Stewarts Gully Milk Deliveries

Press, Volume CVII, Issue 31412, 4 July 1967, Page 16

Stewarts Gully Milk Deliveries

The Christchurch Metropolitan Milk Board yesterday sided with the vendor who supplies Stewarts Gully, Mr M. van Beynen, in his refusal to continue individual deliveries because of the state of the road.

Members indicated, however, that if the road, which is on private property, were repaired, the board would probably reconsider the position. The board’s chairman (Mr W. E. Olds) said that, after an inspection, he had authorised the vendor to cease individual deliveries in Stewarts Gully and take all the milk to a shop about half a mile from the entrance. Since then there had been letters from residents, and it appeared that there were many elderly pensioners and couples with young babies who would be inconvenienced. The residents had said that the owner of the land over which the road ran was responsible for upkeep, since ground rents had always included road maintenance. Another point of conten-

tion was that although the shop was centrally situated it was not convenient because the opening hours fluctuated, Mr Olds said. Many residents did not deal at the store. “I have a lot of sympathy for the vendor,” Mr G. A. Franks said. “Where a road is dangerous I am with the vendor.”

“I have a lot of sympathy for the women with four or five children at the far end of the gully who do not want to deal with the store,” Mr H. E. Denton said. Maintenance of the road was the responsibility of the owner of the property, as far as could be ascertained, Mr A. P. Millthorpe, the supervising officer, said. The vendor had tried to give a satisfactory service, and had been put to considerable expense

for repairs to his truck because of the unsatisfactory state of the road. The board had a responsibility to both consumers and vendors, and must be fair to both sides. It seemed that in the first instance the lessees of land should take action to compel the owner of the land to provide satisfactory roading, if that were a condition of their leases. “It Is not within our jurisdiction, but surely we can make a little bit of a scene about the state of the road because we want to see mothers of children get their milk, and some of them do not want to go to the shop for their milk because they do not deal there,” Mr Denton said.

The vendor would be happy to resume individual dellv-

eries if the road were put in order, Mr Olds said. He had been most reasonable throughout, and had gone out of his way to give a service. The vendor was supplying 12 gallons at Stewarts Gully for 70 calls, Mr P. A. Caithness, the vendors’ representative on the board, said. He had 650 calls to make each day, compared with 434 as the average for New Zealand.