CITY MILK SUPPLY FROM COW TO CONSUMER.

Evening Post, Volume LXXXVIII, Issue 11, 13 July 1914, Page 2

CITY MILK SUPPLY FROM COW TO CONSUMER.

"A perusal of the advertising column of Tlip Post in a recent issue, would convey the intimation that the City Council are submitting to Parliament an amendmening Bill to the Wellington City Milk Supply Act, 1910," remarked Mr. H. G. Hill, general manager of the Bristol and Dominions Producers' Association to a Post reporter. "Closely connected with this matter," he added, "is the fact that the council have added to the loan proposals to b© submitted to the ratepayers, a sum of £15,000 for the establishment of a milk depot, presumably to carry out the intentions of the Act." Mr. Hill further stated that he was in possession of the Act referred to, also tho proposed amendments, and a3 far as he could see, the only difference between the Act as it will be if tho amendments are accepted, and the Act as previously passed, is that tho milk coming into town by rand must now go througn the city depot. _ "But," he continued, "the whole principle of the Act is, in my opinion, wrong, and I am certain it will simply mean expenditure of public money with very little good. The City Council has the right under the Act to compel all milk required^ for consumption within the City of Wellington to go through a central depot under its control, and to be passed according to certain standards. This, in, my mind, is merely the middle, leaving out_ the top and bottom of the whole business. In the first place there is no protection for the farmer in seeing that his milk is carried in a proper manner by the Railway Department, and there is no protection for the consumer in seeing that after tho milk is tested at the depot that it is not tampered with before it reaches him. ."I have previously stated through the press that I consider this matter cannot be effectively dealt with by the municipality alone, for the connecting link between the farmer and the consumer, th» B.ailway Department, is apart from any proposals or suggestions which the com* cil may bring forward. Now, if the Government in conjunction with the council could tako up this matter it could include in the Bill some provisions that would make the Railway Department responsible for the proper carriage of the milk, and if this was agreed to the following are the lines which I suggest would be in the interest of a,ll parties. The inspection of tho farms should be under the control (as at present) of the Stock Department. The inspector passing a farm wouid give the farmer a date stamp and seal. This would imply that the farm was under inspection. After cooling the milk each time, the fanner would seal the cans with the stamp, and the Railway Department would then bo compelled to re> ceive and sign for tho milk sealed, carrying it in a proper manner,, and delivering it to tho municipal depot carriers, getting a receipt for it with,, the .seals intact. It would then be treated according to the system decided upon at the depot, and put into - bottles, which in turn would bo sealed with the inspector's soal, and date stamped, and there would be penalties in the Bill providing for any tampering with the seals from the time the milk left the depot until it arrived at the consumer. The latter would then be able to tell from the date stamp whether the milk was fresh, thus being assured that it was impossible to tamper with what he was paying for, knowing that it came from the cow to himself under seal. At the present time, as I have stated above, there is no protection for the milk .from the farmer to the depot, and none from the depot to the consumer, thus making the whole matter, in my mind, a farce.