hardship in carrying on its usual occupation. It ij a significant fact -that:' since the- Wellington Dairy Limited ceased to receive its supplies from the Wellington Dairy Farmers' Co-operative Association, Limited, no notice of under standard, dirty, or stale milk has been received by the company from the Health Department. The executive understands that recently samples were taken at the farm of a member of the Wellington Dairy farmers' Co-operative .Association, Limited, when of eleven separate samples taken ten wore found to be under standard, and one considerably over standard, the evidence going to prove the old complaint of shippings being placed ail in One can. It is also a significant; i act that,,when the samples were taken the cans were ready for transhipment to Wellington. What would have happened to the vendor who, on receipt of that milk;. proceeded immediately to deliver'• the same without first taking it to his dairy, and did the inspector take samples from him?—prosecution, heavy fine, publicity in the papers, and possibly cancelation of his license by the City Council/'

No Representation of Vendors' Association. On tho above question the,.'. Vendors' Association, through its seoretary,. Mr, A. Petherick, has forwarded :the; following letter to the- ■ Mayor councillors:— ...'': ""■■!fj''" "I am instructed by my. executive to enter an emphatic protest at "the' action, of the Mayor, in arranging a conference purporting to be a conference between vendors' and farmers, together with representatives of the City Council, in. order that some concrete arrangement might be made regarding the matter of supplies and price of milk. The executive understands that the vendors who will represent tho vendors of the. city, ore Messrs. Henry Bodley and W. H, Eeid, whilst the representatives for the farmers are Messrs. H. A. Ward and J. M. Whiteman. My-executive recognises that the Mayor is quite able to call such a conference, and, indeed, to carry the conference through. The members, however, wish to point out that .any decisions arrived at by conference cannot bo held as binding on vendors generally. Tho Mayor is aware that there is in existence a Wellington Licensed Milk' Vendors' Association, which has as its members a majority of the vendors of the city. On almost every occasion that conferences havo been called by the Mayor tho Wellington Licensed .Vendors Association lias boen ignored.- In contradistinction to the Mayors attitude regarding the Wellington Licensed Milk Vendors' Association, tho • Board or Trade has at all times recognised the association, gives consideration to its evidence on matters connected with tho milk question, and in fact recognises the association as representing the majorityof the vendors in the city. Surely at so troubled a time as the present, when, tho farmers threaten a stoppage in Jie supplies, when tho council is considering the question of municipalisation of the milk distribution, when vendors are persecuted and prosecuted under the Sale of Foods and Drugs Act, it is only reasonable to ask that all parties concerned, whether vendors, fanners, or the City Council, should unite in a common, endeavour to bring about at least some better state of affairs as a temporary expediont until something definite regarding the future of the city milk supply can be determined."