THE PRICE OF MILK

Evening Post, Volume XCIII, Issue 28, 1 February 1917, Page 2

THE PRICE OF MILK

TO THE EDITOR,

, h Sir,—The Minister for Agriculture— himself a farmer, and, on the whole, a fair-minded man—-should ' have..no difficulty in testing the following facts to | ascertain whether he lias given the Wellington dairy fanner "a. square deal" in fixing tho price of* milk at lO^d per gallon.

As he knows, since the outbreak of war in 1914 almost all materials as well as labour have advanced in price. I want to draw his attention to some ofthe advances which affect tho dairy farmer:—Milking hands, who before the war were paid 25s per week and "found," are now demanding £2 and £2 lQs per week and 'found; increase, 60 to 100 per cent. Boys' wages, formerly 10s per week and found, are now 20s per week and found; increase 100 per cent. Food has increased 25 per cent., costing the fanner much more to keep his own house and his hired help. Cattle have advanced 100 per cent, in price; good cows, which could be purchased for £7 or £8, cannot now be obtained under £15 each.. Cow-feed has increased from 70 to 100 per cent., and oven if the farmer grows it himself the price" of seed has increased 66 per cent. —grass seed (cocksfoot) has gone up from 9d per lb to Is 3d lb. (increase 66 per cent.), ryo from 4s 6d per bushel to 7s" 6d per bushel (increase 66 per cent.), white clover from £80 per ton to £200 per ton (125 per cent, increase). Manures: Superphosphate is now selling at £6 per ton, formerly it was £3 15s per ton (an increase of 60 per cent). Basic slag, now £7 10s, before the war £4 per ton (an increase of 87j per cent.). Nitrates have increased 200 per cent., and are almost unprocurable ' Milk cans have increased in price from 12s 6d to 21s (an increase of 66 per cent.) and other dairy utensils have similarly increased.. Fencing wire has advanced from £15 per ton to £37— an increase of 146 per cent. Fencing posts have increased 25 per cent. Galvanised iron, which was £18 per ton, is now £40 per ton (an increase of 122 per cent.). Now, these are practically the main items of expenditure, otjher than the interest payable on his mortgage, whicli has also increased from 5 per cent, to 6 per cent., being an increase of 20 per cent, on his former payments. In view of these increases, I. think the Minister will admit that 50 per cent, increase in the price of milk is not unreasonable. Mr. Hart, a member of -the Board of Trade, states that in January and February, 1913, the price of milk obtained by the farmer was 7£d per gallon" Add to this 50 per cent., and the price should be 11-Jd per gallon; yet tha Minister and Board of Trade say it must not be more than 10jd per gallon. Mr. Hart further gives the, price during the month of March, 1913, as 9d per gallon. To this add 50 per cent., and the price will be 13id, but tho Board of Trade fixes the price for March at 10£ d per gallon It must also be borne in mind that of this iOAd the farmer pays -|d to Id per gallon for railway freights, and jd levy to the association, reducing the price he gets to 9{d per gallon. There are many disabilities which the dairy farmer supplying a city labours under, which the Minister and Board of Trade have not perhaps taken into account. There is the "eternal" can trouble, which has driven many a dairy farmer out of the business. Cans are held back, get over-carried by tho Railway Department, get lost or stolen, and cause the dairy farmer a very serious loss in the conrse of a year. But worse than the loss of cans is the loss of the milk which, for want oE the cans, has to be poured often in large quantities over the paddocks.

Then there are inspectors innumerable to satisfy. The shed is inspected, tho milks house is licensed, and the milk itselfffis subject to inspection at any I time by an officer. There is always the fear of .a- prosecution for some oversight or fault on the part of an employee, of which the proprietor may be qnite ignorant.' I do not for a moment say these inspections should not be. I mention them J?.nly.iq jhow^ thediffcreace

between tho farmer who supplies a factory and is paid for his butter fat, and the daily farmer who supplies milk to a city; and to point out how ridiculous the claim of the Minister that Id more per gallon will compensate the latter for ail his extra expense and labour. Why, Id per gallon would not provide the extra interest on the additional price paid for land near a .large city Laud in the Hutt Valley ranges from £70 to £100 per acre. The same quality of land in the vicinity of the factories can be bought for £20 to £40 per acre Neither would the Id per gallon in many instances pay for' the railway freight, which the factory supplier has not to pay. _

Then the farmer who supplies the city has to deliver his milk twice daily, and he must have a cooling plant to reduce it to a given temperature—often a difficult task in warm weather —and if, through long railway carriage, the milk goes sour, the loss is lu's. He is dependent on railway trains; must be at the station at a given time to place his milk on the train, and in order to do so must often get up much earlier in the morning. Then he lias to go again to get delivery ,of his cans. He is obliged to milk his cows throughout the winter; and if anyone wants to know a littie abont discomfort let him get up during the four winter months at 4.30 a.m., and in the darkness and storm get his cows in, and then, drenched and cold, sit for two or three hours to milk them.

The farmer who milks for the factory has his winter months to do all sorts of inside jobs or to take a holiday in. He does not need to trouble about winter feed; a little hay will keep his cows in condition and tide him over until the spring. The city milk supplier, has to keep a continual rotation of green feed and roots, all of which entails extra labour; and no farmer will undertake the ' job at Id per gallon extra, on factory prices.

It is significant that for years past a small cream factory in the Hutt Valley has successfully operated running the whole year through. At present the price paid by it for milk is 8d per gallon, and there are no lack of farmers who arc willing to accept this price— 2;d per gallon below what is paid in town—because it saves so many additional expenses, and much work and worry. Now I liave gone into this matter, and .1111 convinced that what the secretary of the Farmers' Association must have meant when ho stated that an extra Id per gallon was sufficient for the- farmer supplying the city, that this Id was over and above all the additional outlay Having farmed in TarauaUi and also in the Hufct Valley, I am certain that the latter cannot compete with the former unless he geits at least 3gd per gallon more for his milk I arrive ait this sum' from the following calculation and from my own experience :—Difference in price of land, Id per gallon; railway freight, Id per gallon; loss due to loss of cans, souring of milk, <*tc.,"-.UI per gallon; levy to association, {i\ per gallon; extra work in two deliveries, cooling, etc., etc., Id per gallon; total extra required, 3-Jd, or deducting tho levy 3^(l per gallon. :

There is one" thing that is not quite clear about the price of milk charged to the Wellington public, and that is, while the farmer'in summer produces it at 9jd per gallon after invest-Big from five to ten thousand pounds in a farm, and perhaps another thousand in stock and plant, the man who only distributes the milk makes more off 'it than the farmer, the milk vendor's share being 9JUI per gallon. Surely this is a matter foi enquiry by tho Board of Trade

I may say that, although I still take a groat interest in. dairy- farming, with which I was happily connected for many years, I am not at all now engaged in the business. I am therefore not writing as an interested party ; but, knowing by experience the hard life of si dairy farmer supplying a oitv with milk, I feel I need make no apology for writing even at the length I have, in bringing the facts I have mentioned under the notice of the Minister, the Board of Trade, and the general public.—l am, etc., : J. .WEIR;* Lower Hutt. 31st Jan.