THE MILK SUPPLY.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 159, 30 March 1908, Page 5

THE MILK SUPPLY.

Sir,—My attention.has been drawn to-an article jm' the milk supply' of .Wellington, which appeared in The Dominion recently. Many . other.- articles .'and- letters in daily papers havo gradually worked milk consumers up to" the, opinion that good milk cannot ';bo obtained : in Wellington."- The dairy r farmer in - the' country reads. a:- good deal, but as a rule does not trouble himself' to : join in these controversies: ho, does not qven',. as a rule, : take the trouble to form an opinion as to whether the complaints, are . justified or not. He sends by - rail-from the country good, ordinary milk, but ho knows that it has to - undergo journeyings .and: changes,' and delivery, and. various other-, vicsisjtudes before,it, gets to the lips of tlio consumer.' His part of the labour is done in tho country amidst fresh air and fairly wholesome surroundings, . and he will lay Jong odds that if consumers get bad milk it is vitiated either during transit or' while undergoing delivery in-the city. . \ 1 ' Some : years ;ago the Food and Ice Company—to whose article I refer above— was formed: for the purpose of manipulate ing milk after-its arrival : in Wellington, and thereby guaranteeing a puro supply.. Many of us took shares in tlio' company for the purposo' of. supporting such a . desirable ' result:, , It must, .however, be -admitted that tho;expected results did not ensue.: ' Notwithstanding tho erection of expensive build-' ings, and the employment .of artistic carts and men, complaints were-just as frequent as vto : the' milk supply, and no) dividends wore coming in: from the capital invested. Now, not to take up too much of your valuable space, I will givo- shortly the reason for this failure. It can be "extracted from - tho ' article itself, when we read that a comely youth stands scenting the various cans of milk as they come to the.company's depot. - Iti js- obvibus that this milk-should have .been cleaned and cooled in the country whence it was chipped, and not in the city after arrival. During transit this milk at a warnv tcmperatiire is'ready and eager to take up all the smells and germs that aro floating about in a more or less vitiated atmosphere. By the time it haß-arrived at

the oity depot it is saturated with all kinds of objectionablo things, and nothing that tho' comrly gentleman can do will ever get .that milk in right condition again. As the articlo referred to says:. Some of it goes down tho gutter, and no doubt some of itis just not quito bad enough, and efforts are made to resurrect it. Hence the ibad milk.;. To obviato all this trouble tho Featherston 'dairy fanners have instituted a system of dealing with the mill; direct from the farms before sending it to tho city,-and so far they havo met with some encouragement, but not all that they deserve. A year ago, when I attempted to arraugo with the Fresh Food'and Ice Company to take a supply of milk-through tho Featherston Factory, the Company told me that unless t-hoy got all the mill; they would do all they could to.discourago our sending a supply of milk such as I have stated to the City. In our negotiations ,a few weeks ago with the same Company, they desired to, as it were, corner the supply, and so negotiations fell through. Had tiiey succeeded, it meant the introduction'of a middleman into tho milk business, who would demand-2d. or'3d. a gallon from the retailers, for no useful purpose whatever. What tho Featherston suppliers now maintain is th..t there is no necessity for a dopot'-in Wellington. The milk arrives in Wellington in a cool truck at a temperature of from 40 deg. to 44 deg., arid any retail dairyman can take it away from the truck and distribute ' good milk ; direct from the farm.. No-time'has to be wasted in manipulations in the City, and- 1 shall bo surprised if any complaints arc made with regard to'this milk .if-distributed- by reputable retailers. • ■ -. ■ ' Tho country dairyman does not often take a hand in this • controversy, and,-.'therefore, you will -pardon mo if this letter takes up rather more space than is desirable. I am, etc., ' : '',:W. BARTON. Wliite llock,-March 20, 1908. , * .