THE PRICE OF MILK.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 19020, 16 November 1923, Page 7

THE PRICE OF MILK.

to THE EDITOR Sia —ln your issue of November 13 your correspondent “J,P.R.” dismally explains that with milk at 6d a quart dairymen are on clover. This exploitation ot the working man with a large family seems to crop up annually like the great abundance ot feed to which “J.P.R.’' retets. He holds, in short, that- milk is at a ridiculous price. Now, my purpose lies chiefly m the disillusionment of those who think likewise. .First and foremost, the dairyman is not, any more than the baker, responsible for the size of any particular customer s family. It is self-evident that the larger the family the I greater the cost of maintenance. Ihe much-maligned milkman under Arbitration Court awards, as laid down for workers such as “J.P.R.,” would most certainly be on clover. Imagine the annual receipt or a cheque for overtime from 4 a.m to a a.m. and still more overtime from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. or a 365-day year inclusive of a.i holidays and Sundays. Preserve me trom the fate of signing for the accumulation of, say, 10 such years. But the peculiar nature of the work connected with dairying will allow of no such procedure. We are. therefore, paid for a commodity irrespective of the tune taken in its production, and as a producer 1 fan utterly to see where robbery enters into that hard-earned 6cl. 'lhe greatest argument used by the class of consumers who continually cry for cheap milk is that of abundance of feed, lo the uninitiated grass, then, is a cheap feed, its growth calling for little more than the aid of ram and heat. The expense of growing such feed is a mere bagatelle! Very enlightening, all this, and very silly, for the utmost duration of the grass season (natural pasture) round about Dunedin is four months, and where good, wholesome milk is found dairy cattle are fed on concentrated foodstuffs and roots for the remaining eight months of the year. My experience shows that this abundance of feed in the few summer months only evens up the outlay in expense during the long period ot stall-feeding. The continued culling of old cows and their cost of replacement losses bv fever, etc., must of necessity be deducted from the sixpence. Again, land handy to a city can always be acquired at a miserably low rental, and the prosperity of tta dairyman who filches 6d from a ladv for one quart of milk is forever reacted in his Packard, his bungalow his modern fox-trotting ..daughter and (note this) his small family. J.I-R. reaches the limit of unsound reasoning _ when lie includes the daylight-to-dark dairyman in bis list of those who rob.—l am, etc., Short Horns. A PICTURESQUE WALK. TO THK EDITOa. g IH _I should like to draw the attention of lovers of Nature to an exceedingly beautiful walk, which at the present time B well worth doing, ns the broom is at its best. I refer to the road on this side ot Flagstaff, which brunches off a little above Bunting’s Store. On this road may be teen masse? of broom which certainly cannot bo equalled anywhere else in the neighbourhood of the city, and in some places picturesque views over the city may be obtained in a framework of golden broom. A little higher up is a reserve of bush, m which the bellbird may be heard.—l am, etc,, „ Peantagenet. SPECIAL TRAINS. TO THE EDITOR. Sir, —The secretary of the Tokomairiro Farmers’ Club hits the nail on the head when he affirms that “evidently race meetings are more important than agricultural shows.” It came as a complete surprise to residents along the Milton-Beaumont branch line to learn that it was a race train and not merely the “usual” goods special that was running during the recent races. It would be interesting to know how little pressure was required to gain this facility; peihaps "racing interests” would kindly pass on a hint to “agricultural interests” os to how this gentle pressure is administered and to whom. With special goods trains running on this branch every week it would be interesting to have the Railway Department’s reason for refusing a train on Milton Show Day unless 200 second-class passenger fares were guaranteed. In the face of this. Mr Campbell’s query will require some hard thinking on the part of the railway authorities. To many residents along this branch the continual running of these special goods trains is quite a puzzle, while with others it takes the form of a “railway departmental joke”: Why cannot the railway authorities apply consistency with common sense in their railway administration?—l arn> 0 (;c., Waitahdka.