THE CITY MILK-SUPPLY.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CIII, Issue 12161, 27 March 1900, Page 4

THE CITY MILK-SUPPLY.

It is to be hoped that, the City Council does not again intend to shelve the question of inspecting the sources from which the city milk-supply is drawn. It has an excellent opportunity now to take in hand a. duty that has too long been neglected, and though perhaps it could not have been expected to deal with, the Blatter last evening at short notice, there should be no half-measures when the By-law Committee presents the report whicli it was requested to prepare. There was really no need to ask any committee to " look into the Council's position." Mr. Ell's letter put the powers of local bodies quite clearly, and in any case it was (surely the duty of the Councillors to know something of tlu-ir rights and duties. The law on the subject is scattered over several statutes, but any one of them would be sufficient for the Council's purpose. Clause 422 of the Municipal Corporations Act of 1886 gives a local body power to make by-laws in respect of the public health and convenience:—■ (d) To regulate the sale of meat, poultry, eggs, milk* butter, cheese, fruit, vegetables. . .' . and to prohibit the same to be sold or exposed for sale within the borough until inspected by one or more inspectors to be appointed from, time to time by the Council.

(e) To- inspect within or without the borough dairies and dairy utensils, cows and cow-houses .used or kept for the supply of milk within the borough.

The clauses, to our mind, could hardly be more explicit. The care of the publio health of Christ-church is in the hands of the City Council, and its duty in this respect extends beyond the mere appointment of a couple of Inspectors of Nuisances. It is true tlhat under the Dairy Industry Act the Government may appoint Dairy Inspectors on its own account, but that in no way makes the duty of the Council less imperative. The Government is concerned solely with the manufacture and export of dairy produce, and the protection of the public health is left to the local body. The City Council might very well endow its own inspectors with the powers and duties of the Government Inspector as defined in the Dairy Act, and Clauses 6 to 17 could be incorporated almost without alteration in any by-laws that may be made regarding the inspection of dairies. The Council has* power to carry out the most drastic regulations, so that there need be no fear-as to its ability to inspect the milk-supply efficiently. We should be very glad to see the allied-matter of the inspection of the meat-supply taken up by the Council at the same time. The powers of local bodies in this respect as set out in the Abattoirs and Slaughter-houses Act of 1894, are quite as clear as those regarding the milk-supply, and there is no reai-on why one or two.lnspectors should not be appointed to carry out both "duties. • The city and the suburbs are so intimately connected in this matter that the various local bodies controlling the surrounding districts should certainly join forces with the City Council'in paying for the servico; of the officials. But the Central Council must not depend on external assistance. In Auckland some two years ago the city and the'suburbs did unite in this fashion to secure the proper inspection of the milk-supply, the Inspector being employed by the City Council, while the suburban Borough Councils contributed to his salary and the other incidental expenses. The experience of Auckland in this matter snould prove a wailing to ourselves. The community there was moved by some startling revelations concerning the. dairies from which it drew its supplier, and forced) the local authorities to appoint an Inspector. As a matter' .of fact, one official was not able to do the work thoroughly, but the results obtained fully justified the expense. For eighteen months the citizens had the satisfaction of knowing that their milk was as pure and free from disease -«n it could be. Then there seems to. have been some correspondence with the Government as to who was responsible for the inspection, and in the end the Agricultural Department promised to take it over. The actual facts of

the case are not all clear, but tie result was that the Inspector wais dismissed, and since that time there has been no milk inspection a: all To our mind this proves the folly of depending en other authorities—as we have apparently been doing in Christ-church —to take in hand a duty that obviously belongs to the municipality. AVe shall not dwell on the need for the inspection of ti'he sources of our milk-supply; that side of the matter has been fully discur-sed in our columns in the' past: But we trust that the By-law Committee of the City Council will draw up its report on the question in the form of an emphatic recommendation that one or more inspectors should be appointed at once. Mr Ell has rendered the public a valuable service in drawing attention to the evil again, and the reform can be accomplished without delay if t&e local authorities will only e-y.ercki tllie powers that they undoubtedly possess.