DIFFICULT OF SOLUTION

Evening Post, Volume CVI, Issue 129, 28 November 1923, Page 9

DIFFICULT OF SOLUTION

"THE PROBLEM OF THE NEARBY

FARMERS."

"Many people wish to know why the Corporation cannot purchase the milk produced by the nearby farmers, in order that they may control the whole supply of the city,-thereby cutting out loss of efficiency and waste in distribution," remarked the manager of the Municipal Milk Department (Rotarian R. E. Herron during an address at the Rotary Club luncheon yesterday. He was dealing with "the problem of the nearby farmer?, and characterised it as a most difficult one. "There are two main reasons which-operate against this being done, he. said. "The first is that the majority of the nearby farmers licensed by the Corporation are fanning on small holdings, on which there is employment for only one male worker, either as a part-time farmer or as a combined producer and vendor. The other reason is that the farms, being either in or close to the city, mainly consist of highpriced and highly-rated land, and, accordingly, a price which is profitable to the country farmer is not necessarily profitable to the suburban farmer. Only by obtaining the retail or semi-retail price for the milk sold is the farmer able to make a livelihood at all. "As against the afore-noted reasons it might be-argued that any article of produce is only worth its current market value wherever or however produced, but the difficulties of the position affecting the nearby farmers have to be realised. The limitations and restrictions placed upon nearby farmers under the Act (which are no doubt necessary for tha protection of consumers generally, and are in the interests of public health), and the control of their supply by the Corporation, aro naturally the cause of a certain amount of resentment by and friction with, the nearby farmers which it seems impossible to avoid. It would, indeed, be a good thing if some suitable means could be found of avoiding the competition between these farmers and the Corporation and of putting the whole milk supply of Wellington on a uniform basis, but the problem facing the Cor^ poration is most difficult of solution."