James Sampson 1876-1944 & Priscilla Emiline Nankivell 1878-1964
Married 22 Oct 1900 in Boulder, Western Australia.

Priscilla Emiline Nankivell

Daughter of William and Ellen Nankivell (nee Riggs)

Known as Emmie.

Born: 2 Jan 1878

Died: 9 Jan 1964

Buried: Karrakatta Cemetery Wesleyan GC Grave 538

Photograph of the steamship Adelaide. In 1896 this ship took Jim and his family from Adelaide to the port of Albany in Western Australia. From here they made their way to the goldfields surrounding the towns of Kalgoorlie and Boulder. This photo of the steamship was taken in Sydney circa 1900.

Source: The State Library of South Australia – The Steamship “Adelaide” [B12052]

The West Australian Thu 9 Apr 1925 p10 TROVE

MILK COMMISSION.
Cost of Production.
Dairymen’s Complaints.

The high cost of production, the low price received for milk, and the consequent poor living made by dairy farmers were points emphasised by witnesses before the milk Commission at Parliament House yesterday. The members of the Commission present were:— Mr. J. W. Burges (chairman), Dr. John Dale, and Mr. F. J. Robertson.
Frederick Godecke, dairyman, of Little Carine, North Beach, ten miles from Perth, said he held 450 acres of sandy coast land. 20 acres of which were good growing land, including 15 acres of swamp and clay. He had 40 cows, of which 35 were milking, and got 70 gallons a day from them. The cost of production of his milk was 1s. 3d. a gallon, and he received for it at the depot 1s.5½ d., which left
him £4 7s. 7d. a week for himself. In order to make a living he had to avail himself of the services of his wife in the dairy. Some people said he wasted a bit of feed on his cows,but the extra feed he gave his stock in winter was repaid by better milking in summer. The price he got for his milk was not satisfactory. He did not earn an ordinary working-man’s wage. If he received 1s 8d. a gallon that would give him an extra £5 a week. He delivered,his milk twice a day, and the depot fixed the price without his being consulted. He thought that a board should be appointed to control prices. The methods of the Price Fixing Commission, when in existence, were satisfactory. With reasonable
care he thought that machine milking was cleaner than hand milking. The occupation of machine milking was much more congenial on a cold and frosty morning, than that of hand milking on a cement floor. John Gav, dairy farmer, of Gosnells, said he had 35 cows, which produced about 42 gallons of milk held 50 acres of sand land, of which about half was swamp. He got up at 5 o’clock to milk by hand.
He received for his milk 1s. 5d., less freight, which was 8d. on a 10-gallon drum. He estimated that he earned £174 in a year, less £80 representing 8 per cent, interest on his capital investment of £1,000 in his dairying property. This, of course, was a very poor wage. There were a lot of one-cow dairies in Gosnells. Practically, the retailer fixed the price, and the producer had very little say in it. The Prices Fixing Commission fixed the price at 1s. 8½d., less freight, and this was the best price the producers had ever received. He thought this price should be reverted to again, The loss of cans on the railway was a severe set-back. On an average he lost one or two cans
a year. The Railway Department should be made responsible for the safe keeping of the cans in transit. He did not think that milk could be produced any cheaper than it was at present, but the cost of distribution was very high. If a retailer could distribute his milk in one block instead of over a large, scattered area, the cost of distribution would be about 6d. a gallon, and producer and consumer would benefit. The price of bran was much higher in Perth than in Melbourne and Adelaide. Some authority should be created to control the price of milk. He was a shareholder in the co-operative dairying company that was being formed. John Abernethy, dairy farmer, of Byford, said he had 200 acres of alluvial, sandy and grey soils, but no swamp. He kept 50 cows, which produced about 500 gallons a year per cow, for which he re-
ceived 1s. 3½d. a gallon on the railway station, freight being paid by the depot. He thought that the price for milk should be fixed every month to meet the problem of supply and demand and the cost of production, because the price of feed varied from month to month. He considered that 1s. 3½d. was a satisfactory price from October to December, but it should be higher during the rest of the year. He hand milked, objecting to machine milking on the ground that the more utensils the milk passed through the greater the chance of contamination, and the fewer the utensils the milk passed through the better it kept. He was supervisor of the Peel Estate, and in that capacity had to
do with its dairies. He considered the prospects of dairying on the estate to be good, and thought that milk should be produced as cheaply there as at places nearer Perth. He thought that milk should be sent in special vans, and not mixed with other freight.
James Sampson, dairyman, of Maddington, holding 50 acres of swamp and clay land, with 60 cows, of which he is milking 40, said he averaged 70 to 75 gallons of milk daily. He received 1s. 4¼d. a gallon at the railway station. Prior to the appointment of the Milk Commission on February 1 he was receiving 1s. 1d., 1s. 3d., and 1s. 4d. for his milk. Unfortunately, the depot fixed the price, and the producer had no say. He thought a board of control should fix the price of milk, the present price not being equitable. His cost of production averaged about 1s did not include wages for himself and a gallon; that his family, interest on capital, and depreciation of stock and plant. He had experienced the drawback of having his cans left at the wrong stations owing to the carelessness of railway officials. He had lost a number of cans. The depot keepers should be held responsible for the safe return of cans to the producers. All producers should be compelled to chain their can lids so that they could not lose or interchange them. He hand milked, and did, not use a milking machine, though he owned one, because his petrol engine did not work well. A fair average, price for milk to the producer on rail at Maddington would be 1s. 6¾d. He hadhad 20 years of dairying in this State and was anxious to get out of it.
Thomas Delamare, dairy farmer, of Leederville, said he had 2½acres of land and grazed his cows on other lands. He had 52 cows, of which 44 were milking and produced about 58 gallons daily. He had received 1s. 8d. a gallon at the dairy for the last 12 months. He was making a living, but if he looked for interest on the capital he had invested he would be on the wrong side of the ledger. After trying milking machines for several years, he had found they were not a success. He considered that it was necessary to pull the machine to pieces at least once a day in order to ensure cleanliness, and that would make machine milking more expensive than hand milking. Dairymen were being driven out of the industry because they could be fined for having milk that was below standard, when it was pure milk from the cow. Brewery grains were a most useful feed.
The Commission adjourned until 11 a.m. today.