Wellington Milk Supply

Dominion, Volume 26, Issue 219, 12 June 1933, Page 11

Wellington Milk Supply

Sir, —Iu replying to Mr. Bennett, chairman of the Wellington Milk Supply Committee, I would first like to apologise for the harshness of my remarks regarding quality, which .were written under the stress of paying 3d par pint for an article which I produce and sell at the equivalent of 3d per gallon, aud while still holding the same opinion of the milk I bought, I must in fairness admit that it was obtained from a city dairy, and may not have been up to the standard delivered direct by the milk supply. In the matter of price I make no withdrawal of my statement that cream could be landed in Wellington at a lower price than milk as retailed, and give a considerably better return than the payout the farmer has been receiving from the factories. The average payout in- the Wellington province for the past two months has been about 5d per lb butterfat, which at 35 per cent, test is not much over 4d per quart for cream. However, let us take Mr. Bentiett’s own figure of 8d per lb as being the value of butterfat, and make a more detailed comparison with Wellington milk prices. Taking 4 per cent, test as a standard of milk (3.25 per cent, is statutory requirement), the value of 1 gallon of milk on the basis of Sd per lb butterfat is 3 l-5d per gallon. Let us suppose that the producers are paid an extra 25 per cent, to secure continuity of the winter supply, bringing the value to 4d per gallon, or Id per quart. The retail price of 6d per quart thus shows a margin of 600 per cent, over the value of milk on the farm. This price of 6d per quart is the equivalent of 5/9 per lb butterfat. Why is it that one dairy product, butter, can be taken through the process of cream collection, pasteurisation, churning and packing, and retailed at lid per lb or under, while the same products in the form of milk or cream apparently cannot be retailed at under an equivalent price of 5/0 per lb? Mr. Bennett speaks of the. cut-throat competition in the Auckland district. The new distributors who have brought the price down from 5d to 3d claim that 3d per quart shows a reasonable profit, and surely 300 per cent, gross profit. should show a reasonable margin even in milk supply. One of the largest milk vendors operating in Auckland has publicly stated that his turnover had increased by over 50 per cent, in one week since the reduction in price,’ and I think it is safe to estimate that the consumption in Wellington would increase by fully 50 per cent, if milk were reduced to 3d per quart (300 per cent, gross profit), and there must he many families who cannot afford cream at 2/- a pint who would make daily use of cream at say 9d per pint (allowing 150 per cent, gross profit). I must deny any inference that I have any individual ambition to break into the Wellington milk supply, but I maintain that while we rightly are struggling to hold our great English market, our home market is being . neglected and starved by tbe high prices of milk and cream, lam not antagonistic to the Wellington municipal milk. supply —it is by large organisations cutting out the overlapping of distribution that low prices can best be maintained. Tbe Wellington supply, with its freedom from overlapping competition, has a wonderful opportunity to provide one. of the chief necessities at a bedrock price, instead of which it appears to be taking advantage of its monopoly to maintain a profit margin that would not be permitted in any private organisation.—l am, etc., W. L. LONG. Shannon, June 8.