Tikumu’s letter

Press, 21 October 1980, Page 18

Tikumu’s letter

De® R&As One of the best-loved rhymes in the Mother Goose collection is “Hey-diddle-diddie,” which is usually illustrated with amusing pictures of a smug-looking cat playing a fiddle, a dish carrying a spoon, a laughing dog and a skittish cow leaping up towards the moon.

The verse • is said to have been written in the sixteenth century during what is sometimes known as the glorious reign of Queen Elizabeth I. They were the days when the valiant sea captain, Sir Francis Drake, finished a game of bowls before sailing out to defeat the approaching Spanish Armada, and Sir Walter Raleigh laid his cloak on the ground at the feet of Queen Elizabeth to save her shoes from becoming wet and muddy, or so it used to be said.

It has been suggested that the cat in the verse is none other than the Queen herself who danced merrily to the tune of many fiddles throughout her reign, and who influenced her statesmen as if they were so many mice at the mercy of a charming “cat.” The moon is supposed to be symbol of the monarch’s highest ambition while the dog is one of her lesser favourites.

However, although the cat may be a symbol of

the Queen, the cow dominates the picture, perhaps because of its importance to the people of England. In recent times A. A. Milne, a writer of children’s , stories, ■*' wrote a poem about a king and a cow.

The poem is called “The King’s Breakfast.” You may know these lines: “The king asked the queen, and the queen asked the dairymaid: ‘Have you any butter for the royal slice of bread?’

...” The king cried and went back to bed and sulked until the butter was forthcoming. Perhaps the poet was telling us that even royalty is dependent on the bounty of the cow. In a manner of speaking the early inhabitants or the world did reach the moon when they masteredthe powerful mammals with hoofs, because the benefits were great They gained food, drink and clothing, as well as power to bear burdens and haul heavy loads. The cattle-tamers ceased to be homeless wanderers. They were able to settle in one place with their animals around them. The young and the sick no longer died for the lack of proper food because there was milk to nourish them back to health. As the centuries passed the early fanners learned about breeding different strains of cattle to suit their needs — either for milk and its products, or meat. The discovery of ways of providing food

for the cattle in winter meant that milk was in more constant supply. Until they had winter feed, farmers used to kill off their stock at the end of, autumn and salt the meat down for winter.

Hundreds of years later, when the early settlers first came to New Zealand cattle were already established, in a small way. A bull and a few cows had been brought here in 1814. As the population increased more cattle were imported and dairy farms were gradually established up and down the country’.

Today the dairy farming industry supplies home markets with milk, cream, butter, yoghurt and several types of cheese, as well as exporting large quantities of butter, cheese and dried milk powder to markets overseas.

Many people are involved in the production of milk through its different stages from “grass to glass.” Yet the milk is not touched by human hands. Everything is done by machines.

Milk is recognised as being Nature’s finest food, containing as it does all the elements our bodies need — protein, fat, sugar, minerals and vitamins.

However, milk can attract harmful. bacteria in certain conditions, and in days gone by serious illness was sometimes caused by impure milk. But in this century scientists have found the re-

medics for earlier problems.

Since 1953 the New Zealand Milk Board has been responsible for the supply of town milk all over the country’.

At milk stations run by the board milk is tested on its arrival from dairy’ farms, then pasteurised, bottled and stored in cool rooms ready for the milkmen to collect A milkman is required to have a special truck for milk delivery. The truck needs to be covered completely to protect the milk from light. Its walls and roof are supposed to be made of steel, fibreglass or a similar solid material. Nowadays, many milkmen make afternoon deliveries, and we sometimes see them at work. Have you noticed the speedy way in which they replace the empties with full bottles, and move on? You do not have much hope of catching them if you forget to put the bottles out.

Before the milk reaches our boxes meticulous care has been taken by the dairy farmer, the tanker driver, milk station staff and our milkman. The last stage .in milk care is over to us, to ensure that the milk keeps its natural goodness. All we have to do is to remove it from the box as quickly as we can, and store the bottles in a refrigerator. 'tTifeumu