CO129-473 - Individuals - 1921 — Page 362

Press, recounting the experience of the erstwhile bazaar master, who has now been superseded, and who, on arriving at his office, found on his table a smail jug of milk accompanied by a letter from the wife of the officer commanding the irregulars, calling his attention to the jug of "so-called milk," as she sarcastically puts it, which she had sent up to him to look at and test, and concerning which she must beg him to answer the following questions at his very earliest convenience (very much underlined):-

Is it really milk?

Is it more than half water?

Is it not dreadfully adulterated and calculated to make her dear children ill ?

Is it not a cruel and wicked shame that a poisonous mixture should be sold in any properly-looked-after bazaar?

Will Major Stot have the goodness to fine the milk-man at least ten rupees at once?"

After the motion had been seconded by Captain Burnie and carried, Mr. Douglas Jones, one of the directors, thought it wise to remove one kind of impression that Mr. Granville Sharp's remarks might have created. He said "I hope that you will not consider, as I anticipate perhaps the speech of the Chairman would lead you to imagine, that the rest of the Board have in their minds and think for a moment that the Dairy Farm is a philanthropic and charitable concern; I can say for one that it is not my view at all. I have got a considerable amount of capital in it, and I propose not only to make it a social success but a financial success, and I hope that within a very short time, or within a reasonable time, it will become a financial success.'

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The next annual meeting was held on December 27th of the same year. having been brought forward a couple of months. Mr. Sharp made a Christ- mas speech, observing that there was a certain appropriateness in their thus meeting at the festive season, as the directors had a good report to lay before the shareholders. We have had good year," he said, and we have proved the truth of the adage that all things are possible to wisely directed diligence," and we hope you will be satisfied with what we have done.

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What a lamentable anti-climax was applied by the tone of an extra- ordinary meeting held within a few months. Dr. Noble presided over this meeting, the date of which was 6th July, 1896, and it can be understood with what deep regret he made the following speech :-" Gentlemen-This

meeting is held in accordance with the Company's Ordinance of 1865, the object being to enable you to record your vote on the question at issue, i.e., shall the Dairy Farm Company, Limited, be wound up? It will be quite unnecessary for me to give you details or to elaborate and dwell at length on the causes which have, in the opinion of your directors, made such a step necessary, We were just congratulating ourselves on having sur- mounted most of the difficulties by which the Company has been for years. beset, and had just declared and paid the first really substantial dividend that has been paid since the foundation of the Company, ten years ago, when our only stock-in-trade, our herd, was almost entirely destroyed by the fatal rinderpest, or cattle plague, by which they were attacked, and against the ravages of which we were powerless and helpless, because of the absence of all expert veterinary advice; there being no qualified veterinary surgeon within a 1,000 miles of the Colony at that time (March last) there has been none nearer since then, and there will be none for another six months at least, our Colonial Veterinary Surgeon having recently been granted six months' extension leave. Your directors feel, that had he or any similarly well qualified veterinary surgeon been within call in March last, it would be quite unnecessary for us to be here to-day to discuss the advisability of winding up this Company. The Company's aim in the past has always been, and its policy in the future will be, to supply its customers with only the best and purest of milk, cream and butter. It was with this object in view that the Company purchased and built its sheds upon ground remote from the settled and thickly populated portions of the Colony, appreciating the well authenticated fact that the germs of typhoid fever and other diseases of a more or less alarming and fatal character are not only carried but propagated with great facility in and through the medium of milk and other dairy produce. This is well recognised and beyond dispute. We have, therefore, always given special attention and care to cleanliness and segregation. Our town depôt, or distributing station, as well as our cattle sheds are airy, lofty, and commodious, well drained and well ventilated, and the greatest care is given to the cleanliness of our stock and the premises generally. The same care is exercised in the selection of our food-stuffs as well, and only the best purchased are made use of, our endeavour being, as I have intimated, to give our customers only the purest dairy produce, free from the contaminating influences of over crowded and thickly populated districts, abounding in evil smelling drains, and where diseases, easily communicated to dairy produce, are ever present. While we have, in pursuing this course, safeguarded the

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