Mr. Hudson and Milk Milk seems in some danger of
being spilt between rival authorities. Mr. Hudson is to bring in a Bill giving the Ministry of Agriculture responsibility for supervising the conditions of milk production generally, with a view to achieving both uniform and improved standards. This means superseding the local authorities so far as conditions on the farms are concerned, though the state of milk as sold to the consumer will still be watched by the local councils. Each side has something plausible to say for itself. But farm work gener- ally must concern the Ministry of Agriculture primarily, and the Was Agricultural Committees, which will certainly be perpetuated in some form after the war, are efficient instruments locally. If the farmer has to deal with them, and with the Board's inspectors, in such matters as crops, it is both reasonable and convenient that he should deal with them in such matters as milk. The case against the local councils is that some of them have proved themselves efficient in guarding standards of milk production and some have not; the latter stand condemned by the conditions—due largely to deficiencies in provision for cooling and cleanliness—in which milk is produced in many of the smaller farms today. Since Mr. Hudson has this matter on his mind it will be prudent on the whole to give his Ministry the powers he seeks for it, and see what its efforts may bring forth. The Ministry is deeply involved in the question of the quantity of milk produced ; it may with equal fitness concern itself with the quality:
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