MUNICIPAL AND STATE CONTROL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 244, 15 April 1912, Page 4

MUNICIPAL AND STATE CONTROL.

The Hon. Geo. Laurenson obviously has the courage of his opinions, and does not intend to hug the shore in his political career, even if he has to skate over thin ice in his quest for social reform. Speaking at Wellington on Thursday night, he advocated that municipalities should take over the distribution of our milk supply, purchasing the milk direct from the farmers at a price to be agreed up-

on, and then undertaking its coutrol from the point of collection to the br«akfast table. We do not suppose that th« dairy farmers would object to this proposal being put into active operation. It would save them considerable troubW to rfpn! v.-i'Ji one distributor rather than with a dozen, and would eliminate all the expense of collecting accounts besides abolishing the possibility of the inevitable bad debt. But there will, of course, be a wail from the present distributors, if the Minister of Labor should seek to put his scheme into operation. Logically, there is no reason why the municipalities Should not control the milk supply. If properly conducted, tlm system would tend to increased cloanlintsa, as well as being an additional safeguard to the public health. The municipalities already have charge, in many districts, of our tramways and gag aM electric lighting plants, just as the State has charge of the railway and post and telegraph systems, as well as peddling coal, lending money and insuring life. Not all of these undertakings are in the nature of monopolies, but where they are they have not been found to inteifere with private enterprise. What they have succeeded in doing has been to reduce the machinery of administration, and this has meant not a loss to the farmer or working man, but simply an improved oversight and a cheapening in supply. There is no suggestion that cither the (State or the municipalities should undertake control of all public supplies, but where the supply of milk and meat and butter is concerned it seems peculiarly their legitimate province, as does also the management of transit facilities. The health of the community depends a good deal upon cleanliness in these departments, and the more restricted the administration the more likely is a high standard to be obtained.