THE VENDORS' POINT OF VIEW

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 91, 10 January 1918, Page 6

THE VENDORS' POINT OF VIEW

SCHEME NOT POPULAR,

DELIVERY DIRECT FROM CLEARING STATION. The vendors have never liked the City Council's scheme for passing all milk through a clearing station, and their present attitude appears to be one of protest. Their decision as an organised body is expressed in the following resolution, already published:— That the undersigned vendors agree to put all their milk through tho municipal clearing station, and commence their rounds not earlier than 1 p.m. daily; no milk to ho delivered on Sundays or public holidays. Under the old arrangements, the vendors explain, most of the milk came to Wellington by the 9 a.m. and 12.20 p.m. trains. It was taken to the vendors' own depots, and held there until required for delivery early in the following morning. ■ In the meantime it was pasteurised in many cases, and was held, it is claimed, under conditions that were not likely to produce deterioration. Tho vendors propose now to deliver the milk direct from tho City Council's clearing station. They believe that by no other means can they secure a substantial measure, of protection from the clearing house's system, since they are not to receive any certificate of quality with tho tested milk, and will bo held responsible for anything that happens to the milk between the clearing house and tho homes of the consumers.

Onus on City Council. "The vendor has been held responsible for milk, found in his possession which does not comply with the requirements of the Health Department," said one vendor yesterday. "He has been expected to make such tests as can only be carried out by a qualified analytical chemist. The ordinary precautions, viz., using tho lactometer and making a Babcock test have not saved him from being heavily fined by the Magistrate. The onus now rests with the City Council to sen that the milk delivered to vendors complies in all respects with the regulations. As the milk will be delivered to consumers direct from the clearing station, should milk 1)0 found to have been tampered with in the course of delivery, there should be no difficulty in sheeting tho matter home to tho person responsible. Hitherto tho milk vendor has had to bear tho burdei'."

Milk Later but Fresher. The milk that is delivered through* out the city during tho afternoon under tho arrangement made by the vendors will bo that taken from the cows that morning and on the previous eveuing. "Tho people of Wellington," said one vendor yesterday, "are going to get fresher milk than they have had for a long time. Ido not see that thoro is any real gronnd for complaint about the system that we are putting into operation, and in any case tho public must realise that we have no choice We are forced to accept the clearing station system. This means that milk which reaches ,tho city in the morning will not bo handed to us much before noon, and if we take it thenj and hold it until tho following morning before delivery wn shall lose all the protection that the clearing station is supposed to provide for us as well as for tho public.

"It is a fact known to us that many dairymen havo been fined for selling milk jusE as they received it from the farmers. They have, been accused of adding water to milk when tho real fault was ou the farms, whero tho cows wero not producing the requisite •ninount of butter-fat per gallon. They have been punished for possessing bad milk that had simply gone sour on their hands through no fault of their own. Now tho council is going to inspect all tho milk as it arrives from tho farms, aJid though we are not to receive any certificates of quality when tho milk is handed on to us, we presume that tho council will take responsibility. Well, we arc going to deliver the milk to tho public straight from tho clearing house, just as we receive it, and beforo thcro is time for liny deterioration to take- placo. If tho people do not liko that, they had better talk to the City Council.

Sundays and Holidays. "With regard to Sunday deliveries, tho fact is that wo cannot face the problem of arranging for delivery under ■a system that would prevent us getting the milk until the early afternoon on Sundays. Wo cannot deliver Sat-

urday's milk oil Sunday morning, because wo aro going to deliver that on Saturday afternoon. So, if wo deliver milk at all on Sunday; it must be in the afternoon and evening. I certainly am not going to ask my assistants to do that, and I doubt if they would consent in anv case except for special payment. That would inako the thing unprofitable for mo.

"You must remember that the Government, by cutting out the Sunday railway trains, has mado it both difficult and costly for us to get milk on Sundays at all. Tho milk has been coming in by motor-van from tho districts that on other days aro served by the railways. There aro somo dairymen who can reach tho city by load with their own carts, and they make arrangements to suit themselves. But tho vendors i\'ho have signed tho statement already published do not propose to mako any Sunday deliveries. There will bo milk to bo got at tho dairies on Sundays, and I do not think that there will bo a shortage of supplies there for peoplo who euro to call. A matter of that kind will arrange itself as the extent of the demand becomes known."

Deliveries Not Impossible, Tho secretary of the Dairymen's Union (Mr. J. Read) stated yesterday that his union had not been asked to consider the question of Sunday afternoon work. The point had not been raised at all, as far as ho knew, except in statements to the newspapers. The vendors' assistants would not liko Sunday work, but the matter probably would not be impossible of arrangement if deliveries on Sunday afternoons were shown to be necessary. The same statement applied to holidays.