which is continuous, makes do with very small quantities of NaOH, and can thus be used even where chemicals are comparatively expensive.

There is no doubt but that the total milk production in the world could be increased very appreciably indeed by fairly simple means. The reason for the low and declining milk sales in all countries is the fact that we never bothered to make milk a status drink with the young generation. We gave up important territory by default. The soft drink industry noticed our omission and managed to occupy this very important market sector, attracting the imagination of the young generation and occupying an appreciable part of the shelf space of the retail trade.

THE DAIRY INDUSTRY IS AT WAR, although many of us have not realized i t-at war with the Soft Drink Reich. You may fight on the beaches, you may fight in the streets, you may never give up-but the beaches and the streets are not where the battle is fought.

At the moment, the Soft Drink Powers axis has the initiative in this Blitz-Krieg. Look at the difference be- tween the Drinka-Pinta effort and their publicity Panzer war.

Study Tour to China The tour party of twenty-four has just returned from this most successful visit, on which a full technical report by Mr. A. G. Barber will appear in the April issue. Excellent weather with not one rainy day was enjoyed during the tour which began on 24th October and finished on 158th November when an exhausted party arrived back at Heathrow.

After a 16 hour flight by KLM two days were spent in Bangkok during which a visit was made to the local Agri- cultural University to view the dairy farm and dairy. This was followed by two days in Hong Kong where a get- together had previously been arranged to meet representa- tives from Kowloon Dairies and Associated Dairies, Hong Kong. Two momentous weeks then followed visiting Canton, Shanghai, Hofei (where the party experienced many ‘firsts’, being only the second British party to visit the city since 1949-this was easily the most memorable part of the tour), and Peking. Dairies and dairy farms were visited in three of the venues and will be reported on at greater length in the next issue.

We left Peking at 7 a.m. having risen from our beds at 4.30. Although the weather had been very good up till then

The wars of the 1980s are not won with the tactics and the strategy of 1918.

This is a desperate conflict, to be won not by defence but by offensive only, a battle for the customer, a battle for the sales space in the supermarkets.

The soft drink industry has shown us how to plan and fight a campaign to conquer market shares. The dairy industry can do just as well.

Your immediate future is nothing but costs, sweat and tears- but, ultimately, victory.

Of course there are easier ways to increase milk sales. Why not ration milk? Any product which is rationed automatically becames desirable and rationing, carefully adjusting the amount allotted to each individual, will not only assure that all the milk is sold but also give rise to a flourishing industry: counterfeiting, bootlegging, black marketeering, smuggling and so forth, with all the mar- ginal rackets created by crime of this type, as we saw during the prohibition period of the United States. This will absorb a lot of manpower thus putting an end to unemployment. From the consumers’ point of view this might, however, not be the best solution to the problem!

an icy wind of 6 O below freezing point blew us across the airport to our waiting plane. We then enjoyed, in com- pletely contrasting style, two busy days in Tokyo, the high- light of which was a visit to the Morinaga Dairy plant about 1+ hours from Tokyo. This visit had been kindly arranged by our only Japanese member, Dr. K. Okada, the Managing Director, and a life member of the Society.

The tour concluded with a 24 hour trip via three hours in Anchorage, during which we experienced a Wednesday night and Wednesday morning, in that order, and three breakfasts courtesy of Lufthansa, on approaching, at, and leaving Frankfurt en route to London. Altogether a memorable, and once in a lifetime experience.

P.H.F.L.

Note: Although the Society is not planning any future study tour to China, Dalgety World Travel, 63 Conduit Street, London W l R 9FD, have a general agricultural tour arranged for 13th June to 2nd July, 1980, to Hong Kong, Canton, Shanghai, Urumchi and Peking. For full details contact Mr. P. Eaton, or Mrs. D. Bain at the above address, or by telephone 01-734 5417.

Journal of the Society of Dairy Technology, Vol. 33, No . I , January 1980 7