37 



The Gujars and Ghosis are frequently financed by the halwais. 

 They are under contract (renewed in Delhi 3 times a year), to 

 supply so much milk against money advanced. Milk is hawked 

 about the streets in open and unclean vessels, and the sale of milk 

 by the halwais is conducted in no better fashion. A halwai will 

 only sell pure milk when first establishing his business. As soon 

 as he has secured his customer he does not hestafce to adulterate 

 freely. No attention is paid to the cleanliness of the shop. Many 

 remedies have been proposed for this unsatisfactory state of affairs. 

 Sanitary regulations ha?e been enforced, and attempts have been 

 made to exclude the Gujar from the city. But wholesale con- 

 demnation of the present system, or rather want of system, is use- 

 less unless an efficient substitute can be provided. Until the 

 people can be shown that .a sanitary milk supply is not only possible 

 but profitable both to the retailer and the consumer, any measures 

 directed against the present system are useless. 



It is generally found that the wealthier members of the com- 

 munity are only slightly interested in the question of a general sup- 

 ply of pure milk to the public. They are accustomed to retain 

 matters in their own hands and either keep cows in their houses, 

 or have a special arrangement with the zamindars of a village 

 outside the city. The person who suffers and for whom nothing 

 is done is the middle-class clerk or small shop-keeper who is not 

 rich enough to arrange for his own supply of milk, or powerful 

 enough to insist on the improvement of what the Gujar and 

 halwai are pleased to purvey to him. 



In Delhi the common rate for cow's milk sold to the halwai is 

 Rs. 3 amaund, and for buffalo's milk Us. 4. The halwais retail at 

 Us. 5 a maund fresh, and Us. 6-4-0 boiled. The Gurdaspnr report 

 states that milk ten years ago sold at 11 seers to the rupee, while 

 the rate is now only 9 seers. 



The estimate of the rise in prices varies, but in the last 20 

 years or so the rate seems to have doubled. The rise in prices is 

 actually greater, for pure dairy produce is now seldom found, in 

 towns at any rate. Adulteration is said to be more practised than 

 10 years ago. 



(i i) The trade in ghi. 



In rural districts there is little trade in pure cow or 

 buffalo milk though a considerable amount is consumed by 

 the zamindar himself. The attention of the zamindar is devoted 

 to the production of ghi. It is not necessary to describe the process 

 of manufacturing ghi, nor is it possible to attempt any computa- 

 tion of the amount annually manufactured in the province. A 



