MILK BILL ATTACKED

Press, Volume CVII, Issue 31520, 7 November 1967, Page 11

MILK BILL ATTACKED

The Milk Bill before Parliament “is unnecessary, will destroy local, impartial administration and will concentrate still further centralised bureaucracy,” said the chairman of the Christchurch Metropolitan Milk Board (Mr W. V. Cowles) yesterday . He was strongly supported by Mr H. E. Denton, who said at a board meeting that there were too many examples of local bodies being taken over by centralised control. They would simply become rubber stamps and beacuse of restrictive powers, the job of local bodies would soon “not be worth the candle.” Mr Denton claimed that the Milk Bill’s proposals were “absolutely bureaucratic.” Most of the evidence placed before the hearing of the Parliamentary committee was against doing away with milk boards, he said. Mr Cowles said he noted with regret that the Government had failed to take heed of the strong representations made to it to avoid changing the basic structure of local town milk administration by re-introducing the Milk Bill substantially in its original fonn.

“Uniformity of policy in the industry, given by the Minister as the reason for the Bill, can and should he obtained by improved co-op-eration between local milk authorities and the central New Zealand Milk Board under existing basic legislation,” said Mr Cowles.