QUENCHING SYDNEY’S THIRST

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23082, 7 January 1937, Page 10

QUENCHING SYDNEY’S THIRST

TURNOVER OF MILK BARS LITTLE EFFECT ON BEER CONSUMPTION The consumption of milk in Sydney is increasing so rapidly that in the metropolitan area there are nearly 4000 milk bars and refreshment shops where milk drinks are sold. The daily consumption of milk at these places is about 8000 gallons a day. On not days these figures are greater. The campaign of the Milk Board to induce people to drink more milk, and the many palatable concoctions which are served as milk drinks are responsible for the rapidly-growing trade at milk bars, says the Sydney Morning Herald. In 1932 the milk bar business was begun in Sydney. In that year the milk handled by the Milk Board amounted to 6,469,721 gallons, and the payment to dairymen amounted to £299,033.

Practically the whole of this milk was served to householders. With the advent of the milk bars in the metropolitan area the demand for milk to supply patrons increased so rapidly that in 1933 the Milk Board purchased 19,448,707 gallons. In 1935, the cornsumption in Sydney rose to 21.393,291 gallons, for which the payment to dairymen jumped to £969,360. The returns now being prepared by the Milk Board show that this increase in consumption has been more than maintained.

The Dairy Farmers’ Co-operative Milk Company, Ltd., and the Fresh Food and Ice Co.. Ltd., which are the principal suppliers of milk bars in Sydney, are now called upon to provide the bars with 7000 gallons of milk a day. apart from that supplied by other wholesale firms. In the city alone there are now 790 registered milk drink shops and vendors, and it is on account of the large consumption at these shops that approximately 15,000,000 gallons more milk is drunk in Sydney now. compared with four years ago.

Hotelkeepers say that this increase in milk consumption has not affected the beer trade. On the contrary, they assert, figures compiled for the United Licensed Victuallers’ Association show that Australia’s beer consumption for October was the highest for eight years. The total was 5,991,808 gallons, which represented 117,532 gallons more than in October, 1935. and 2,103,384 gallons more than the quantity drunk in October 1933. The increased consumption in New South Wales for last October amounted to 2,332,643 gallons, about half of which was drunk in Sydney. For the 10 months of 1936, the consumption of beer in Australia increased by 3,954,279 gallons, compared with the corresponding period in 1935.'*