THE MILK AND CREAM TRADE. 149 



The conditions in the winter of 1892-3 are peculiarly un- 

 favourable ; the value of hay has doubled in a year, and various 

 other feeding stuffs are dearer than they were. Brewers' grains, 

 which are a useful, bulky food, particularly useful when hay is 

 scarce, are much increased in price ; malt-culms, bran, maize, 

 and so on, are dearer than they were when milk was making 

 more money than now. 



The low price of milk is in part, if not wholly, owing to the 

 supply, which is greater than formerly was the case. This it 

 was which enabled the great milk-dealers of London to drop 

 the retail price to 40!. a quart. The Aylesbury Dairy Company- 

 set the example, and it had to be followed by others. The 

 drop is a boon, no doubt, to the poor in some parts, but not 

 in the same sense is it a boon to the wealthy people who 

 inhabit the West End of London, to whom quality is more 

 important than price. It has led, no doubt, to increased con- 

 sumption, but so far there has been no reaction in price. The 

 drop, indeed, has affected the dividends paid by the great milk- 

 dealing companies and the profits of the smaller men, but the 

 chief loss is borne by the farmers. A sudden drop of 20 per 

 cent, in the retail price of milk is a serious thing for those 

 who are engaged in producing it, for it is they upon whom the 

 loss of income is bound to chiefly fall. 



Dealers' profits are in some cases merely marginal, and this 

 has led to adulteration by separated milk, and possibly by 

 other things too. This in many instances was inevitable with 

 so large a fall in price, and therefore the consumers suffer in 

 regard to the quality of the milk with which they are supplied. 



There are grave doubts as to the wisdom of the policy which 

 was initiated by the Aylesbury Dairy Company even so far as 

 the consumers are concerned, and it has certainly been no 

 blessing to the farmers who produce the milk. The present 

 state of things cannot be expected to continue, for when milk 

 is produced at a loss a change of some kind is near at hand. 



