DELIVERING MILK

Evening Post, Volume CIII, Issue 63, 17 March 1922, Page 8

DELIVERING MILK

SYSTEM IN AMERICA

HORSE VEHICLES EMPLOYED,

As reported in another part of this issue, tho City Council has decided to use horse-drawn vehicles in connection with the distribution of milk. This is an outcome of the report of the general manager of the Milk Department (Mr. H. A. Ward) on his recent visit to the United States.. CLASS OF VEHICLES. ■ "I was very much surprised to find that without eseeeption, whether the city was hilly or flat, horses were universally used for the retail or house-to-house delivery, motor vehicles only being used for supplying wholesale quantities and, for feeding the retail carts where the milk was being retailed by one company over a • large area," says Mr. Ward in his report. "Without exception, four-wheeled vehicles were used, the wheels not being very high, and the vehicles having what is called a, full lock; that is that the two front wheels are small enough to enable, when the vehicle is being turned, the wheel to go underneath the floor of the vehicle, thus' enabling the vehicle to turn in its own' length. The floor of the vehicle is on one level, and with very few exceptions is enclosed all round to. a height of from four: to five feet, with an entrance for the driver on both sides of the vehicle between the front and hind wheels. In the Western States, •where there is rarely any snow or cold winter weather,' these vehicles have no roof, but have two loose canvas covers, one for the fore part of the vehicle and one for the hind part of the vehicle to protect the milk from the sun. The driver's seat is' in the centre of tho vehicle, and is generally a fixture with a drawer underneath the seat foT the driver to put his accounts in, or, in some cases, his lunch, etc. The floor dimensions c-f these wagons are approximately 4ft wide by 7ft long, and are designed to hold from 28 to 34 crates of milk, and in addition two or. three crates of butter,' and in some cases eggs.

"On several occasions I went round with delivery carts, commenced delivery between the hours i of 3 and 5 a.m., and finished between the hours of 7 and 10 a.m. It is generally .understood that the delivery to tenement houses entails less time than the practically house-to-houee, delivery that would obtain in Wellington. This is not so, as in very few cases is the milk left on the basement floor, but has to be delivered on-each flat, and with . tenement houses of seven and eight stories high 'the.'.;delivery ■ .taikes.. longer , than the ordinary house-to-house delivery, and in. my opinion there is no material difference in, the time taken in delivering, the milk in the cities in the United States,and the time taken in the delivery of milk in Wellington. . ,

"Detailed specifications and costs of wagons to have been posted to me before I left San Francisco,' but will no doubt be forwarded, by the next mail. Several of the very large milk distributing companies make 1 their own wagons and harness, some of these companies using as many as 150 wagons. The average number of ' points of delivery throughout the United 'States is 400 per wagon. HORSES. , "The stamp of horse used is much heavier than the usual milk delivery horse as used 'in ; Wellington, • but is somewhat similar to ■.the 'light lorry, horse used in Wellington, the stables 1 being adjacent and in some instancesl under the'same roof, and in one case A' ■two-storied stable is under the same roof "as the milk station. One of the Sheffield: farm milk stations, in New York. has. stable accommodation for over 500 horses. The stables are all constructed with concrete floors \with moveable plank gratings for the' horses : to stand upon. The horses are tended by a separate stable staff, the drivers having nothing to do with the feeding, cleaning, or of the horses, each driver go-1 ing to the stable and bringing out the horse already-harnessed, and immediately on return from his round delivers the horse to the stables. In many of the big companies a staff of saddlers .is kept which make the whole of the harness and attend to repairs. "To avoid the expenditure of a large sum of money in erecting stables and the purchase of horses and harness until such time as the site for the new milk, station is definitely decided upon, I would recommend that the council provide the vehicles and the drivers or roundsmen, and that arrangements be made, if possible, with the .various carrying companies, Munt Cottrell and Co., O'Brien and Co., Campbell and Co. .the New Zealand Express Co., and New { Zealand Carrying Co., to provide the necessary horses at per day ot. week for a period of one year, or any length of time that may be necessary, the horses to be broueht to the milk station at whatever time or times they may be required The temporary building !in Howe's Lane, between , the temporary engine-room and the stables now y occupied by the City 'Milk Supply would. I , believe, provide ample space for the storage of the wagons." , •