TAKEN HOME BY CHILDREN

Northern Advocate, 10 January 1936, Page 6

TAKEN HOME BY CHILDREN

FREE MILK COMPLAINT [Special to “Northern Advocate.”] AUCKLAND, This Day. A complaint that the free milk being distributed in some of the city schools was being taken home by the dhildren, and that, consequently, vendors were suffering, was made in a letter received by the Auckland "Metropolitan Milk Council at its meeting this morning. This is a serious complaint,” said Mr G. W. Hutchinson, who presided, and on his recommendation it was decided to refer the letter to the milk for schools committee of the City Council for investigation. “May I bring before your council’s notice the unfair way the giving of free milk has dealt with the small dairy shop,” the letter stated. “Just the week before Christmas I tendered a bill to a usual ‘pint a day’ customer. It was sent back as overcharged, as they had not got it every day. They had got free milk to-take home from school. Other customers, who even had no children at school, had children volunteering to get their billies filled for them. Consequently, the milk I had ordered for our usual consumption was not sold. It had to be thrown out. I did not dare give it away. “Gentlemen is this fair? I paid for that milk to sell. I paid levy on it. and I also paid £1 a year license to sell it. I cannot afford to lose, and had we known free milk was being given away we would have curtailed our order. This is not sent as a complaint against the school or the headmaster, for whom we have every respect, but if we were notified that the milk was to be given away, we would not have ordered the extra quantity, which we regretfully threw away.”