MILK IN SCHOOLS

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXXII, 14 July 1938, Page 2

MILK IN SCHOOLS

EXTENSION OF SCHEME IN COUNTRY I From Our Own Parliamentary Ueporterl j WELLINGTON, This Day. The statement that the full development of the r lilk-in-schools scheme was not being retarded in any way by lack of finance was made by the Minister of Education, Hon. P. Fraser, in answer to a question by Mr A. C. A. Sexton (Independent, Franklin) in the House of Representatives yesterday. Mr Sexton asked the Minister "Whether he will take steps to set aside the amount of money required to provide all country school children with a ration of milk: and where any children are not getting the ration of milk, whether he will allow an equivalent amount of money to be spent on I the purchase of fruit for such child- ! "Funds are already available to pro- 1 1 vide a ration of milk for all country j ! children,” Mr Fraser replied. "The | full development of the milk-in-schools! scheme is not beii»j retarded in any, way by lack of finance; the principal difficulty is to secure a sale milk supply, properly pasteurised and drawn from registered dairy farms, for children attending the more remote coun-; try schools. "Where, owing to difficulties ol' transport or absence of a pasteurised ■ supply it is not possible to provide bottled milk, preparations are being ! made for the supply of milk in the i form of a malted-milk powder w'hich ! will be prepared at the school and is- | sued in liquid form equivalent to a ' half-pint of fresh milk a child. This 'scheme is already in operation in some ) schools, and w-ill be further extended | with the commencement of the new 1 dairying season in August, when full j supplies of the malted-milk powder ! i will become available. "In regard to an alternative issue ol ! fruit, it is not considered that from a ; nutritional point of view fruit is a . | complete substitute for milk, and thei i question of any additional dietary sup-;; ! plement of fruit must be held over until the milk-in-schools scheme is even ! more generally extended than at pre- ! ent.”