CITY MILK SUPPLY

Press, Volume LXXII, Issue 21978, 30 December 1936, Page 6

CITY MILK SUPPLY

TO THB TSDITOB Of THS P3IS3. Sir,—The report of the special committee set up by the City Council to survey the city milk supply, together ■with the remarks of Sir Hugh Acland and the various authorities quoted on the distinction between clean milk and safe milk provides a difficult problem for solution. The most outstanding remarks in the reports deal with organisms pathogenic to man. The special committee is faced with, two alternatives, either instituting pasteurisation carried out by the municipal authorities at enormous cost, with the consequent total dislocation of the present method of trading, or endeavouring to make a reasonably safe milk out of that produced under existing conditions. I am only a layman on the subject, but it does appear to me that no matter how carefully pasteurisation is carried out, and whether the milk is delivered in sterilised containers to the consumer, all the work can be destroyed, and human beings become the carriers of a large number of diseases. The special committee is handicapped by the almost complete absence of pathogenic reports of cities in New Zealand regarding the various stages of handling and distributing milk, except for the Agricultural Department's reports of samples. There appear to be no others available. Some few years back, the City Council milk committee arranged to obtain samples of milk, for examination, by an imminent pathologist, who brought down a report. If I remember correctly £SO was contributed by the the City Council. In view of its importance, why was the work not continued? Was it because the report did not suit those who wanted to secure municipal control? And how does the above figure contrast with the many thousands of pounds that are expended by the Hospital Board on its pathological department, the work of which is made necessary after humans have contracted disease. Had this valuable work been continued, it would have been possible to move with some degree of confidence, and at the same time draw attention to any undesirable conditions, if they existed. i If the special committee, wants the support of other Jocal bodies around Christchurch, and the consumer, the matter will require careful consideration and definite information about the Christchurch milk supply and on any line of action or control the committee decides upon.—Yours, etc., H. BLISS. ; Heathcote, December 28, 1936.