HUTT MILK SUPPLY

Dominion, Volume 37, Issue 202, 24 May 1944, Page 8

HUTT MILK SUPPLY

Producers & Vendors Reply To Election Statements Following- election campaign statements on the Hutt Valley afid bays milksupply, .a statement was issued last night by the chairman of directors, Wellington Dairy Farmers’ Co-operative Association, Mr. J. J. Maher, and the chairman of directors. Associated Dairies (milk vendors) , Mr. D. Cairns. This statement asserted that the milk quality was equal to zthe best supplied to any district in NewZealand. In the.-’summer the average butterfat test of milk supplied to the Hutt Valley was higher even than that of the milk supplied to> Wellington city. The reason was that a preponderance of night’s milk was supplied to the Hutt Valley, and a preponderance of morning’s milk was supplied to Wellington city. There was a difference in test between night’s milk and morning’s milk, the former being 20 to 25 per cent, richer in butterfat. In the,winter the test of milk was high everywhere.

The Wellington Dairy Farmers’ Association had for many, years been trying to establish a pasteurization plant in the Hutt Valley. In 1937 it applied for permission to erect buildings for that purpose alongside its depot in Lower Hutt. This permit was refused on the recommendation of the Town Planning Committee. In November, 1943, the association applied to the Ministry of Supply for permission to ini]K>rt a pasteurizing and bottling plant.

About the same time Associated Dairies was formed to carry out a similar venture. It placed a firm order with machinery merchants for the necessary plant from overseas capable of handling the pasteurized milk requirements of the Valley for a considerable period. The applications of botlf bodies had been heard by the Ministry of Supply, which had adjourned both sine die. Both bodies since the last hearing by the Ministry of Supply had agreed to combine for the purposes of obtaining and operating a pasteurizing and bottling plant of adequate size and on the most modern lines to cope witli the whole requirements of the Hutt Valley and bays. The capital outlay would be £60,000. It would be contrary to industrial efficiency if separate pasteurizing plants were established for each municipality in the area..

, During the hearings before the Milk Commission iu 1943 representatives of the association and the Hutt milk vendors undertook to establish a pasteurizing and bottling plant in the Hutt Valley if the commission considered that desirable.

The cow byres in the Hutt Valley were under the strictest supervision, and the Department of Agriculture‘kept a close watch on herds. The incidence of bovine tuberculosis among those herds was remarkably light.