THE MILK SCHEME

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 89, 9 January 1919, Page 4

THE MILK SCHEME

CENTRAL STATION ARRANGEMENTS FOR^HANDLING SUPPLY In a fortnight from now Urn regulations will come into operation , empowering the City Council to engage in,tho niiiksupply business, and about that time it is hoped that the preparations will he complete for the initiation of themew scheme Briefly, the scheme will bj this- The City.Council will pay for all the milk coining froni|the farmers; all this milk will come into the council's central station; the milk will be treated in the station-.by the council's staff, and by them delivered to the people who are now the vendors; the vendors will deliver the milk to the customers,- every vendor being given a. block of the city in which to eupply milk; in payment for this milk tho vendors will receive coupons with which every customer should have pri> Tided, herself by purchasing them from the council authorities; these coupons the .vendors will return to the City Council* and for'coupons indicating the purchase of a gallon of milk the vendor will receive a payment of eevenpence. ■ The amount of sevenpence per gallon is is nowadays reckoned sufficient forvthe profit.of the"vendor, but now the "Vendor: has-to treat his own ,mJk, run. the ..risk ,of milk going, bad, run the,nek of having surplus supplies which cannot be .disposed of, and generally: to maintain a better and'more costly establishment and staff than will be necessary .for the purely dolivery.buslness. The council will run all the risks and provide, .the etation, ■ the plant, and the staff for the receiving and treating of the milk; It is not definite that the al-' .lowance-to the..vendors will be 7d. per gallon, but it is understood that the ullowance will be at this rate' A - The council has.acquired-the premises up|. till, recently, occupied -by ■ .&, City Milk Supply Company, and-ibefore that by the Fresh Food and Ice d'orapany, - a • two-story brick building in Dixon 'Street 111 ere is already some plant in the building nnd some of it the council is taking over. The building is being altered a good deal, new plant-has been put in position, and there are- important additions being made. The, ground floor of ■ the ■■ huilcliiig will bemused solely for the distribution! s ?r ?' I? a loomy loadi ng platform at which the vendors' carts can be backed and loaded. Upstairs the milk' wilj- be treated as required, and samples of it tested. An addition-in wood has been ■nut up at , the oast side of. the bui'ltlirig for the purposo of receiving the milt as it conies.from the trains in motor wagons. The wagons will draw up under an overhead platform, and the milk will be raised to this platform by means of An electr.c i lift. Off this platform' the cans of milk will be weighed, and then the milk will be emptied into two laree biiHe.vato. From these vats it will pass to the steriliser and afterwards to the coolers. The cans will be washed and steamed on this floor before being Teturned ro their owners. ■ ' The premises are unquestionably, big enough to deal with all, the milk that ■Hill be required for the City of Wellington—about 5000 gallons per' day. Experience will show whether the best tiise lias been made of the premises, whether the -plant is the best that could- have .been obtained,- whether it has been risht>ly disposed in the b'niMin?. and whether the arrangements arc such as to mako for economy in; labour. The wcakpst spot in/the plan is'the-dependence altogether on the electric lift to raise tho milk into the building. If a lift eo <?s nut pf order in the niehfc or early morn-; ing, it. will mean delay ~'■ of at least , an hour; and possibly ■to deliveries being an hour later on that day all over the city. Another weak spot is really a defect in the. building itself. The firs,t floor on which-all the milk will be treated has en open roofmerely rafters of wood under the iron. It is not possible, to keep rafters freo of dust and dirt, however careful the' cleaning, and under these rafters,', while the machinery is causing in the building some vibration, while dust is lifcing blown in from the outer air through the elevator well and windows which must be kept open, the milk will be in open vats, or imssin? through •an open pasteuriser. This defect may. not prove to b6 serious in practice., '" ■ No allocation of blocks among the vendors has yet been made, nor has any agreement been made with them. These aro the most important of the details to be arranged; in .the course of the next two weeks. '■■.''