THE MILK SUPPLY.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 57, 30 November 1907, Page 6

THE MILK SUPPLY.

, WELLINGTON METHODS .CRITICISED. "ABSOLUTELY THE WORST." (by telegraph—special correspondent.) Auckland, November 29. 'Addressing a, mooting of'milk vendors last night',;'Dr..'Mason,..Cjhicf,Health Officor, was' very severe'upoiv Wollington. At tho, outset he i explained that the Salo of Foods and Drugs • Act,' passed ; last session, g'avo tho Govornor-iu-Coimcil power' to mako certain regulations controlling all" foodstuffs. It ■was quite possible that when', those regulations wore' gazetted they, as experts, would complain that thoy \vcr<v not workable, and he therefore wished that they would put forward suggestions.- At the same time, howover, they must expect liini to, look after tho consumers' interests. ■ Ho would put forth what he believed .to bo tho proper way to supply a town with milk. A CLEARING DEPOT. .'He believed in the first place that in overy town with'- a . population of 4000 and over, there should be one-clearing depot, through which, all the milk should pass, just the same as ,with the abattoirs. If such a depot were established, proper,, inspection could bo made, but, , as .it present'conducted and distributed,. it \yas impossible. To do it efficiently meant the. employment of as many inspectors as milkmen. lira place like Auckland, it might bo necesary to have one or two such depots as he had suggested. How they wero to bo established was another matter. He thought -the municipality : should, do it, and if it did not, then the milkmen here should combine and start a co-operative place,'of their own.;,, There was no article more susceptible .than milk. He suggested that ' the' milk, after passing through the clearing house,''.should be sent out in bottles. This might seem impracticable to them, but. it. was-'reajly. not so, as ho knew of a company* in Timaru which was this plan, and'was able to compete witlv others iVho used' tho mioro primitive .method.'.'/ ' 'WHLtiNGTbN'S'.SUPPLY. There was one-thing which-he .would like to say in. passing, and . that'.:;was that tho quality of the ■ milk supplied in Auckland was very much better than ■,that- in Wellington, which, of the' big- cities in ; tho Dominion,' had absolutely the-worst supply. There the milk was;conveyed;'into the city by trains, and dumped down.;; in -.cans .011, the railway, station'platform, . arid, very often left there for several'hours.ln sotrio, instances tho lids wero left.' off ;: cans,. jvith . the result that dust-and dirt got into the-,milk.' Ho intended -to . halve thip ; stopped „by regulation; While the' Auckland milk, supply was than in the Eriipiro.City, .still it was not as good as th'a't'.jof Durieclin',.which was the' best city: iriVthe. Dominion. in this, re-' spect, largely - there -,was a big company there-'.in' whiclr 'a largeynumber of' the niilknifen we're shareholders. Dr. Mason pro-ceeded-to -speak. in ; . strong terms against adulteration, and' said- he hoped -that in future 'the;'salo-■ ■ of- milk would bo confined to proporly fitted up dairies. . , FURTHER 'DISCUSSION. ■: As to inspectionj he'stated that an agree-, meht Jiad been arrived at whoroby tho Agn- : cultural Department would see that all tho regulations wore carried out until the milk arrived at the depots, and the Health Department would see' to .its distribution, without,. of.,course,, interfering with the rights of the local/authorities. • Dr. Purely, -District Health Officer, spoke in support of pasteurisation, and pointed out that eighteen out of. nineteen cases of enteric fev,enin Hamilton..reccntly had been traced .to the, distribution- of milk-in which a- ma.n' had "gashed 'his hands'." -' .'. Mr. Ambury,; of 1 Ambury. and English, de T clared . that ; was impossible to .distribute milk in Auckland in bottles at a profit. If 110 could see his way to get . throe por cent. 011 .the capital invested' by Adopting the bottle system; he .would do so. It was, lie submitted, a disgrace that such a small percent nge of the children in tho country were briugjhfc'up on the breast.. SUGGESTED RISE IN PRICE. Dr." Mason,. in roply, said he knew of another company in Napier, which, while adopting the bottlo' system, was able to malte headway. Porhaps if the system were adopted;jierei the vendors would not be able .to make as much profit, but .if thoy all combined thoy . could then raise . the price. It wasXabsoltitely essential to ensure pure milk that proper cans should be provided. He know oi an instance in Wollington where a leak was stopped up with soap...He ad r mitted,that the vendors wero not the only ones •to blame. The public, to a largo extent, wore also to' blame for. leaving receptacles at - the doorstops. He' had assessed tho dirt in jugs in; Wollington bofore the milk: got there,-and had .also seen cats and dogs licking tho. billies. Iteverting to milk cans, he; considered it advisable to lock them. Another ' speaker . advocated the appointment of lady-inspectors to go round the city and inspect milk reccptaclcs. . Dr. Purely .approved, of this idea. There was, lie said, a voluntary, organisation in Auckland - :at • tho-present time 1 which was contemplating getting up a big function at Alexandra Park to raise fund's sufficient to provide for the appointment of. a lady inspector for. tho : district. ■ .

DR. MASON'S STRICTURES. , REPLY BY A WELLINGTON MANAGER. "A PIECE OF CONSUMMATE CHEEK." The Chief Health Officer's outspoken condemnation of ! Wellington's milk supply, which .he stigmatised as tho worst of tho large cities of the Dominion, ia taken strong exception to.'in at least one quarter. Air. Brandon, Managor of tho Fresh Food and Ice Company, said, in answer to. an enquiry, that, as far as Dr. Mason's remarks could bo taken to apply to the milk dispensed by _his company, it was "a piece of consummate cheek" on his part to condomn wholesalo in the raainnor he .had. done, and he spoke for between a fifth and a sixth part of tho total amount of milk distributed daily in Wellington. ' "In the first instance," said Mr. Brandon,' "we don't tako, any milk at all that does not come from'a registered'dairy—that is to say, dairies that comply with tho Government' regulations in respect to tho conduct of dairies. We receive tho milk at the railway station in > our own cart kept especially for the 1 ■purpose. , The milk is brought to"' the;' depot and examined. 1 don't mean, .to say. that the milk fromeach supplier .is examined overy day, but samples are 'taken every now and again and tested by an, expert;.. Then, the milk is. pasteurised

and put into tho cooling chamber, from which it is measured out to retailers or our own 111011. "At the present timo wo are putting out about 800 gallons a day, of which 300 gallons aro distributed to our customers' in our own carts. Wo supply tho shipping and most of tho largo hotels. Tho other 500 gallons - aro distributed to fourteen of fifteen vendors, and that milk is guaranteed. "Wo liavo invited tho-officers of the Health Department, to visit our dopot, and thoy liavo paid a visit and expressed themselves perfectly satisfied' with the methods practised. "The estimated (quantity of milk consumed daily in Wellington," said Mr. Brandon, "is betweon 4000 and 5000 gallons, and, while I can only speak for that which comes under our own notice, I have pointed out that

thero are dozens of carts and shops employed' in the milk trado that aro kept in a positively filthy condition; but Dr. Mason's general condemnation is too stringent altogether." NEW REGULATIONS. (BY TELEGRAPH —mESS ASSOCIATION.) Auckland, November 29. The Hon. G. Fowlds states that regulations under tho Pure Pood Act dealing with the handling of milk have- been prepared and will be gazetted shortly.