CITY MILK SUPPLY

Evening Post, Volume XCV, Issue 14, 16 January 1918, Page 8

CITY MILK SUPPLY

TRADES COUNCIL VIEWS,

The following statement has been issued by the Wellington Trades and Labour Council with reference to measures and proposals for effecting an improvement in the city milk supply :^~ "Lest the impression, should get abroad that the central milk clearing scheme oE the Wellington City Council is what Labour has been asking for for some time, the Trades Council desires to make it clear that it has no interest arid very . little sympathy with the proposal as ' adopted by the City Council. The desire of the Labour people generally is first that a sufficient and wholesome supply of milk shall be available for citizens. We believe that the unwholesome and diluted state'of the mill: has been due mainly to . the greed of private enterprise. We believe also that much of the expense of delivery could have been saved by a j system which would avoid overlapping. To cope with the present situation a. more satisfying method than, that adopted by the City Council would have been to send a representative into, Bay, the Manawatu district and enter into ait agreement with a number of farmers for a regular supply of wholesome milk. This milk should be received and cooled at the' producing end. The cooling sta.tion should be in the country district, and close to the railway. It should be apparent to everyone that it is not possible to preserve the milk unless it is dealt with within an hour or so of the time it leaves the cow. We believe that the clearing station was built at the) wrong end, and that the arrangement was altogether haphazai'd and unsatisfactory.

" While the ideal system would be one in which the city would have iti • own farms and attend' to its own de- > livery, the method, by which we could ; cope with immediate difficulties is the' one here suggested. Upon arrival of the y milk in the city it should be possible \ to avail ourselves of the plant and ex- '■■ perience of the present vendors, while cutting out a great deal of th* waster; due to overlapping. That Would be preliminary, of course, to a scheme which" would gradually transfer the delivery to' responsible officers of the council."