The Milk Fiasco

NZ Truth, Issue 868, 15 July 1922, Page 1

The Milk Fiasco

Imagination goes a long way, but m common fairness it ought to have its limitations. In the case of. Councillor Norwood apparently.it has none, for, after the inglorious inauguration of the new milk system, «he lost no time m rushing into print to proclaim its mefr its and its complete success. The farrago of nonsense published m the daily papers m the form of an inter-: View with the talking councillor does not require to be pulled to pieces—it drops to pieces on its own. "Truths table is littered with letters of complaint concerning the non-delivery or short delivery of ■'♦milk/. -and its telephone is tired with the 'btfcczmg of a further batch. . The. Milk Distributing Department has had. a similar experience; m fact it was practically imr possible to get the Department on the 'phone on Sunday, arid presumably the receiver had been hung up so as not to bother the busy,staff. with a heap of j premature cbngratulations. It is not ' our intention to deal with the whole of these complaints seriatim. It is .not necessary, for "the heart knoweth its own bitterness" m so many places that It has little interest m the bitterness of others. Nor are we writing from hearsay evidence. The writer's own milk was .delivered on Sunday, morning at ten minutes to twelve, not at all on Monday, and at -ten o'clock on Tuesday, and this right m the centre of the city. Another member of the staff (had received no milk at all up to date of writing (Tuesday morning), although all the requiref&ente laid down 'by the department

had been minutely complied with. A private hospital m Abel Smith -street is m the same predicament. If these are illustrations of Councillor Norwood's "complete success" it would be interesting to. know what he. would regard asi a "comparative success." It was simply pitiable to watch the crowds repairing, m more or less.deshabille, on Sunday morning, to the nearest dairies, armed with jugs and billies and basins m search of the family milk, and as the morning ran on to find them returning disconsolate and milkless because the dairies had been milked dry. This journal has no desire to hamper the success of tine scheme m any way but the fact remains that at present it is hopelessly,. inadequate, and ,that Councillor Norwood "writes himself down an ass" when he trys to persuade the public that it is not. The majority, of the public did not want the scheme that was forced upon them and a large proportion of them refuse to accept it, and intend to repair daily to the dairies for their supplies, even at the cost. of, considerable inconvenience. They find -this scheme preferable to getting their Saturday milk on the following 1 Tuesday— with a bit of luck.