A DECISION ON THE COLLECTION OF MILK

Here is the text of the important prefectural decree that regulates the collection of milk:

"The Prefect of Calvados,
"Considering that milk is a staple food; that the greater the quantity of milk sent to manufacturers, the more the milk reserved for human consumption is scarce and becomes expensive; the less butter and livestock are made, the more the price of meat and butter increases;

• Considering that in the current circumstances, it is important, in order to maintain good order and public tranquility, to take the necessary redistribution measures, on the one hand, to distribute, in the best possible conditions, the quantity of milk sufficient for consumption and, on the other hand, to avoid the hoarding of this staple food. To achieve this dual goal, there is the greatest interest in establishing a departmental body for the regulation of Milk; that the management of this body appears to be able to be entrusted without inconvenience to the groups of interested industrialists, under the control of the Prefect; that a group conceived for this purpose, under the name of Mutuelle Laitière, gave, in the last year of the war, satisfaction to the population:

"Considering that the normal functioning of such a distribution body requires the assistance of all industrialists and more generally of all milk collectors:

"Orders:

A departmental milk distribution body is hereby established in the department of Calvados, the management of which is entrusted, under the control of the Prefect, to the Mutuelle Laitière whose head office is at the Prefecture, and to whose administrative office a representative of the departmental administration will be attached.

"As a distribution body, this Company has the following mission:
"1° To designate the industrialists best placed to complete the supply of each deficit agglomeration:
2° To compensate these industrialists for the loss of earnings per liter of milk, resulting from the difference between the net price of the contribution made by them in the designated localities and the net product that they would have obtained in their industry;
"3° To collect from all industrial milk collectors a compulsory fee for each of them and payable periodically, according to the number of liters of milk entered into the factory;

4° To use this fee to settle the planned compensation; to reduce as much as possible the price of milk brought into the agglomerations; to make it possible to supply at a reduced price the milk intended for needy families under conditions that will be determined after agreement between the Mutuelle Laitière and the municipalities.
"A card will be issued to each member by the Company. This card must be presented to public authority agents upon request by all persons collecting milk.