MILK AND HEALTH

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 22108, 14 May 1935, Page 8

MILK AND HEALTH

Auckland Rotarians were yesterday given some reasons from the medical standpoint why the increased use of milk in diet, especially for children, would be sound national policy. No one is likely to gainsay that milk is one of the best natural foods. Its beneficial effect on the health, physique and even mental capacity of school children has been many times demonstrated, the Glas-1 gow experiment being the most j quoted. The aim should therefore be j plain; the difficulty is the means, j What is wanted is a clean milk j supply at prices people can afford to I pay. In Auckland a milk council is! operating at considerable expense, j and it is reasonable to ask how far j it has progressed toward what should j be its first objectives—a good article, reasonably priced. It has given some ; attention to the matter of quality, j although it seems to be largely j dependent on the vigilance of the inspectors of two Government de- i partments at the producing and dis-, tributive stages. As to price, the; council has made its first concern to j secure a return to producers and dis- j tributors sufficient to cover an esti- j mate of their costs. Most of its j deliberations seem to have turned on : this point, and on levies, licensing i and zoning. The consumer has scarcely been considered except to decide what he must pay, and inevitably he has had to pay more. He is not sure that he is getting a better article, but, because it is dearer, he must use it with the utmost economy —a strange result to come from so much planning in the midst of "the world's dairy farm." In Britain also they have a milk marketing plan and the sequel is higher prices, decreased consumption, and now a demand from dairy farmers for quotas or levies to make up the loss on the sale of the manufactured products of excess liquid milk. And because New Zealanders use comparatively little milk, they are the more concerned about export markets for other dairy produce. A semi-official estimate of New Zealand's annual milk consumption is 22 gallons a head, compared with 56 gallons in the United States and 66 gallons in Denmark. An increase of one gallon a head in the Dominion would use milk that otherwise would be turned into 300 tons of butter. That is, if New Zealand were to consume as much milk in proportion as the United States, a weight of 10.200 tons would be taken off her export markets. There would be further benefits from the diminution of disease and the improved health and physique of the population. The obstacle is as already stated, to bring good milk within the economic reach of the people. If the Auckland Milk Council would concentrate on this end of its problems, it might succeed in giving a lead to the rest of the Dominion on a desirable course, and at least would dispel the public doubts with which its present proceedings are followed.