THE PRICE OF MILK

New Zealand Times, Volume LI, Issue 11786, 24 March 1924, Page 3

THE PRICE OF MILK

AND MUNICIPAL TRADING. (To the Editor "N.Z. Times.”} Sir, —The decision of the City Come# to raise the prioe of milk to Bid per quart for the winter months comes as a shock to those who favour municipal control, and must be an increasing burden to the working man with .a young family. The argument of believers in municipal control that such a is in tho interests at the ratepayers is being rudely dissipated. The accepted theory that" cbntrol of distribution and wholesale buying would mean a lessened price to the consumer has been exploded, ai d we are now faced with a price for milk that has not before been reached in the city of Wellington. Not only is the consumer being penalised, but it is also apparent that the ratepayer will eventually havo to make up these deficiencies, a loss of .£BSOO last winter and an estimated loss of £15091 this winter. And this is the much vaunted municipal control! The system that foreed out of business a large number of milk vendors, all of whom were getting a living; the system that has increased the price of the commodity: the system that has lessened the number of businesses and consequently lessened the number of ratepayers; the system that neither pays rates nor taxes, and does not provide one penny to the upkeep of the Dominion.

Surely the time is ripe when this question should t>“ settled once and for sll lime, when State and! municipal enterprises should come under the same obligations in regard to rates and taxes ss the individual trader, and thus compete on fair and eouitable lines. If it is logical that the City Council should control the milk supplv why not control groceries, draperies, butcheries, bakeries, etc., and thus complete the destruction of individual business enterprises, and turn the "Nation of Shopkeepers” Which built un the British Empire into a host of civil and municipal servants. RATEPAYER. Wellington, March 22nd, 1924. (Letters, making protest at the proposed increase which, it is said, comes into force on April Ist. have been received from "Mater,” "Indignant Resident,” and "Monopoly.”!