MILK BOON

Hokitika Guardian, 6 May 1929, Page 8

MILK BOON

SYDNEY’S NEW PHASE ORANGE JUICE TOO. SYDNEY, April 25. Sydney Jms just emerged i'rom :t Milk Week—the fculniimition, «»e might say, of a campaign that I in* ! een waged li.v Dr Richard Arthur. tne I teetotal Minister of New South Males, i tor nearly a- quarter ol a century ■ .At ilk Week was opened by Dr. Arthur -—and when he performed the ceremony lie did not utter a word . He did something much more to the point, Inough. Tie seized a i tittle of milk just as eagerly as. he would the hand of an old friend, finite expertly he removed the cap, inserted a straw j and drank the milk with a relish. I!is example has since been followed by Uiousands. A stall was erected in the iuntie of the. City—in Martin Place and s:i great was tiie demand for mils that there was the utmost difficulty in meeting it. At a ptimy a earton--j that was all that wa« charged -mi; ■' .as a drink assumed a tremendous popularity. People stood three deep a round the stall, ail drinking milk and going buck lor more, oven it the return did mean another scramble. These scenes were indeed remarkable. If there' is such a thing as period milk-drinking weather then Sydney experienced it during its Milk Meek. It was not sn hot as to drive people to long drinks, nor cold enough to create a. demand for warning spirits. That might have been the secret ol the sucr o'-s of the week—this and the subtle •nd tireless pronngnnda of Dr. .Arthur end. ids friends. There were two street stalls, and more than a thousand gallons of milk were consumed daily ei uadi. In addition large quantities of milk were given daily hv various mi! " companies for free disl rihut.inn at the -chenls. The various eitv missions aEreceived free milk, and they reported a great demand for it. Even the restaurants icanied that the demand for milk had le-eu greater than over foye. and ‘they had had to ini-rea l ' their supplies. Tt was said during the campaign that evorv child should have a quart of milk a dav, Tut how is th ,ri nossihlo with mill; in the eitv restin' IPd a quart. 7 ft is •suggested that »* Dr. Arthur did something practical in the wav of reducing'; the price of mil' he would achieve more good then hv organising a spasm''die Milk Meek. \ romnrVid'lo thim- ah-uit the mil 1 ' driliters at the stalls has been their youth ; most: of them seamed to lie beI'vnoii the :r"'s of 15 and 25. and males rredominated. 'Commenting on Milk i Me elf the other lav a medical man de- I elai-ed that the heaviest drinkers of j ’ and spirits Mem dnvs wi>re mid- j rlb'-nged men. Tie deduced from this that the apostles of temperance were j converting an enormous number of

young folk in the cities. .He pointed ’out that, the reformers did not appeal on ethical grounds, but concentrated chiefly,, on pointing out the' advantages to health and physique, ol drir.Kin it such beverages as milk and oiangjuice in place oi intoxicants. As evoi\iiody recognised, a passionate desire for 'physical fitness was sweeping ovri the civilised world at the present time, and nowhere was it more in ovidemv than in Sydney, where every othe: young man seemed to shine, at some sport. M’irli such people hard drinking had become unfashinna.ide. To’.ithwiili beer bottles sticking out of their •ij n-iekel's were once regarded a> jieroie. Now they were looked upon as fools and spurned rather than applauded. It all suggests that the milk and orange iwice cnihusinstis are at la.-i coming into their own.