LABOUR VIEWS

Hokitika Guardian, 12 March 1938, Page 6

LABOUR VIEWS

(Contributed by Publicity Committee, Hokitika branch of N.Z. labour Party) Free. Milk supply in Schools. .‘•‘Six months alter the inception ot the scheme, half of the school population of New Zealand has been suppl ed 1 with free ttniik .every schoolclay. :• What an achievement this is can only ) be realised by those who are in closb contact with the production and. distribution of milk in Now Zealand.” Reason? That All Children have not 1 been supp ied. • Apart from the question of mere time and the physical difficulties of administration, the main reason that the rest of the school children, have not been supplied with milk is tnat thu e >■* no mils. . , Now Zealand, is tee Greatest Exporter of Butter in the World. Resides being the world’s greatest exporter of butter and cheese, New Zealand is also the world’s greatest consumer ,of butter per head of population, and it is precisely for this reason that there is no milk. Most dairy farmers in New Zealand produce milk which is either taken to the cheeso factory or is separated and the buttei fat taken to the factory, that is in the main, a farmer is concerned with producing butterfat and not milk for human consumption. Purest Milk Required. Quite properly the Government is insisting on the purest milk produced under the most hygeiiic conditions; n\ most cases pasteurisation is an essential. Where this has not been possum, in country districts, properly cooled raw milk from tested herds has been supplied, the Health Department and Agricultural Department acting in co-operation to see that the high sta-nd-ards of hygiene are complied >)’s«• 111 some of the more reniote country districts raw milk is used to make full milk cocoa for the children. Pasteurising Plant Vary ExpensiveWhen An,attempt, is made to provide, for a supply of milk for a school it is frequently found' that no one unprepared' to supply. it in conformity, with, ohe standards,. laid down-. 1 iff sora '? districts-' the .pasteurising plant- is toy. expensive for the small lumbers.to bo. served. This difficulty has. beep &>»»- | mounted, however, by Igroupiugt man area to ho served-byl central, tl)sV , fribiuon, -bute*apartdfrom. this: the. .' milk distributor who is prepared will-do so only if he can be assured ,of the business ol supplying householders. . The Government Pay. To those who , are-pot .familiar. ; jyitd the. niiik in schools .scheme, -it should? oe nientioiied; that 'the cost of findv is ! paid for'by the Government, and.-the-children are not required to paJs.iiW .my ■ way. Generally the milk -As delivered in 'bottles J with;'i straws- for drinking, - whiclr is easily -. tile .-.best;* ! method. The inilk is-made :available., •- co every child, attending public 'artu | 5 private primary schools and kinder- •! ; gartens, and wuere desired to tvciy; jfiild attending post primary- a. Each chilli -receives a' half pint oft ociiool milk per school day. Th'e whole scheme is admirable and the Government deserves credit for the vigorous manner in which they have' proceeded with the scheme. As far as the writer Knows no other country in the world has a national milk to schools scheme on a free basis. In other counties milk schemes, free., milk *is giyeW 1,0 children whose parents cannot afford to pay. The effect of this on the .school child can be imaginedResult of Scheme. The Health Department report states that in one year sub-normal nutrition I amongst school children has fallen trom , 0.60 per cent to 4.31 per cent. Several 1 factors are responsible for .this, including the health camps, but the milk in schools scheme will be tound to be a predominating influence in the rcduc-, tiou of the numbers of children not receiving adequate nutrition. As yet there has not been time to : collate the statistical results of tlm milk schema, bu.fc a good deal of individual' ■-.testimony has been received from headmasters. For example, in one school in the Auckland district a; headmaster states that free mil.k has meant that backward children—backward mentally because of undernourishment—have caught up on other pupils. Now then 1