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A. WING

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15. Then if Mr. Cuddie says there is no factory grading on an average within three points of 97 he is wrong?—l do not know so much about it. 10. Mr. Buyy.] Have you any reason for preferring the inspector appointed by a factory to the Government Inspector?—My reason is this : that you would be able to get inspectors who would be able to judge as to local conditions. If you send a man from Wellington to Taranaki he does not know the conditions as well as the local man. 17. Do you not think men travelling from one district to another would be more conversant with the regulations in every part?— That may be so. William George Yardley, Dairy-farmer, Te Horo, examined. (No. 30.) Witness: Paragraph (a) does not include milk shipped from a factory or skimming-station, and 1 maintain that no skimming-station, factory, or any other premises engaged in that business can come under these regulations. There is a creamery in my district—it may be all right or it may be all wrong—which receives milk for the city-supply. Milk is taken to that creamery, placed in the creamery-cans, and is sent to the city. Samples are taken, and it may be condemned by the Inspector or the Health Department. But if these places receiving milk for distribution were placed under inspection inspectors would be able to go and inspect the milk in the cans as they receive it. One day the milk is separated, and the next day it is sent to the city. The cans are rinsed with cold water, and the next day our milk is placed in them. The creamery receiving milk for town distribution should be placed under the same inspection as ours. The clause regarding the withholding of a certificate should be deleted. That is giving the Inspector very great power. The license should be g-ranted for one year to the dairy itself. If 1 sell out, my license should go with the property, the license to be renewed at the beginning of the next season. I think a fee of ss. is ample. It is not a cow-tax, therefore the smaller fee should be sufficient. As to whitewashing, it need not be done more than once a year. In regard to the 60 ft. distance, this is going to be very hard on the small dairy-farmer. Then we have to notify the Health Officer of the existence of a contagious disease. We have to do this at present. As to washing buckets, it is impossible for me to get at my buckets an hour after milking. 1 have to do the bulk of my work myself. You have to catch your horse and then drive off to the factory. The rule should be, 'within one hour of returning from the factory. David Judd, Dairy-farmer, Otaki, examined. (No. 31.) Witness: For twenty years I was engaged in producing milk, for retail in Wellington, in the Hutt district, and I have been for five years producing milk in the Otaki district, for supply to the factory in the summer and the city in winter. One point 1 wish to make clear is that the cans are often overcarried, and are consequently out for days and weeks. When they return they are very rusty. According to this clause the Inspector could then condemn them, and this where it is not our fault at all. As to cleaning the shed twice a day, I myself have not a very big herd, and I have to feed them in two relays. This is the only thing possible unless I had a stall for every cow. It does not pay to feed dry cows, and some are not much better than stores. You must feed in the stalls. I bring the first lot of cows in at 3.30, and it is 6.30 when the last lot have finished feeding. If I asked my man to clean out after that he would not do it seven days in the week. We could clean it thoroughly once a day, which should be quite sufficient. In Southland they could not do it, as the cows in winter are brought in in the afternoon and are kept in till the following morning. Then, regarding the supply of water :If this regulation were enforced I have not a running stream and therefore would have to provide artificial reservoirs to hold water. The Government should supply plans of sheds. If I am willing to comply with the regulations the Government should supply the money at a nominal rate of interest. Mr, Hoyg.] You could get that from the Advances to Settlers Department?— But a great many of us have been struggling for years.

Wednesday, 30th September, 1908. W t illiam Louttit Falconer, Farmer, Masterton, examined. (No. 32.) Witness: At the present time most of the factories in the North Island have by-laws empowering their managers to inspect the places from which their milk comes, sheds, yards, and also the dairy utensils. They have also given them power to reject any milk which would be likely to make second-grade butter and cheese. There is no doubt that milk which is drawn in an unclean state is a very bad thing for the health of the public. I may say lam chairman of the Kaituna Dairy Company, and our manager, Mr. Saxelby, is a man of experience, and has occupied the position for four years. All his cheese except one lot went first grade. That showed that there was little further desired. Some of the cheese shipped from the Dominion is shipped in an immature state, and that is likely to affect the quality, and sometimes its sale. If the dairy regulations were carried out as proposed it would mean the shutting-down of a great many factories—in fact, our factory had decided to shut up in that case. If a pigeon comes into the shed a farmer is subject to a fine. It would be necessary to have a glass roof over the yards. It would also be impossible for the dairy-farmer to erect yards such as those at the experiment farm. I am very much in favour of experimental farms. They are very good things for the farmers of the country. But if we had to run our farms on the same principle we should soon be in the Bankruptcy Court. I would suggest in place of the regulations that there be two veterinary surgeons appointed for each district in the colony. Then, with managers capable of producing first-grade dairy-produce and the