16 COMMERCIAL ASPECTS OF MILK-SUPPLY 



placed in a refrigerating chamber pending consign- 

 ment. It is in these bottles that the milk reaches the 

 consumer. 



When operations were started, in October, 1905, it 

 was understood that the entire supply then available, 

 about 500 gallons a day, would go to Newcastle-on- 

 Tyne, where it would be distributed by the Newcastle 

 Co-operative Society, already a large retailer of milk. 

 Notwithstanding the increased price paid to the farmers, 

 and also the higher railway rates on account of the 

 bottles, the charge to the consumer for the bottled 

 milk would be the same as the unbottled, the Newcastle 

 Co-operative Society being satisfied with a smaller 

 profit. Should the scheme answer it will be extended 

 to other towns as well. 



The milk brought to London by the Great Northern 

 Railway Company comes mainly from North Stafford- 

 shire, though substantial quantities are also carried 

 from Nottingham, Leicester, Derbyshire, Hatfield, and 

 Huntingdon. Egginton Junction, near Burton, and 

 154 miles from London, is a collecting centre for the 

 North Staffordshire traffic. From this point a special 

 milk train leaves at 9.30 at night, and runs through 

 to London (but for two stops en route for locomotive 

 purposes), reaching Finsbury Park at 1.30 a.m., and 

 King's Cross at 2.30 a.m. Special milk sidings and 

 special staifs to attend to the traffic are provided at 

 each station. During the months of July, August, and 

 September, 1905, 36,000 churns were received at King's 

 Cross, and 57,000 at Finsbury Park, a total of 93,000 

 for the quarter. These were estimated to represent 

 1,488,000 gallons of milk. 



Facing this page is a photograph giving the type < 

 special milk-van now employed on the Great Norther 

 Railway. 



