Changes would sound the 'death knell' for milk rounds

He was talking about the Commerce and Employment Department's review into the optimum system of milk distribution.

Peter Roffey is quite correct. If Commerce and Employment get their way then this will be the 'death knell' for milk rounds and the end of an era for the rest of us, as well as the band of hard-working self-employed people who ensure that there is always milk available for us, the consumer, whether it be on supermarket or corner shop shelves, or there on our doorstep ready for breakfast.

Certainly it is not as simple as Commerce and Employment think to change the system to allow shops and supermarkets to collect milk straight from the Dairy, or for the Dairy to deliver directly to commercial customers.

People will need to be employed to drive the fleet of appropriate delivery vehicles from the Dairy to the commercial customers, or the shops and supermarkets will have to employ people and keep and maintain appropriate vehicles to go and collect their order.

And who is going to pay for all this new activity? And the queue at the doors of the Dairy first thing in the morning will be horrendous with a mix of existing retailers and commercial vehicles. And what about the smaller shops and stores. Will they be able to afford to send someone off to collect their milk order?

The system works very well now. Destroy it at your peril. States members would be fools to do anything rash.

I was very proud to have been elected as a member of the original Agriculture and Milk Marketing Board under the presidency of the late Colin Best, and went on to serve a further term, under president Peter Roffey, on the re-branded Agriculture and Countryside Board.

During the early years I recall quite clearly being shown, and discussing, a map which indicated the 'zones' of each milk retailer. If a milk round was to change hands then it could only do so with permission from the Agricultural and Milk Marketing Board. If the milk retailer, who wished to sell the round, owed money for his supplies to the Dairy, then payment for the round actually came through the board, and the debt retrieved, before money changed hands.

Therefore, with this knowledge, I was most surprised to read in the Press that Commerce and Employment said: 'Milk distributers did not have, nor ever have had, exclusive rights to distribute the Dairy's products or exclusive rights to particular territories.'

If States members decide to destroy the existing distribution system, together with the lives of many of the hard-working milk retailers, then they should be aware of the consequences.

Compensation should be paid for damage to the viability, and even total loss of, their businesses.

Peter Roffey in his article also touched on promises from Commerce and Employment to bring in a robust new law to prevent milk imports. Where is it? Currently, Guernsey is very vulnerable to the threat of cheap milk being imported.

I would like to remind Commerce and Employment of something I wrote in my last letter to the Press on the subject of the dairy industry, and the importation of milk, in September 2014.

'Almost 14 years ago to the day, our dairy industry came under scrutiny from the EU. A team visited the island to review the position in EC law of Guernsey in relation to the import ban on milk.

'Detailed consideration was given to this matter and we were advised of the potential serious consequences to the industry, and island as a whole, should the milk import ban be lifted. There would be a reduction in the number of cows, a negative impact on our global breeding programme, effects on the biodiversity of the island and threats to our cultural heritage.

'We have been warned.'

So the sooner we put in a place a robust law to prevent milk imports to protect our dairy industry the better it will be for the island as a whole.

JANINE LE SAUVAGE,

Meadow View,

Les Hubits de Bas,

St Martin's, GY4 6NB.