The Scandal of the Milk Marketing Board's Haulage Rates
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System of Bureaucratic Control Which is Slowly but Surely Ousting the Legitimate Operator from An Important Section of Haulage
By George Lallemand,
N.D.D. APROPOS of your expert S.T.R.'s valued -and conclusive article in your issue dated October 26, for which milk hauliers in this country should be grateful, it was once aptly stated that "the labourer is worthy of his hire." We know that Milk Marketing Board and Ministry officials ate adequately rewarded for their services, and so should be preparedto give fair measure to those not so fortunately placed as themselves, and wtio have to sweat fora living which is not provided for by farmers' levies, or out of the public purse.
Let us first examine the set-up of the Milk Marketing Board, which 4ameinto being in the autumn of 1933. The proper title should, of course, have been the Producers Board, as the officials were, in the main, appointed through the influence and recommendation of the "big shots" of the Farmers' Union ar .1 their friends; their object was to protect the producers' interests, at all costs.
Many of the same officials with the same background are operating to-day, either as M.M.B. officials, or have been taken over by the Ministry, of Food, which, for the time being, controls the Milk Marketing 'Board's activities. It also has a third master to serve in the powerful organization known as the Creamery Proprietors, who are well and truly represented in high places , and constitute the " backroom boys," who have directed the policy of much which has happened in the milk industry during the war period.'
The M.M.B. Takes Control of Contracts This policy has been most carefully laid and hidden from view, advancing step by step along with that which is, unfortunately, resulting in the "rate's progress," which we have been experiencing. The first visible step was the acquisition, by the Milk Marketing Board, of control of all contracts, which, with a stroke of the pen, severed years of carefully built-up contacts, up-grading, and selective work.
It should be kept well in mind that the farmers have, in the past, had Id. per gallon deducted from the pool to cover haulage rate; even if less' than a id. be charged for the collection of their milk, or even if the farmer be hauling his own. It is more than certain that by far the largest proportion of the milk of the country is carried for much less than Id. per gallon.
The Milk Marketing Board's aim is undoubtedly to bring down milkcollection costs to a bare subsistence rate, or less, if the victims-will stand for it. In the initial stages, these rates were sometimes achieved by withholding payment for periods running into as long as three to four months, under the excuseof negotiating the correct rate. The small haulier with, to him, a large sum of money lying out, was faced with doing the job on the M.1VI.B.'s terms—having been led into a one-sided agreement, throwing the job up and being out of pocket indefinitely, or being subject to restrictive conditions in other directions, the scope of which can easily be imagined during the critical war period. These smaller men were used to play off against the larger haulage contractors as a further means for bringing down their price.
The amount saved out of the charge may go to increase the capital reserve which they are building up through sweated rates, probably to help in establishing a Milk Marketing Board and Farmers' Union Creamery monopoly, to dominate the industry of the future. The -amount which they could so accrue on the daily haulage of thousands of gallons would be enormous, and would place them in an unassailable position. There is little doubt, also, that hz.iliers, to-day, are being made only a convenience over a difficult period, until a Milk Marketing Board haulage monopoly can be established and fleets of vehicles of its own prepared.
Milk Hauliers Signing Their Own Death Warrants Possibly, a proportion of the surplus funds which are being so ably provided is already earmarked for this purpose. So, in accepting sweated rates, legitimate hauliers are, in fact, signing their own death warrant and may be left high and dry with fleets of worn out and derelict vehicles.
In the meantime, the dairy firms, especially those not in the favoured creamery proprietors' group, which can dominate its own intake, are, in many cases, receiving an inferior service as a result of this cut-throat policy.
We maintain that, for such an important and perishable article of, diet as milk, the essentials are early and quick deliveries to routine schedule, which should terminate by 1 p.m.; that this should be an exclusive service, independent of the carrying of other goods; that extra servicing and maintenance is necessary in view of the seven-day week and the class of roads down which milk lorries are regularly asked to travel, to oblige some influential farmers who will not trouble to pia up, use, or drive to a stand on the main route.
As a result of rationalization, there is a general tendency, which is very marked in some districts, for the dairies to get later deliveries and staler milk, varying from 20 to 30 hours old. This is governed by whether it has come from what is termed as "direct supply(?)" ex farms, or through subsidiary depots or creameries.
The so-called Transport Rationalization Scheme, which as put across on the plea of national emergency, has been used for other purposes, whatever its sponsors' original intentions may have' been.The substitution of small and inferior dairies for first-rate producers, late instead of early deliveries, and cut-rate transport are three notable instances.
It would appear to be almost a waste of time to submit statistics and audited figures, as the dice are too heavily loaded against the applicants. The officials will accept only what they want, and coolly ignore the rest of the argument which tells in your favour; it is a case of "heads I win, tails you lose" every time.
In these days of big-business representation at Ministries, when controls and bureaucracy run rampant, it does not pay the smaller fry, be he committee man or victim, to run contrary to the powers that be.
It Pays to Maintain Favour With` the " Bosses "
There are many ways in which you can be made to suffer—reduction of supplies, inferior substitution, hold-up of urgently needed labour and transport, .etc. To be in with the "bosses" is always an incalculable asset.
Further, at an inquiry,It'is possible that much of the essential and effective business has been previously transacted at the preliminary and unofficial meeting. The way of the individual is indeed hard, and it is only by being strongly organized that one can hope to survive under present-day conditions, despite the democratic camouflage Which looks so well on paper and works out so differently in practice when dealing with the established bureaucrat.
Last, but by no means least, we have yet to find that the public, the interests of which we all should serve directly or indirectly, gets its milk a fraction cheaper or better, in consequence of the matters here outlined, which should give the Ministry of Health, the B.M.A., and Consumers Councils, furiously to think.