FOOD SUPPLY.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1175, 10 July 1911, Page 6

FOOD SUPPLY.

SHRISTCHURCH ESTABLISHMENTS : . INSPECTED, "ENTIRELY CLEAN." ; 6EVERE WORDS ABOUT AUCKLAND. ' -•-.■) i , (By TeUgrapa—Press Association.) I Christchurch, July 8. The Mayor and the city's chief inspector ; havo-spout the Inst two days paying iin- ; announced visits to tho dining-rooms and : kitchens of those establishments where tho : city food supply is prepared and retailed. '■ in an interview with , a reporter this morn- ■/ ing, tho Mayor gave ;tho results of ins tour of inspection. " "I received a copy of a. report from Auckland, to which ■ public attention was directed a week or two ago, in which the chief inspector •of the Auckland City ' Council . detailed the conditions under -which food supplies wero handled in pork ■butchers' establishments, hotels, restaurants dining-roo'ms, bakehouses, and similar places in tho city. The state of things de«cribed was almost'incredible. As the ' officer (Mr. Hayncs) dealt with the conditions in great detail, one has to assume that his statement is accurate. \\ ith tlw view of reassuring tho public of Christchurch—those who reside in the city anil thoso who have to tako meals in various establishments occasionally when away from home, and those who aro visitors to the city-I decided to pay an unannounced visit of Inspection to the ostnb lshiucnts in Christchurch which correspond to those dealt with bv the Auckland inspector. ' "In company with the chief- inspector, ; I hnve visited a very considerable number ■ -of hotels, restaurant-, bakehouses, and ■" pork butchers' and fishmongers establish- , ments. We started with the Federal Hotel ; in Colombo Street, one of tho best-ap-pointed privato hotels in, Australasia, and finished up this morning at the other end of the hotel business-sixpenny eatinghouses. Our- inspection included a number of leading licensed hotels. In e> cry . -case we found that tho arrangements under which food supplies for patrons of the various establishments are handled are entirely clean, wholesome, and almost above •critlism.. Some of the-places snltaed* little from want of space, t>nt there ™> •nofono in tho whole 'Tango, of hotels, pn- ' rate or licensed, where inspection did no leave a feeling of complete satisfac Son so far as cleanliness is concerned. : -Vo visited several typical butchery establishments where small goods aro -manufactured. In each case it was im- ; .™>«ible to find any ground for adverse criticism. There was a general air of -cleanliness pervading the establishment^ : ,ahd the chief inspector appeared more ; ihan once tempted to make purchases of Sompting dishes in various stages of pre- : tho kitchens, storerooms • and culinary arrangements of most of the ■ cheap dining-rooms, and iound them .with one exception, most . scrupulously > i clean. The exception I refer to is not 1 one that affects the wholesomeness of the food siippljvbut one kitchen bore.an. untWy appearance -Perhaps '.the* ™\ . «" cusabloTrom the fact that the .establishment supplies-:moals at all. hours, from , morning-till nearly-rtidiught. - -, •■ "The proprietors of the places-. yn. Tisited were pleased to .offer us/the fullest opportunity of ■inspection. • Tho .kitchens ■ attached to fish .shops were in a similarly satisfactory condition; and seemed to do as cool and fresh as it.is possible to make them, seeing tho work that is earned on there. There was an almost complete ar> gence of any accumulation of scraps, and the'.recentry-imprqvcd service for .the.rt-moral-of'Tcfuse'frbm tho.pubhc estab isnmcrits of tho city seems to bo working ■fairly satisfactorily. "The bakehouses, we saw were on tho whole well arranged and tidy, but 1 havo always had a feeling in connection .with these establishments in different cities in New- Zealand that, in spite of the hard work to which most bakers seem to bo subjected to in earning their livelihood, Mi©-'equipment of a modern bakehouse is 'not■■'what it should be. In the interests of H the general,, public I believe that the day \is • not far "distant •when a large number ' of: small bake-, houses will be replaced by' r: few imc.lyequtpped bakehouses in which the structure and the' appliances used..will be-de-signed with all care and expense. . In connection with the- model establishments we are now building for people in inhealth, I have in my mind particularly the new children's ward at the Christ- ■ church Hospital. A modem bakehouse should -be just as perfect in details and just'as completely sanitary as is that Tcmarkable .addition to the hospital. "I. , am pleased,to be able to report .the result of the inspection in such definite terms because it will not only give sjitis-, faction to' our own people who purchase their food supplies and consume their food in the city, but it enables mo to Bay'to thoso outside Christchurch that anyone visiting the city may rely upon being fed' nnder conditions which leave no snspicion as to tho .quality of the food or tho cleanliness of methods adopted in its preparation.' ■We saw two or three kitchens both. in licensed nnd private' hotels that are probably not to be exceeded in their airiness aud excellent arrangement in this part of the world. "I don't want to gloat over the unheal-thy-"condition of things that exists in 'Auckland. lihnvn always regarded Anckla»d as, one,of the moiit s beautiful cities 'in Now Zealand, and also one of the most untidy. Tho persistence with which plague clings' tt> Auckland suggests that in addition to being beautiful) and untidy it is shbcfcinjly unclean. H' is due to the Dominion that Auckland should icmovc the reproach that now rests upon it as being a place where visitors can have no feeling of security that they are not being poisoned while they arc being fed."