L—l2a.

A. J. McCURDY.j

53

and give the views of the union. I may say that in February of this year, when the regulations were being somewhat rigorously enforced in our district, the union had an interview with the Hon. the Minister of Lands on the subject, and we specifically stated our objections to or approval of existing regulations. His statement to us then was that the regulations, which had not been submitted to us, and which we could not get a sight-of, although we wanted them, would be tried for one season, and at the end of the season would be submitted to our union and similar organizations for expression of opinion before anything was decided finally. I find, in going over these suggested amended regulations, that a great deal objected to by my union has received attention by the Department, and the objections to the regulations on the part of farmers, which had resulted in the formation of our union, have borne fruit. With regard to the regulations, we notice that not only town milk-supply dairies, but also factories, are included, which was not so before. W 7 e consider that perfectly correct, perfectly warranted. The other definitions we also approve of. Section 2we approve of. Section 3we approve of, except that we consider, when a farmer applies, instead of having to wait, as is the case in our district, for inspection to be made before the license is issued, that a temporary certificate should be issued to the farmer if the inspection of the premises is not made in seven days. Section 4we approve of. The certificate of transfer we approve of. The matter of renewal we approve of. The fee for registration has been discussed. We consider that, as, after considerable agitation, the sheep-tax was abolished as a class tax, a merely nominal fee for registration should be sufficient, and that the five-shilling fee in operation before was a failone. We do not think it matters much how many cows a man milks. The idea is to get clean milk. It is a question of the dairy and its surroundings. A man milking two cows would require as much, and probably more, attention as the man milking ten. Further, there are other cases where a man will milk right through the year for the town-supply, and there are those milking a larger number for the factory-supply. The discrimination does not appear to be warranted. Section 7 we approve of. Section 8, subclause (a) : Here we get into a difficulty, because some of us term the shed in which the cow is milked the milking-shed, and the shed where they are housed a cowshed. ' We think the term "milking-shed" should be used in the regulations wherever the shed is used solely for milking. Section (&) we approve of. Section («), Concrete yards: This has been brought under my own notice both from the union and outside. I have travelled practically the whole of New Zealand, and I have found places where there was practically no material suitable for concrete. In what is termed the Roadless North district the only material fit to be put on the road was burnt pipeclay. It is only obtained at very great cost, and is porous. I have never seen any information from any one that it can be rendered impervious to water, and so make a good floor. This suggests the question that burnt pipeclay in other districts might be made into an impervious flooring. Subsection (d) we approve of. The whitewashing of the walls we approve of. As this is one of the clauses in which an appeal is allowed, I will deal with it when I come to the question of appeal later. Clearing away offensive matter from the shed within two hours: That is a difficulty in our district, owing to the refusal of the Department to run a train for a short distance on Sunday afternoons. The engine runs up the bank in fifteen minutes every other day in the week. Our settlers in the Mungaroa are told that they would have to pay £5 a trip. The men in this case are being paid wages, standing idle, and steam is up. And settlers are denied the use of this engine for a fifteen-minutes run. This means that the settlers have to drive eight miles every Sunday afternoon and eight miles back. Some have not been able to get married, and have to do the milking themselves. It is utterly impossible to milk, harness up, drive to the station, land their milk, get back again, and clean up within two hours. It cannot be done. This is not an isolated case. We have a number of farmers living some distance from the railway who must be on time at the station, consequently it is impossible for this work to be done within two hours. We had suggested to the Department that four hours would be a reasonable time. The question of the location of the milking-shed :We have three-prevailing winds. We do not see how we can put up our sheds and shift them round with the prevailing wind. This is a stumbling-block to us. I was asked to call your attention to this. In the morning it blows off the sea, and in the evening off the shore. Subsections (i), (j), and (k) we approve of. The question of paving : I fortunately heard the previous witness speak of this. The question is a difficult one—the question of cleaning spaces between the paving-blocks, and the difficulty of the farmer, not being an engineer, getting the foundation level and even. Subsections (I), (n), (o), and (p) we approve of. The question of supplying water in the milking-shed for the milkers' hands we approve of. We do not see, however, how we are to meet the demand in regard to a sufficient supply of water for cleaning the floor. We had a drought last year, and water was at a premium. We had to go a long distance for it : ss. for 200 gallons within twenty miles of Wellington. In that case we anticipate the difficulty if a drought occurs again. If there was an Appeal Board, such as my union has suggested, there would be a possibility of reviewing the circumstances. We do not see any objection to notifying the Inspector before making structural alterations. It does not limit a man to the time. We do not anticipate any trouble. Section 10 approved of. Section 11, washing the hands after milking each cow. Some of our members think that is entirely unnecessary, others say it is absolutely essential, and they would even go so far as that a certain amount of disinfectant should be utilised, because we have men who have suffered considerably by milking cows with contagious mammitis. Unknown to the farmer they have spread disease through the herd. The usual thing is to keep the affected cow to the last, and milk the others first, the milk being retained for some other purpose. I know it is so on most of the farms I have visited—almost model farms. In one case the farmer had been a railway guard. He lost his billet through the great strike. He is milking near Dannevirke. They wash their hands and have clean towels. The man had no worry about getting to the factory. Sections 13 and 14 are all right. We approve of 15, 16, and 17 until we get to the question of time, and then the objections in regard to time apply equally in sections (a), (6), and (c). Last year we asked for four hours for cleaning the utensils, the time