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is satisfied that that association is able to maintain an adequate supply of good-quality milk sufficient all the year round to meet requirements of the whole of the district. When a producer association has received the recognition of the Central Milk Council as a Supply Association, no other milk, other than milk produced by producer-vendors on farms within a three-mile radius 1 of the boundary of each milk district, may be brought into that district except through such recognized Supply Association. In all other matters of essentially local significance, particularly those relating to the operation of milk zoning schemes, the supervision of licensing of milk vendors, treatment houses, milk shops, milk bars, &c, and the establishment of general conditions and standards under which milk is to be sold in any particular milk district, authority rests entirely with the Milk Authority for that area and is not subject to overriding direction by the Central Milk Council. Liaison between Local Milk Authorities and the Departments op Health and Agriculture The Milk Act also makes provision for representatives of the Minister of Health and of the Minister of Agriculture to be appointed as ex officio members of each local authority. This course was adopted in order to ensure the effective liaison between the functions of each local authority and the national responsibilities of the Departments of Health and Agriculture so as to avoid! any conflict between the local standards which a Milk Authority may set in respect of its particular milk district and the general responsibilities of those Departments to ensure observance of national standards particularly in terms of the Dairy (Milk Supply) Regulations 1939, the Sale of Food and Drugs Act, 1908, and the Milk Treatment Regulations 1945. As at the 31st March, 1947, appropriate departmental appointments had been made in respect of each local Milk Authority throughout the Dominion. Public Inquiries conducted by the Central Milk Council (1) Inquiry into the Organization of Milk-supplies in the Hutt Valley and Bays Area. This was the first public inquiry conducted by a committee of inquiry established by the Central Milk Council in accordance with the provisions of section 103 of the Milk Act, 1944. The committee on this occasion consisted of Mr. M. E. Lyons (Chairman), Mr. L. C. Nisbet, F.P.A.N.Z. (Consulting Accountant), and Mr. H. E. Combs, M.P., as members. Evidence from all interested sections of the industry was heard at Parliament Buildings, Wellington, on 19th, 20th, and 21st September, 1945, and in submitting a report to the Central Milk Council the committee made the following recommendations:— (a) That a Metropolitan Milk Authority should be established for the Hutt Valley and Bays area: (&) That the supply of bottled pasteurized milk for the Hutt Valley area should be continued to be drawn from the Wellington City Council plant: (c) That more factual data was necessary in order to determine whether the establishment of a separate milk treatment plant in the Hutt Valley was warranted.

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