LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 291, 28 August 1918, Page 6

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

THE MILK PROBLEM Sir, —In .your issue of August 26 you make public the discovery ('() made by the "N.Z. Dairyman" tnat-tho public aro paying at the rate of 4s. 7d. per lb. B.J;. l'hat is quite true, aud it is made to appear that the. farmer \supplying mTik to Wolluigton is receiving that price. As one ot the farmers, I only wish the discovery were true, as if so-1 should he prepared to take considerably less, and thus enable the public to obtain cheaper milk. But, Sir, it is not true, alas! The price I obtained for my milk for the last twelve months was Is. o£d. landed in Wellington ,_ less freight Id. per gallon, no skim milk .or whey (worth }d. per galbij), loss of cans, "two trips to railway station, and often an extra one for returned empties, which either the milk retailer did not forward by the 'usual train or the Railway Department had under or over-carried. A further loss of IJd. per gallon was thus entailed, so that my net result ner gallon was IOJd., or 2a. 2]d. per "lb butterfat, which is less than half of the "N.Z. Dairyman's" discover? (?) of 4s. 7d. i

Surely th« "N.Z. Dairyman" should know r that it costs frmn 50 to 7o per cent, more to raise milk in the winter months than in tlie summer. Anyhow, if the town supply is highly remunerative, how, is it that Mr. Greville (who is, I believe, the editor of the "N.Z. Dairyman") stated publicly at the Town Hall that, no matter what price was offered for milk, it was unobtainable, even in milkj Taranaki. It the "N.Z. Dairyman" had stated that it cost as' much to vend the milk as it did to produce it., the discovery would have been of some practical value, as ii would serve to place before the public the fact that they aro paying somewhere about £100,000 per annum to have the milk vended in the mos.fc insanitary and slipshod manner it is possible to conceive.

In conclusion, it is to be regretted that the "N.Z. Dairyman" should know so little of the actual to lead the public to believe that'the farmers get the 4s. 7d. per lb. butterfat. —I am, etc., W. T. SHAND. August 27.