"BOOTLEG" MILK

Evening Post, Issue 47, 23 August 1935, Page 11

"BOOTLEG" MILK

A. LOCAL SPECIALTY

CHASING SPEED LORRIES

If the full story of the '"•bootleg" milk which has been run into Wellington from outlying districts were told, it would make,exciting reading, says a writer in "Focus," the Local Body Officers' Guild magazine. It concerns a ceaseless patrol of the roads on cold winter nights,' of milk-laden lorries | which, when chased for'inspection, are capable of amazing specd1 of cans dumped in pre-arranged places for a local buyer who does not seem to be interested in them when, he discovers that they are being watched, and the reason for it all is, of course, £ s. d. When the Wellington City Council Milk Department obtained its franchise to control the city's milk supply, an area was defined from which the council was to be the sole buyer. Nearby farmers, who had milk rounds, were left to operate independently and if in short supply could buy raw milk from the council only. ' The market for the milk and cream produced outside this defined area is the dairy factory, which at present pays.ninepence per gallon to the country farmer. The country farmer cannot reach the individual city buyer who pays one shilling and tenpence per gallon and he is not allowed to sell to the nearby farmer who has to buy from the council if his supply is not sufficient to cope with his. consumers' demands. So that, is the reason why milk from the country; is run into the city under cover of darkness, to be picked up by the retailer at a price which shows a handsome profit per gallon. With modern transport facilities the task of keeping out this "bootleg" milk is very difficult indeed. j SIXTY MILES THROUGH TRAFFIC. A.private car is capable of conveying quite a large quantity in cans while a large speedy lorry, on a dark night, could bring in 150 gallons with ease. The job of the milk inspector is to follow up any suspect and discover the owner and the destination of the milk. The follow-up is difficult enough in traffic and on one occasion recently when a lorry driver was signalled to stop he .was too sharp-for his pursuer, evading, him by "stepping on it" at the, right moment. It is said that the lorry touched 60 m.p.h. through the traffic to escape. One method of evading the law.is to dump the cans at a service station when filling up. The local buyer comes along later to fill up his tank and takes away more than petrol. One such dump was recently watched \ in vain by the inspector and was eventually taken to the corporation depot. Nobody has, as yet, claimed either the milk or the cans which are wbrth at least £30. On this occasion the sales on the following day by' the corporation to nearby farmers rose by the exact amount that was captured and many and. varied .were, .the reasons given by the purchasers for theaddi- :- tiOnal amount required. By following up these sales, and by comparing the capacity, of the local herds with the quantity sold/an inspector decided to see the. actual milking of a certain local herd to check up... '•'. >,

. The writer tells how the .inspector visited the farm and watched the milking of the super her.d which produced 75 gallons. Because he watched in the milking shed he could not see, though he knew that the. herd was .strengthened by the driving, in. of a neighbour's cows. On a second occasion the boundary was watched, but still the herd milked marvellously, too marvellously. The inspector had his ideas, about that, too, but he had no proof that the neighbour's boy had "run the cutter" while he watched elsewhere. ' . '

And so it goes on, with the local farmer extending ■ his milk round arid the milk inspectors replacing their old cars with fast streamlined models to Chase the milk bandits, said the writer.