THE MILK WE DRINK!

NZ Truth, Issue 107, 6 July 1907, Page 7

THE MILK WE DRINK!

THE FRESH FOOD AND ICE CO. AGAIN.

A Claim and a Counter-claim.

Dr. McArthur Reserves His Decision.

The agitation started by "Truth" respecting the awfulness of the milk and other things supplied by the Fresh Food and Ice Company had a segjuel m the defection from the Company of a- supplier named Francis Edward G-reen. Whereupon the Company sued Green for £96 2/11. Tina claim' of £96 2/11 against Green was made up as follows :—£l6---2/11 for malic and cream supplied to G-reen ; £70 for loss on milk and cream reserved for him ; and £10 for damages for 'breach of contract. On March 1, 1907, it was alleged, Green agreed with the Company to ■ take seventy gallons of milk daily and ten gallons of cream weekly until March 31, 1908. On. March. 7 Green^ intimated that he would take no further supplies, and as the Company stiU ! l reserved supplies for him the above claim was made. A counter claim of £78 6s 8d was made because on March 3 thirty out of seveoty gallons of milk supplied were, sour and unfit for consumption and had to be thrown away. On March sth twen- I ty, and on March- 6th fifteen gallons were bad. Other supples were also sour*' so 'that Green los-ih many customers. x The damagies sustained' by loss of .customers were assessed at £20, breach of contract ,£SO, and losses on milk supplied £8 6/8. ' The case, it appears, was heard m sections. On June 18, Green, for whom Mr Jackson appeared with Mr Herdman, caned: the evidence of Alfred Cooper, milkman ; Joseph" Palmer, carter ; Leslie Biggins, milkman ; W; Crump, milkman ; Jno. Gilpers, plumber ; August Romain, milkman ; Ernest Benge, dairyman ; and William Ell? son, mdlkfnan ; most-^ ljf dn support of ifae main 'Contention that 'the milk of the Fresh Food and Ice Company was bad and generally^ deplorable. ; Last week the case was continued, tsrhen evidence was given as follows: i. William Alfred Y>arlett, dealer- m milk, stated that he was getting his supply from the Fresh Food and Ice Co. early m March. The MILK WAS VERY BAD, and they were, losing customers torou.jrh it. It was suggested tliat Mr Green ha-d lcnnckod^pfr because he was going round wit-n^tbe penny cart, bUt Green told witness it was on account of the badness. The "penny cart" disposes of skim milk. To Mr. Johnston witpe*ss*ljj||id. that ho was also a dealer m lines Mice old furniture, etc. He had not been m regular employment since he had been paralysed m the side. He got lids milk at seven m th© mornd<ng. Took it off the floor and immediately brought it out for delivery around Te Aro. He served a supply up. to 64 gallons per 'day. He was working at this for seven or eight weeks, star-tdnig first m the first week m March/ He was buying the milk on his own account, and the Company had nothing i>6 do with the disposal of the milk. He had been given allowances on several occasions on account of sour milk. It s was a cash trade. Mrs Brown, m Jessie-street,' had . COMPLAINED THREE OR FOUR TIMES on account of the m-ilk, . as also had Mrs Crawford. Both had ceased talcing the milk, and there wene others., -He did not bring the milk home, and had to pour, away the milk that was over. This was done m the dairy of the Compacy. The. milk b/usiness occupied the morning, and m the afternoon he carried on other dealing business. He usied ito clean Ms own serving can. His cart, had a legend on it of "skim, mdlk," and that was the character of the milk supplied to customers. He used to retail the main part of it at 8d per gallon. He ' did niot sign the Company's hook for the tquality of the milk, but for the quantity. To Mr Herdman : The milk m the first week of March was very often sour. . , i . . Jno. George Wilson, manager of the Wellington Co-operative Dairy Company, said he had supplied milk to the Fresh Food and Ice Company on March 17 (88 gallons), April 15 (80 gallons aoid 58 gallons), April .29, (85 gallons), and a fourth lot of 50 gallons ;i'May 12 (50 gallons), May 27 (50 gallons)'. Charged the Company lOd per 'gallon. Witness had been m the business 16 years, and his business was the biggest m Wellington. They paid to farmers 5d per gallon and Id freight for six months m the year. March to September counted as winter months, and during that period they paid for • ttoir milk 7=i'd, with a freight of ■ $d per gallon. The cartage from the station to the factory was about id per gallon. Pasteurised milk would cost the Company a M more. So that if a company took a contract at 6d per gallon m the winter months they must do so at a loss. Took an analysis of the Fresh Food and Ice Company's milk as given by a supplier imamed Iggfulden, and there was shown by the lactometer to be 25 PER CENT. OF WATER IN IT. The test was not made till a fortnight ago. To Mr". Johnston : the supplier's name was Iggulden, and it was brought to witness because the supplier had. his suspicions as to the character of the milk. He had no qualifications to make a test. They comimenced to pay the farmer a high price for the milk m April. He did not recollect any of his Company's milk being returned from the Fresh Food and Ice Company during the dates he had quoted. /George Nash, 'dairyman, Wa.lestown, stated that he purchased 600 gallons of milk per day. He paid m the summer months Gd per gallon, freight paid, to the Manawatu ond Government railway sta.tions. If one proposed to take the farmer's whole supply, 5d per gallon and freight was paid. The summer months were October to March. The Fresh Food and Ice Company had their own carts, and if Mr Green desired it he would ihave to pay extro for pasteurised I milk. In winter months 7d and j freight was paid to the farmers. j

To Mr, Johnston : If you bought m

large quantities you could not get the milk any cheaper than for small quantities. The company called J. P. Brandon (manager), Clifford (working v boss), and an analytical chemist, Mr. Johnston regretting that his evidenoo could only be confined to the facts of the counter claim. Clifford said the milk was m excellent condition whilst m the factory, and he attributed any badness m milk at any particular time to the insanitary conditions under which it was exposed by the vendors. The cart of Joe Palmer, employed by Green, was man extremely filthy ' condition. G-reen might have complained once of the state of the millr. He did not menjtion that his customers had complained of the fluid, although some had preferred the real thing to skim milk. He denied to Mr. Herdman that milk was kept m the factory for three days before being given to vendors for disposal , m the city. There was only one occasion when it occurred to him that the cans of Green ought to be washed ; that was on the occasion when milk had been bjought back bad. They had samples of dried milk from Nathan and Co., but had returned them. They had not. used dried milk m his time. Mr. Herdman : Js it not a fact that portions of -the cans turn green because of the use of dried milk ?— We do not use it. The analytical chemist called was aged thirty-two, and a student of Victoria College, which institution he is still attending. He gave evidence as to the normal condition of the Fresh Food and Ice Company's milk, but Br. McArtfour, who warnv ed;the student that he himself was an/ old schoolmaster, discovered a discrepancy m ' the percentages, which the witness then rectified. He stated that no test was complete with a lactometer alone. Mr.. Herdman : Do you not know that Mr. Wilson also used a thermometer ? — No. Mr.- Herdman : As a ' matter of fact, lie did. Had he done so, would he have discovered the temperature? —Yes. Counsel addressed the bench on points of law .-relating to contract, raised by the , comply. The, vital issues wivoJvjj^J; sfe'emed . io'-be : (1) Did the company break its i'^ntract with Green by giving him bad rMlk? 62) Did Green break his contrast with the company by discontinuing the round ? (3) Was the milk bad ? ■Dr. McArthur reserved his judgment till July 9.