CONSUMERS' SOCIETY

Evening Post, Volume CXXXIX, Issue 63, 15 March 1945, Page 9

CONSUMERS' SOCIETY

NEIGHBOURS GET TOGETHER

There. has been a strong feeling among Hutt Valley consumers for some time in favour of a supply of pasteurised milk, but the manner in •which the supply was introduced was unusual, in that the move came from a small group of consumers, neighbours who joined together, and arranged with a Hutt Valley carrier to buy bottled milk in Wellington and to deliver it at a central convenient point, from which the neighbours collected it. The nmve, therefore, did not come from the City Milk Department, but from the consumers themselves.

~ A proposal for a separate pasteurisation station in the Hutt Valley has /been discussed for some time, but there has appeared little likelihood of such a station being erected without considerable delay. Some months ago the Hutt Valley vendors issued to most of their customers a questionnaire returnable with preference for pasteurised or raw milk stated, an indication being then given that supplies of'pasteurised milk might be obtainable from an outside supply. (This possible supply was, of course, the Wellington City Milk Department.)

The result of that inquiry by the vendors of their customers has not been made known, but it is understood that, in- some parts of the Valley' at any rate, a strong majority indicated their preference for pasteurised milk.

A series of discussions has been held among the vendors, suppliers, anrj also representatives of the local authorities, but first action was taken by the gmall group of consumers, as stated above, the next development being the decision of one vendor to purchase milk from the City Milk Department and to distribute it from house to house.

The neighbours' group has developed now into "The Hutt Valley Milk Consumers' Co-operative Society," the principal object of which is to make Wellington municipal pasteurised milk available to all Hutt Valley consumers who wish to purchase it. A provisional committee of eleven residents has been formed, and residents of the Valley are 'invited to join as members of the society. A further meeting of the committee is to be tonight, and it is proposed to call a meeting of all members shortly.

It is understood that other vendors in the Valley are much interested in the plan under which, this first distributor of pasteurised milk proposes to operate. There will not be unanimity about either pasteurised or raw milk, and consumers will presumably retain their right to.a choice in the matter.