MILK FOR CHILDREN.

Star (Christchurch), Volume LXVI, Issue 20276, 10 April 1934, Page 9

MILK FOR CHILDREN.

Proposal Before the N.S.W. Government. QUESTION OF COST. (Special to the " Star.**) SYDNEY. March 28. There is a schema under consideration by the Government for supplviny half a pint of milk daily to each child in our State schools. Some time ago the New Health Society suggested this course to the Minister of Health, and Mr Weaver says that he was strongly in favour of it. Of course it is largely a question of expense, and discussions are now in progress between the Minister of Health, . the Minister of Education and the Milk Board in regard to the organisation and financing of the plan. The daily school attendance within the metropolitan area is 132,000, and in the Newcastle district, to which the scheme would also apply, the attendance is 29,000. The New Health Society estimates that two-thirds of these children need more milk than they can get at home to keep them in goad health. Large Figures. The estimate of cost was based on an issue of 104,000 half-pints dailv at 9d per gallon. This, on the basing of forty-six weeks in the school year would cost about £56,000 per annum’. But in the first place it is not easy to see how the authorities could discriminate between the children who need this allowance and those who do not absolutely require it; and in all probability the milk would be issued to all alike. Then, as Mr Weaver has pointed out, the minimum price to dairymen under the Milk Act is not 9d, but lid per gallon, and the Minister has reason to believe that the cost of pasteurisation distribution and bottling would bring the total up to Is 6d per gallon, which would mean an annual cost of about £IOO,OOO. These are large figures; but the fact that Ministers are still considering the scheme shows that they are in earnest about it. In any case, the proposal to spend all this money on such a laudable purpose is proof that in spite of heavy financial obligations and the necessity ior cutting down the deficit, Government is alive to the necessity for doing something practical to ameliorate living conditions for the poorer section of the community.