CORRESPONDENCE.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XXXVII, Issue 94, 6 May 1903, Page 2

CORRESPONDENCE.

THE SINGLE DELIVERY OF MILK.. to the Editof . Sir. — I rejoice to see " A Mother's " very sensible letter in your paper tonight. There is no doubt at all that in valids and chldren must suffer severely from a once-a-day delivery of milk, here or anywhere, and I assert from experience, that a y6iirig infant cannot possibly be kept in full Health on a diet of old and mixed milk. In fact, trie ide&of mixing the milk is abominable. Our milk supply is at no time what can be called first-rate, and in muggy autumn weather I have sometimes known the morning's milTr to be sour before three in the afternoon. We have riot, as a rule, good facilities for keeping milk; cool and sweet, so that a second delivery is most important to our health and comfort. I sincerely hope that those who make themselves responsible for our milk sttppiy Will .realise that they have an import&rife public duty ib perform, and that such a wholesale shirking «tf that duty is a kind of conspiracy against the health and well-being of the community. I am, etc., ANOTHER MOTHER. Nelson, May .5, 1903: To the Editor. Sh-— I am not at all surprised to see " Mother's " letter in this evening's " Mail," and I am very pleased you have inVitpd d'seussion on the question, knowing you like to see of heal- Mibn ASM Gf a question. lam not a milkman or am I in any way connected with a milk business, but I am pleased to see the milkmen of Nelson have at last woke up and are going to do themselves justice. "Mother/" like a good many mora people, directly' they Ilefcii' of afljfthing tHat touches their pockets cry out, knowing only one side of the question. The milkmen's arrangement are as follows :—During th<3 winter months they will only deliver milk once a, day- viz; in the mornihgy And will charge 4dper* quart for same, but in case, of invalids or infants requiring milk they will deliver fresh milk twice daily. What .better arrangement do the general pitblic want ? It is not a quesi-idri df 9n#lyibg the* demand, as the twice a day delivery would be much better than once a day if they were short of milk. The idea is to give themselves and their employees more time to themselves. The milkmen are the hard-est-worked people in the colonies. Look at the bakers, butchers, grocers, drapers, etc. All have one half-clay per week, and close all day on Sundays. But the milkmen never close -, they are kept going from 5 a.m. to nearly 8 p.m. week days and Sundays, year in and year out, and never a holiday. The church people cry out about the young fellows not attending church. Now is their time to back up°the milkmen, and the churches might be better filled if the milkmen had time to go to church. If tb'*' milkman is five minutes late people complain, if on Simdays he is five minutes early they complain about being woke up when they want to lie in. If they want cream they forget to tell the milkman until Sunday morning, and then order three penny, worth of cream, and must have it for dinner. The milkman, must chase all ovm? the place to got tiie creani, paying the same as he gets for it. If he gets raw they want scalded ; and if they get scalded they want raw, and it is either too thick or too thin to whip. "Mother' 1 says if we were in drought-stricken Austjalia it would be excusable. I fail to see it. lam a drought-stricken Australian, and know it is ten times more trying to keep milk there than in New Zealand, and vet in a good many cities you only get one delivery per day, and most or the milk comes from the country 40 and 50 miles by train, and then has to be delivered, and yet in drought-stricken Australia there are just as good mothers and infants as in New Zealand. I hope all the milkmen will stick together, and every broadminded person will give them all the as=j sistance they can to carry their very sen-) sible arrangements on successfully, lam, etc., LIVE AND LET LIVE. Nelson, May 5, 1903, To the Editor. Sir — As one of the milkmen will you allow me to state that we will be pleased to see correspondence in connection with the dispensing with the afternoon delivery, both for and against ; also that present corrsspondence will no doubt recesve attention in the matter of replying at an early date by some of us. I would like to add tbat we are at present only asking for a trial— a fair one — free from bias or personal prejudice, and further that we desire to study infants and invalids as mucn as possible. Yours, etc., C. J. RUFFELL. Wakapuaka, May 6.