OUR MILK SUPPLY.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XXXII, Issue 141, 23 June 1898, Page 2

OUR MILK SUPPLY.

To thb Editor op ■" The Evening Mail." Sir,— l refrained from commenting on your leading artiole in your issue of the 21at inafc. till now, in the hope of seeingsome more able writer than myself take ' the matter up, and endeavour to erase a fatae impression which is apt to arise in the minds of the general public on reading your comments therein. To commence with, then, I would liVe to draw your attention to the fact that you etate it as a positive case that the recent sadden case of illness was actually caused by stale milk, whereas, as far as the public are ooncerned at any rate, bhe oauso is entirely unknown ; and it is also the case as to whether the milk in question actually contained ptomaines or other bacteria, or not. The doctors certainly stated that the milk might have contained poisonous germs (and possibly it|did)J; but neither of them, I believe, said it actually did contain any form of disease. You also say that obviously the milk contained the disease before distribution among the consumers, Jwhen aa a matter of fact the evidence is entirely to the oontrary, [for Dt Maokie distinctly states that boiling milk would destroy all diseases therein contained previous to such boiling, and one witness in her evidence says she scalded the milk, Consequently the deduction to be drawn seems to me, not that the dairies are at fault, but that the sanitary arrangements of the city are defeotive (supposing the mill; to be the cause, whjch, as I eay, is not borne out by the evidence), or that to some other local cause may be traced the taint. I write this with the object of allaying any feoling of anxiety which may arise in the minds of the public as to the actual state of the milk with which they are supplied at the time of delivery. Tba'imilk may, or perhaps does, contain some germs of disease at that time, is no doubt possible; but it has yet to be übown that such is the case here : inasmuoh as that no previoußcase has hitherto ap» peared before the public, and that hud this particular milk been diseased, it is surely strange that no other consumers were affected by that supply. One word more, Sir, and I have done. I think it would be of considerable interest to the people if some medical man would abate whether his actual experience would enable • him to say positively whether milk is more likely to contract disease after scalding and when cooled than it is in its original condition. For my own part, I am inclined to think that when cooled after scalding it is more liable, as I am well aware that milk, when scalded, will after a short time smell very unpleasantlj ; much more so in faot than if allowed to simply sour in its original form. I Thanking you, Sir, in anticipation,' I am, etc., MILK, Nelson, June 23. [Our correspondent credits us -with a number of positive statements whioh we never made. The artiole merely dealt with poisibilities and probabilities, and pointed to the inevitable conclusion that ere long the city must get abreast of modern progress by theproper inspection of food supply and distribution,— Ed. N.E.M.]