S.I. No. 23/1928 - Milk and Cream (Calculation of Price) Order, 1928.

SAORSTÁT EIREANN. STATUTORY RULES AND ORDERS. 1928. No. 23.

MILK AND CREAM (CALCULATION OF PRICE) ORDER, 1928.

WHEREAS it is enacted by subsection (1) of section 32 of the Dairy Produce Act, 1924 (No. 58 of 1924), that the Minister for Lands and Agriculture may by order make regulations for all or any of the following purposes, that is to say:—(a) requiring that the calculation of the price to be paid for all milk and cream supplied to any premises to which the regulations apply shall be made on the basis of the percentage of butter-fat or other prescribed constituent contained in the milk or cream; (b) prescribing the method and manner in all or any respects of sampling and testing milk and cream for the purpose of determining the quantity of butter-fat or other prescribed constituent contained therein; (c) prescribing the nature and character of the instruments and appliances to be used for the purpose of such sampling and testing; (d) prescribing the records to be kept in premises to which the regulations apply in respect of the sampling and testing of milk and cream for the purposes aforesaid and requiring records to be kept on such premises of the name and address of the person by whom the milk or cream was supplied, the results of the sampling and testing, the quantity of milk or cream from which each sample was taken, and the price paid for such milk or cream; (e) requiring all samples taken for the purpose aforesaid to be retained on the premises for the prescribed time after they have been tested; (f) requiring that all or any instruments or appliances offered for sale, sold or used for sampling or testing milk or cream for the purpose aforesaid shall have been tested and found to be accurate in one or other of the establishments or institutions prescribed by the regulations and shall have been certified or marked accordingly in such establishment or institution;

AND WHEREAS it is enacted by subsection (3) of the said section 32 that regulations made under the said section shall apply to all premises, or to any class or classes of premises (whether registered or not registered in any of the registers kept in pursuance of the said Act) to which milk or cream is supplied for use in the manufacture of any dairy produce for sale, as may he prescribed in that behalf by the regulations respectively;

NOW I, PATRICK HOGAN, Minister for Lands and Agriculture, in exercise of the powers conferred on me by section 32 of the Dairy Produce Act, 1924 (No. 58 of 1924), and of every and any other power me in this behalf enabling do by this Order make the following regulations, that is to say:

1. These regulations may be cited as the Milk and Cream (Calculation of Price) Order, 1928.

2. The Interpretation Act, 1923 (No. 46 of 1923), applies to the interpretation of these regulations in like manner as it applies to the interpretation of an Act of the Oireachtas.

3. (1) Subject to the provisions of this regulation these regulations apply as from the date hereof to all premises (whether registered or not registered in any of the registers kept in pursuance of the Dairy Produce Act, 1924 (No. 58 of 1924) to which milk or cream is supplied for the manufacture of any dairy produce for sale.

(2) These regulations shall apply to any such premises as aforesaid in which at the date hereof a method other than that known as the Gerber method is used for testing milk or cream for the purpose of determining the quantity of butter-fat therein as from the 1st day of April, 1929, or the adoption in such premises of the method of testing milk or cream for the purposes aforesaid known as the Gerber method, whichever shall first happen.

4. The calculation of the price to be paid for all milk and cream supplied to any premises to which these regulations for the time being apply shall be made on the basis of the percentage of butter-fat contained in the milk or cream.

5. The method and manner of sampling and testing milk or cream supplied to any premises to which these regulations for the time being apply shall be in accordance with the following provisions that is to say:

(a) samples of milk and cream delivered shall be taken in accordance with these regulations over periods (in these regulations referred to as sampling periods) to be arranged from time to time by the proprietor of such premises, in accordance with the following rules:

(i) in each of the months from the 1st day of April to the 31st day of October in any year there shall be at least two sampling periods, so arranged that the end of any such period shall not be more than sixteen days later than the end of the next preceding period, and

(ii) in each of the months from the 1st day of November in any year to the 31st day of March in the next following year there shall be at least one sampling period, so arranged that the end of any such period shall not be more than thirty-one days later than the end of the next preceding period;

(b) there shall be kept at such premises and allotted to each supplier of milk or cream to such premises during any sampling period a bottle (in these regulations referred to as a sampling bottle) constructed and marked in the manner hereinafter mentioned for the purpose of storing samples taken in accordance with these regulations of milk or cream supplied by such supplier during such sampling period;

(c) every sampling bottle shall be so constructed as to be sufficiently large to allow an air space of at least two cubic inches therein when all the samples of milk or cream required by these regulations to be placed therein have been placed therein, and every such bottle shall be fitted with a glass or solid rubber stopper and shall bear a mark showing in black enamel figures not less than three quarters of an inch high the number of such supplier as entered in the records hereinafter mentioned;

(d) there shall be placed in every sampling bottle as soon as the same has been brought into use in any sampling period a preserving pellet and some gunshot, and no other substance save such pellet, shot and the samples of milk or cream directed by these regulations to be placed therein shall be put into such bottle during any sampling period;

(e) at the time of each delivery during any sampling period of milk or cream to any such premises by any supplier all the milk or cream supplied by such supplier at such delivery shall be well mixed and a sample of a fixed amount not less than half an ounce shall be taken therefrom and placed in the sampling bottle allotted to such supplier for such sampling period;

(f) every sampling bottle shall during a sampling period in which it is in use be kept in a cool place on the said premises;

(g) on every day on which a sample of milk or cream is placed in a sampling bottle in pursuance of these regulations such bottle shall be shaken so as to prevent layers of cream adhering to the sides thereof;

(h) the contents of every sampling bottle which has been in use during any sampling period shall within four days after the expiration of such sampling period be tested for the purpose of ascertaining the percentage of butter-fat therein by the method known as the Gerber method;

(i) the reading of the tests made by the said Gerber method shall be taken at a temperature of 149 degrees Fahrnheit;

(j) the contents of a sampling bottle tested in accordance with these regulations shall be retained in such sampling bottle on the premises at which the same was so tested for a period of at least seven days after the testing.

6. The following provisions shall apply in relation to the records to be kept in premises to which these regulations for the time being apply:

(a) for the purposes of such records there shall be allotted at such premises to every supplier of milk or cream thereto a separate number;

(b) there shall be kept at such premises a record of tests in which shall be entered the number allotted to every supplier of milk or cream to such premises, and whenever any milk or cream supplied by such supplier is tested in accordance with these regulations there shall immediately be entered in such record in ink or in indelible pencil opposite the number allotted to such supplier the result of such testing;

(c) there shall be kept at such premises a Summary Book in which there shall be recorded in respect of each period for which payment for milk or cream supplied to such premises is made the following particulars:

(i) the number (with or without the name) allotted to each supplier of milk or cream to such premises;

(ii) the total weight in pounds or quantity in gallons of milk or cream received from each supplier;

(iii) the percentage of butter-fat or, if more than one test is made during the period covered, the average of the percentages of butter-fat in the milk or cream received from each supplier;

(iv) the total number of pounds of butter-fat in the milk or cream received from each supplier in cases where payment is per pound of butter-fat, and

(v) the price per pound of butter-fat or per gallon of milk or cream paid to each supplier;

(d) where the names of any suppliers of milk to such premises are not entered in the said Summary Book there shall be kept at such premises a record in writing of the numbers respectively allotted to such suppliers.

7. Every Summary Book kept in pursuance of these regulations on any premises to which these regulations for the time being apply shall be retained at such premises and be available for inspection there at all reasonable times by an inspector.

8. (1) All instruments or appliances offered for sale or sold for testing in accordance with these regulations milk and cream for the pupose of ascertaining the quantity of butter-fat contained therein and (subject as hereinafter mentioned) all butyrometers and pipettes used for testing milk and cream for the purpose aforesaid at any premises to which these regulations for the time being apply shall have been tested and found to be accurate in the State Laboratory, Dublin, or the National Physical Laboratory, Teddington, Middlesex, England, and shall have been certified and marked accordingly in such laboratory.

(2) Any butyrometer or pipette which has not been certified and marked under these regulations but which was in use on any premises to which these regulations for the time being apply at the date of the making of these regulations may be continued in use on such premises subject to the following conditions:

(a) that whenever such butyrometer or pipette is used on such premises there are on such premises at least three butyrometers and three pipettes certified and marked under this regulation, and

(b) that the results of tests obtained by means of any such butyrometer or pipette do not differ by more than 05 per cent. of butter-fat from the results obtained by means of a butyrometer or a pipette (as the case may be) certified and marked under this regulation.

Given under my Seal of Office this 5th day of May, 1928.

(Signed) P. HOGAN,

Minister for Lands and Agriculture.