SUB-STANDARD MILK

Evening Post, Volume CXXXVIII, Issue 11, 13 July 1944, Page 3

SUB-STANDARD MILK

ASSOCIATION FINED

Judgment was given recently by Mr. A. M. Goulding, S.M., on the charges brought by the Health Department ( ' against the Wellington Dairy Farmers' Co-operative Association Limited, for.: selling milk deficient, in butterfatJ Seventeen charges were laid; seven v were heard early in April, and the. rest were adjourned. The Magistrate delivered a written judgment a month, later, but deferred imposing penalty till he had heard counsel on ithat matter. ■ ' The . defendant association was con-' victed on each of the seven charges, and on each a fine of £7 lps was imposed, with costs. The remaining tea' informations were withdrawn. In his judgment .the Magistrate reviewed fully the system used by tha defendant association to test the milk it collects—about 4000 gallons distributed in the Hutt Valley and 4000 gallons sent to the Wellington municipal authorities. It was admitted that at least half the milk which went to roundsmen and shops in the Hutt areas was not tested, and in the case of the seven informations before him it was clear that several hundred people received milk which was below stand-' ard, from the cans which were sampled by the informant. . It was apparent that: as long, as the present system of test-' ing prevailed as the only protection to the public, then under-standard milk would continue to reach the public, and that not infrequently. Certain measures had been proposed to the company for the bulking and cooling of each farmer's milk before it was distributed, but the association objected unless it, could bottle and' pasteurise the milk. It also> ( objected because it would involve expense and delay, and said the sugges-' tion was impracticable. He did not agree; the danger of milk not complying with the standard would be almost totally eliminated. This would' far outweigh delay in delivery to the ; . public. Reference had been made in- . the evidence to a passage in the report of the Milk Commission regarding, Friesiari' herds, whose milk varied in butterfat content; it was stated that at certain seasons the morning milk from cows of that breed was likely to contain less than 3.25 per cent. He was not, however, satisfied from the evidence that the regulation standard would, in Mr. Hoggard's words, "outlaw" the Friesian herds. The defence had been raised that' the steps taken by the association to ensure compliance with the law were sufficient. The Magistrate said he could not agree with that view, and quoted ■ decisions on the matter. In one judgment Mr. ■ Justice Chapman said that the onus was on the defendant "to show that within practicable limits no other steps could have been taken." ■ Having regard.to the quantities of milk' handled and the area and populations: the association served, he thought ■it must take further steps than it did take to ensure that the public received milk of the required standard. Another defence raised was that the regulation under which the information' was laid was ultra vires. This defence was discussed at length, and th» Magistrate said it failed. At,the hearing Mr. H. R. Biss appear- , ed on behalf of the informant, R. W. Pomare, an inspector of the Department of Health, and Mr. D. R. Hoggard. for the defendant association.