H—3lA

Declaration of Milk Districts and Establishment of Local Milk Authorities

The following boroughs were declared milk districts and approved as Local Milk Authorities during the year ending 31st March, 1950 :

Purchase of Privately-owned Milk Treatment Plant Upon it being offered to the Crown by the proprietor, and in accordance with the policy of the Council for the public treatment of milk, the treatment house owned and •operated by the Rotorua Pasteurized Milk Co. was purchased by the Marketing Department. The purchase was completed on the Ist October, 1949, and the Rotorua Borough Council undertook the management of the station for the Crown. The operations of the station are supervised by the Milk Committee of the Council, which has co-opted two representatives of the Rotorua Co-op. Milk Supply Co., Ltd. \ Goodwill Prices for Milk Rounds In keeping with section 105 of the Milk Act, 1944, the Council gave consideration to and approved the fixation of goodwill price per gallon for milk rounds at Picton and Mataura : Picton : £lO for retail and £4 for wholesale class of sale. Mataura : £5 for both retail and wholesale class of sales. Local Milk Authorities Association The Council recommended to the Minister of Health that full consideration be given to the setting up of the Local Milk Authorities Association as provided for by section 15, Finance Act, 1949. Milk Testing The Council gave considerable attention during the year to the amount of milk testing being carried out on producers' milk consigned to registered milk treatment houses throughout the Dominion. The Council was pleased with the progress being made in this direction. As indicative of the amount of testing being done, the following figures for the month of September, 1949, are quoted : Number of treatment houses .. .. .. .. 34 Number of producers supplying in September, 1949 .. 1,299 Number of treatment houses who did no testing in September, 1949 .. .. .. .. .. .. 4 Number of suppliers represented by this figure .. .. 21 (As expressed as a percentage) . . .. .. 1-6 per cent. Number of suppliers enjoying regular testing .. .. 1,278 (As expressed as a percentage) .. .. .. 98-4 per cent. Number of tests performed on incoming milk supplies from individual producers — Methylene blue .. .. .. .. ..22,265 Butterfat content .. . . . . .. 3,354 Solids-not-fat content .. .. .. .. 3,181 Sediment test . . .. . . .. .. 1,596 Tests other than above four .. .. .. 1.496 Total of above tests for September, ]949 .. 33,892

2

District. Authority. Date District and Milk Authority Gazetted. Greymouth Gore . Masterton Mosgiel Greymouth Borough Council Gore Borough Council Masterton Borough Council Mosgiel Borough Council 28/8/49 25/8/49 13/4/49 7/4/49