Municipal Milk

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 733, 5 August 1929, Page 8

Municipal Milk

Wellington Scheme a Success

SOOXER or later, on the prediction of a City Councillor, Aucklanders will enjoy the benefits to be derived from a municipal milk supply. If the example of Wellington were followed closely, the institution of municipal milk in Auckland would mean a cheap and clean product as well as top notch efficiency m distribution.

Several big cities in different parts of the world have gone in for the municipalisation of milk supply, most of them with conspicuous success from the viewpoint of the consumer. Among them is Wellington, where complete municipal control of the milk supply within the city area has been exercised for the past seven years. It is true that one never hears the old cry of “milk-oh,” which used to call sleepy housewives to the door, shivering in the morning frost and blinking wearily at the milkman as he poured the daily supply into the family jug. The modern milkman is like the model child. He is seen—if you are up early enough—but not heard. His rubber-soled shoes pad softly up the front steps and the only sound is the changing of the bottles or the quiet swish of the milk as it flows into the jug on the steps. But that is the “model” modern milkman. All is not like that in every city—even under municipalisation. Those who have lived in Wellington, for example, will recall having been awakened in the very early morning by a grinding crash and a clank of much glass, accompanied by the spirited snort of a powerful horse, and finding upon investigation that it is a street accident, hut merely the arrival of the municipal milkman. The irony of it all is that the “milk-oh” himself wears rubber-soled shoes! CLEARING HOUSE A FAILURE

Yet as a public service municipal milk in Wellington has been a distinct success, both from the standpoint of the people’s health and from considerations of price. It is many years since the state of the dairies and private milk vendors’ establishments became so unsatisfactory that the municipality was compelled to step in and organise the distribution of the daily supply. In the first stages of this move the city’s milk round was not completely taken over by the city council. Endeavours were made iu 1917 to work the clearing-house system at the railway station, but the goodwill of the vendors was withheld, and the clear-ing-house, which cost £1,500 to set up, remained open for just one day. Less than a year later the council, acting upon the advice of a special commission, assumed control of the whole City supply, but distributed it through the existing vendors under strict regulations, as to sanitation and general cleanliness. This system, too, was a failure, as it was found that many of the vendors were not giving service, but reaping heavy profits, while others were losing money and giving good service.

So the council entered business as a dairy farmer, and as a definite trading concern. It purchased a factory, of which it already possessed a lease, and increased the capacity of its pasteurisation plant in Dixon Street, whence the whole distribution is arranged. Elaborate agreements for the reception of and payment for milk were made between the dairy farmers in the Wellington and Manawatu districts —agreements which never have ceased to be a subject of healthy discontent upon one side or the other —and a system of distribution of milk in hermetically sealed bottles was undertaken. Altogether, well over £IOO,OOO has been sunk in this concern, of which £75,000 was for land, buildings and plaDt, and over £IO,OOO for vehicles, both horse-drawn and motor. The supply to the city is divided into two distinct portions. From 4,000 to 5.000 gallons fire supplied daily by the Wellington Co-operative Dairy Farmers’ Association, and a further 2,000 to 3,000 gallons daily by the council’s station at Rahui, which is served by two other associations of farmers. PAYMENT BY TOKEN Distribution is effected on the token system, no cast transactions being entered into between th’e roundsman and the customer. The little copper-bronze coin-like disc must be left with the bottle—otherwise the milkman does not leave his respects—nor his milk—when he calls. Retail prices are fixed according to the season of the year and upon the ruling rate charged for the product on the existing market. In summer, when milk is plentiful and easy to obtain, the price is low, and the people derive the benefits of a well-organised system of collection and distribution; in winter, when the cows go dry and m'lk is difficult to obtain, the supplying associations must go further afield to fulfil their -contracts. Hence the city must pay them more, and, in turn, charge what is known as the winter price to the consumer. Moreover, the council’s milk has the hall-mark of purity and nourishment. Under the present system an average of 4.21 b. of fat in every 1001 b. of milk is obtained for the whole year, ranging from 3.71 b. in the summer months up to 4.51 b. in the winter months. The lowest standard permitted by the Food and Drugs Act is 3.251 b. In Wellington, at least, municipalised milk has proved cheap, healthy and clean.