SOUR MILK

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVIII, Issue 23879, 1 February 1941, Page 10

SOUR MILK

? MANY COMPLAINTS i ' LATE DELIVERY TIME REPRESENTATIONS TO MINISTER So groat has been the volume of complaints of sour milk owing to late delivery that representatives of the Auckland Metropolitan Milk Council will wait on the Minister of Labour, the Hon. P. C. Webb, with a view to urging an alteration in roundsmen's hours to ensure an earlier start in the morning delivery. This decision was reached at a meeting of the council yesterday. "We have had more trouble this year than for a considerable time," said the council's technical adviser, Mr. W. C. Neil. "Many complaints have been received from the public. This may be duo to slackness on all sides duo to zoning, and it looks as though we will have to bo considerably more strict." Duty to Consumers '.Auckland had a sub-tropical climate and special precautions should be taken, said Miss E. Melville. There was a feeling that because the council had got zoning, which gave the vendors a monopoly, tho milkmen could have more licence than they had before. "That is not going to happen while I am a member of tho council," Miss Melville continued. "It is our duty to protect tho consumers, especially as we have taken away from them the means of protecting themselves by changing their milkman." Tho chairman, Mr. T. J. Goldstine, said it was anticipated that complaints would be received, and the Minister was informed of the likelihood. It could not be otherwise in the hot weather when people were compelled to use the previous day's milk for breakfast. Ihe Minister was not prepared to alter the starting hours of the roundsmen and the council was powerless to do so. Outlook for Public Therefore, until the public compelled the Minister to amend the starting hours for delivery enabling them to have fresh milk for breakfast,, those without refrigerators would continue to have trouble and would continue to complain, the chairman continued. Definite complaints about bad milk would be investigated by the council and remedial action taken. There was a large increase in the quantity of milk sold in shops, said Mr. H. P. Burton, and it was time something drastic was done by calling the Government's bluff. Mr. T!. 13. Stonex said the increase was between ."30 and 40 per cent.