THE MILK PROBLEM

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 39, 9 November 1918, Page 3

THE MILK PROBLEM

Sir,—l noticed in your isue of .November 5 -the following statement, made by Councillor Norwood, in an interview on the. milk question:— . That on October 1 the farmers reduced the price of milk to tho vendors by 2d. per gallon, but up to date that reduction had not been passed on to tho public, so that the vendors were gaining their full winter profit plus the 2d. per gallon allowed by the dairy farmers since October 1. Now, Sir, it would be interesting to know who tho dairy farmers are referred to by Councillor Norwood. Is it the main body of the farmers supplying milk to Wellington, or is it the remnant of the Farmers' Association? If tho latter, then I say it behoves the council to look well into the mattor; otherwise the council will be faced this coming winter with the greatest shortage of milk that Wellington ever experienced, and the council will wako up to the fact they have been living in a fool's paradise. Does the council suppose that the farmers are bo foolish after toiling through the worst winter on record that they are going to hand over 2d. per gallon to be added to tho already exorbitant profit made by the vendors? I any no. We have no intention of doing so. We have not forgotten the hardships we have endured this past winter getting up at 4 o'clock in the morning in all sorts of weather and trudging all day in mud and slush, then travel two or three miles to meet 7.30 p.m. train for empty cans, which should have arrived the previous day, then hurry home, wash them, and mend all holes that havo been knocked in them on the railway, then crawl into bed, say, 11 p.m., tried and weary—and quietly hand over 2d. per gallon to these city gentlemen. The farmers won't swallow that pill. If the City Council is in earnest to improve tho Wellington milk supply, it must give the farmers a square up; , !, otherwise their scheme is doomed to failure, notwithstanding all the valuable information .they have collected, and their expert crammed with knowledge from A to Z. In conclusion I would advise the council to send their experts out into the country in the dead of winter for, say, three months. I would provide them with board and lodging free of charge on condition that they got up with mo in the morning and kept going all day for seven days per week, and I will guarantee that at the end of that term they will havo gained practical experience from the producing side of the business, which will remain as a nightmare with them as long as they live.—l am, etc., f DAIRY FARMER,