[j. POW.

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Could they not send it in on the same day under this Summer Time Bill ?— What they adduced in their arguments was that, on account of the heat, they would not be able to keep their milk from the one day to the next. The Acting-Chairman.\ Perhaps I can explain the position in regard to Sunday. They cannot send their milk away on the Sunday because it is sent by train to the cities. If you commence to milk at 3 o'clock in the afternoon, when the sun is extremely warm, it stands to reason that that milk is hot, and it does not keep in the same way as milk drawn from the cow an hour later, or one and a half hours later, when the atmosphere is cooler, and the consequence is that the milk will not keep until the next morning, which it would do if the milking was done in the cool of the evening. Mr. Sidey : But does not the milk go to the factories ? The, Acting-Chairman : I am speaking of milk supplied to the cities —all down the Manawatu line, for instance. Hundreds of farmers send their milk to the Wellington City Council. Mr. Sidey.] But do not the great bulk of the dairy-farmers send their milk to the factories ? — Well, 1 should say so. Well, then, so far as the farmers who are sending their milk to the factories are concerned it would not affect them in that way ? —No. There are only a limited number of dairy-farmers who supply the cities ?- A large number , . The Acting : A good many to supply the four cities. Mr. Sidey.] Do yon not think that this city milk is quite a minor point so far as the country i.s concerned. ?—That matter was brought up during the Conference. lam only reiterating the arguments of the delegates against the Bill. Is it not a fact that the milk will only be one hour longer before it gets to the consumer ? Do you not admit that ? —That is possible. How can farmers generally know how this Bill will affect them until they have had a trial of it ? — I can only say that the delegates at the Conference were unanimously against it. They were against having to get up the extra hour earlier, and against having to put in the extra time after tea. Do you not think that there is a good deal of misapprehension amongst the farmers in regard to this Bill ? I could not say. They imagine that this Bill is going against them though they really do not understand how it wdl affect them ?—I could not say personally. When the thing came into operation in France then; was no difference noticed at all. You recognize that there are any amount of farmers in the Old Country ?—Yes. As well as in Prance and Belgium —were you in France when the practice was brought into operation ? —Yes. And you speak, then, from your personal knowledge as to the effect it had on those concerned ?— Yes ; there was no noticeable effect at all. In fact, nobody knew that anything had happened. And things went on just as they did before ? —Yes. Do you think that there is really any serious objection on the part of the farmers to this proposal ? —I think so. Even for a trial ? —Yes, 1 should say even for a trial. Do you think that if there was any very great objection on the part of farmers members of Parliament representing the various farming districts would have received great numbers of letters and telegrams protesting against the Bill ? —Yes, one would imagine so. Some time ago the Government proposed to advance the time by half an hour, and a Bill was introduced for that purpose : was any protest made by the Farmers' Union ? —I cannot say. Did you belong to the Farmers' Union at that time I —No. Mr. Girling.] You say that if the proposal contained in the Bill was agreed to that it would affect sixty thousand farmers out of a total number of ninety thousand ?—Yes, roughly speaking. I. may say that the total for the voting in connection with the Dairy Control Bill last year totalled about fifty-seven thousand. Do you.estimate that there are two-thirds of the total number of ninety thousand are what may be termed actual dairy-farmers ? —I would not like to say. 1 may say that I tried to find out exactly from the Dairy Division, of the Agriculture Department as to who were hona fide farmers, but they could not tell me exactly. Now, with respect to the town suppliers, will you tell the Committee by what train do they send their milk to town —that is, do they send their milk by the morning train or by the evening train ?— They send their milk to town by both trains. Would it not be possible to milk the cows a little earlier in the evening ?—Everything would be automatically pushed an hour ahead. You also stated that the farmers would not know what to do with their time between 6 o'clock and bedtime ? —One of the matters pointed out was that there was an awkward period between tea and bedtime. You say that March is one of the worst times to have this practice in operation ? —That is the time mentioned in the Bill. As a matter of fact, that is one of the worst times for keeping milk. The Acting-Chairman.] How many delegates were there at the Conference you refer to ? — Speaking offhand, I should say about sixty-three. And you say that they were thoroughly representative of the farming interests ? —Yes, right from Auckland to Invercargill. While you mention this alteration would affect sixty-thousand dairy-farmers, it would affect their families and employees as well, would it not ? —Quite so. As the .average family is about five, by multiplying sixty thousand bj' five that would give us about a quarter of a million that would be affected by this suggested alteration ? —Yes.

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