CITY MILK SUPPLY.

Auckland Star, Volume XLIX, Issue 11, 12 January 1918, Page 5

CITY MILK SUPPLY.

POSITION OF THE VENDORS. SHORTAGE OF LABOUBAn important matter to the general public, affecting the food supply to the city and the health of the community, has been raised by an appeal of a milk vendor, who yesterday pleaded public interest as a ground for exemption and from having to sacrifice his business in order to proceed to the CI camp. He stressed the acute shorage of labour in connection with the delivery of milk, the outcome of which was that a number of milk rounds in the heart of the city were on the market for sale. The chairman, while admitting the ground of public interest, pointed out that these vendors were not producers, which the appellant acknowledged, emphasising that, as a matter of fact, exceedingly few of the local vendors had their own herds of cows. He added that vendors started their rounds about 4 p.m. each morning of the week, and had to cover considerable areas. Some of the milk supplied in the city came from many miles out of town. He was of opinion' that an adequate system of vendors as at present in a large city was absolutely necessary. After some deliberation, the Board agreed that the points at issue demanded some considerfation as applied generally.' It was resolved to obtain a report on the general supply in the city, which is already reported to be somewhat short. MATTERS FOR CONSIDERATION. The question to be decided now apparently is whether to cut out the smaller vendors, who are many, and by competition maintain a high standard of milk, and also keep the price at a fair figure; or whether it is desirable in the interests of efficiency to create forms of monopoly in the business. CITY COUNCIL'S SUGGESTIONS. The Public Services Committee of the City Council presented a report on November 1, as the result of representations made to the Council regarding the control of the city milk supply, by the Civic League, the Plunket Nurse Society, and the British Medical Association. In this report the committee, having carefully considered the municipalising of the city milk supply, agreed that there was ground for improvement, but that it was not advisable for the Council to take over the control of it. It was stated to be clear that having regard to current prices that the enforcement of better conditions in the system of supply would mean increased cost to the people. Before" assuming control the Council would -want assurance that the present dual control— by agricultural and health departments— would be abolished and free from Government interference. The report concluded significantly: "The committee was convinced, however, that the present time was not opportune for the municipalisation of the local milk supply, and it had therefore no recommendation to make on that point. It would recommend, however, that a copy of the report be sent to the Minister of Internal Affairs, and that, in view of the operations of the Military Service Act, the Government be urged to conserve the needs of milk suppliers in the matter of labour, seeing that it was essential to public health that a free and adequate supply of milk should be available. The report was adopted. OPINIONS OF SMALL SUPPLIERS Several small suppliers iwho have large distribution rounds in the city, spoken to by a reporter to-day, again mentioned the shortage of labour in this industry. They said that a factory contributing to this state of affairs was the long and irregular hours which vendors had to work. It was not the sort of avocation that could be followed by old men, and the work was mostly engaged in by men in the prime of life. The suggestion of handing the control over to one or two firms was strongly deprecated as a very dangerous monopoly that would ultii mately prove a great disadvantage to the ! consumers. The life and soul of the trade, they averred, were the small men, and their elimination would mean the i sacrifice of rounds and businesses into [which much money and labour had been put. The present system in Auckland was declared to be sufficient, and any alteration would create much disorganisation, which would cause a great public outcry. One vendor referred to the failure of the attempt at centralisation of the supply in Wellington. "That," he said, "should be a lesson to Auckland." As far as he saw the suppliers in Auckland were working on an absolute minimum basis as regards labour, and any curtailment would only tend to affect the public. Milk," he added, "was a different food to deal with than meat, and he failed to see how the Board of Trade would be able to do anything in the matter of control.