[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR.]
SIR,—I think some of the implications of his own figures have escaped Mr. Beesly. I doubt if there are any dairy farmers who can " produce profitably " at 6d. a gallon. Certainly they are too few to affect the price of milk through- out the country, even if they were allowed un-restricted competition. But let us suppose that they could bring the selling price of milk down to 6d. With an admitted average cost-of-production of 94d., how long does Mr. Beesly suppose that that level would last? It would last just as long as it took the average farmer to avoid bankruptcy by selling his dairy cows to the butcher. Milk would then be at famine prices. It was precisely to avoid that calamity that the Milk Marketing Board came into existence, and its existence is solely responsible for the enormous addition of the last few years to the dairy herds of this country.
If Mr. Beesly wishes to solve the cheap milk problem, he has only to show average farmers how to produce profitably at 6d. They would be most grateful to him.—Yours faith- fully, A. IRVING MCNTZ. Ecehinswelt House, nr. Newbury.
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