MILK AND THE BABY.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVI, Issue 204, 29 August 1935, Page 20

MILK AND THE BABY.

The letter from A, Bennett in Friday's issue should not be allowed to pass.unnoticed, for it strikes at the very root of the restricting regulations which interfere with the consumption of milk and cream in Auckland, whereas throughout the whole Dominion every facility .should be given for the greatest possible use of all milk products. Leaving the domestic aspect of the question to the mothers, and regarding only the national position, it was most fortunate , that the letter appeared in the same issue of the "Star" as the address by Mr. C. 11. Backhouse, who declares that ■even the low estimate of 3i pints of milk consumed per head per week in Jfew Zealand is much too high. Is_ it any wonder, when the farmers receive fourpence per gallon for milk and I pay 1/8 a gallon, although taking half a gallon daily for ny household of four? Cream is managed, or rather mismanaged, even worse, ur the fanner is sfated by Mr. Backhouse to receive 2/0 a gallon on a butterfiit basis, and I pay 13/4 a gallon for a quality which may or may not be up to standard. This is just the information which will surely make Mr. Coatcs furious, unless there is some explanation that has not been made public, for our Minister of Finance has been fighting a strenuous battle against proposals to restrict our market for produce in England. And he comes back to find that in Auckland, and apparently in other parts of the Dominion, a concerted effort is making the position worse, instead of endeavouring to ease the pressure on London by making milk products the most popular foods here, and not restricting the sale by allowing the cost of distribution to amount to 400 per cent in the case of milk and 433 per cent in the case of cream. Very few commodities find their way into the hands of the ultimate consumers at a less cost for distribution than butter, but the reverse is the case in milk and cream, and the position calls for an explanation and a remedy for these outrageous charges. CONSUMER.