THE CASE FOR CHEAP MILK
[To the Editor of TI1E Specrevron.]
SIR,—It is useless for your correspondents to cast doubts upon the possibility of producing milk at a cost of 6d. a gallon. That figure is not mine. It is the figure of the Com- mittee of Investigation, whose report was published last spring, and there is no doubt about it. If it is really true, as Mr. Muntz thinks, that there are too few farmers who can produce at 6d. to affect the price of milk throughout the country, why does he object to those who can sell cheaply doing so ? In his view it would do no harm and it would certainly benefit many people. Mr. Muntz tries to put into my mouth a statement that the selling price could be brought down to ad. I said nothing of the kind. I said that the men who could produce at 6d. could sell 30. cheaper than the men who could only produce at the average cost of Did. and ought to be allowed to do so. The price will of course depend, in the absence of control, upon the number of producers who can attain the 6d. level. If they cannot produce enough the average price will be somewhat higher than if they can. Mr. Muntz seems to think that farmers are curious people. He says that with a prospect of famine prices for milk they would sell their dairy cows to the butcher. I doubt that.
When I proposed to sell some milk to some very poor people with several small children at less than the district price the Milk Board pointed out to me that I should be liable to a fine of £200 if.I did so. That seems to me to be a wicked state of affairs. What does Mr. Muntz think of it ?—Yours, &c.,
Reform Club, Pall Mall, S.W.l. ALFRED BEESLY,
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