No Prospect Of City Milk In Cartons

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30879, 12 October 1965, Page 29

No Prospect Of City Milk In Cartons

Mr H. E. Denton, chairman of the Christchurch Metropolitan Milk Board, sees on prospect of having milk packed in cardboard cartons in Christchurch. He said yesterday that, personally, he saw no advantage in cartons and could see no point in a form of packaging that would be more expensive to the consumer. Mr Denton had been asked if the Christchurch board had any plans for trying to promote the packing of milk in cartons, as the Auckland board had decided to do. The Auckland Metropolitan Milk Board decided at its last meeting to ask two milk treatment companies to investigate the possibility of setting up a pilot plant for distributing milk and cream in cartons to shops. It was prepared to give financial assistance in establishing the plant. Mr Denton said the plant for packing milk in cartons would cost about £120,000. and the cost to the consumer would be an extra 2jd or 3d. Although containers might be a little more convenient—through being lighter and less noisy—that small advantage would be outweighed by the extra cost.

“Milk forms a large part of the diet of many pensioners and others on small incomes,” said Mr Denton, “and 1 wouldn’t be in favour of increasing the cost to them. It is convenient for a lot of them to collect their milk from shops.” Mr Denton said he could see no justification for the subsidy on milk unless it was delivered at the cheapest possible price, as it was now. Mr A. P. Millthorpe, the milk board’s executive officer, said yesterday that the New Zealand Milk Board had investigated the question of cartoned milk, and had said in its 1961 annual report that cartons were expensive and that there appeared to be “little prospect yet of any reasonable substantial demand arising for milk in cartons in New Zealand.” The Canterbury Dairy Far-

mers Company experimented some time ago with cartons for flavoured milk, but found it was not economic. Mr L. Fowler, manager of the company, said yesterday that the possibility might be examined again. In the meantime, the plant was being kept in mothballs. Mr Fowler emphasised that cartoning flavoured milk was quite a separate proposition from cartoning ordinary milk. Mr N. S. H. McCann, general manager of the Christchurch Milk Company, declined to answer any questions about cartoned milk.