INSPECTION OF DAIRIES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XVIII, Issue 6145, 28 July 1881, Page 5

INSPECTION OF DAIRIES.

THE CITY MILK SUPPLY.

Inspector understand, has made an.inspection of the dairiesVwithin the:'cifcy" boundaries, 'with a' .view; <to .• seeing whether the, premises and; utensils -wrere: kept in" a wholesome and "'cleanly condition. The matter is one of considerable importance, as in some of "this Southern provinces the milk jused frOm badly i drained and- untidily kept, dairies has:proved a fertile source of typhoid' fever,' ending" in ma.ny cases fatally. Mr. Goldie's report will be submitted to the City ! Council at'this evening's sitting. Weunder- • stand that he has visited eight establishments'within the city, of"cow-keepers and milk'vendors; and that : his report is of a very favourable character as to the cleanliness of the premises and. the dairy utensils. In. some cases' the city water supply was laid on.' His visit of inspection was made by surprise, and at a period of the day most favourable for his purposes.- ' Circumsfancesj however, Have come .under his-notice which iead to the belief that some of tho milk-veridors from the suburbs 'and country districts, who supply the citizens -with ' milk, are guilty of practices utterly at variance with the laws of health, and to remedy this state of things he suggests a strict surveillance over the vehicles and utensils used in carrying milk to the city. The largest milk dealers are Messrs. Booth and Brown, of Hobson-street, of the "Auckland Dairy." - They , have a dairy farm with 20 cows at Mangere,' and receive milk from the suburbs as well as from Otahuhu, and other country, districts by rail, which theiy purchase from the farmers under contract, and retail. There are in addition to the eight establishments in the city, about fifty milkmen who come in to the city with their daily supplies on their own account. These persons come from Newmarket, Remuera, Orakei Bridge, Tamaki-road, Panmureroad, Epsom, Onehunga, Three Kings, Mount Eden, Cabbage-tree Swamp, Mount Albert, the Whau, and Richmond.

Attempts have been made by the police to work the Adulteration of Food Act, so far as improving the quality of the milk is concerned, but with indifferent success. This Act, like the Employment of Females Act, gives the officer appointed to enforce its provisions so little power and authority that it is almost a dead-letter. The officer may see "skim" milk sold under his nose as sweet milk, yet. is powerless to act, as the sale of " skim" milk is not " adulteration" within the meaning of the Act. There is no power under the Act to compel a milkvendor to sell milk to the officer, on demand, for purposes of analysis, and some of the milkmen who have taken legal advice on this head are perfectly aware that they can safely defy the authorities through tho bungling way in which the Act has been passed. A milkman may have two cans in his cart—one containing good milk, and the other bad—yet tho officer has no option but to take the milk supplied him, which, it is needless to say, is supplied from can No. 1. Of course these offenders can be got at by . employing spies and informers; but such a system is degrading to the police and demoralising to the instruments employed, and is not desirable either on grounds of public policy or public morality. In Melbourne the greater portion of the milk is supplied by a joint stock company, which furnishes the Government Analyst with samples of the milk for his report. According to his reports, the solid matter in the milk ranges from 9 to 13 per cent., country dairies showing an average -of 2 per cent, over city dairies. In Auckland, the percentage is much lower, ranging from 4 to 8 per cent., and in some very rare cases to 10 per cent. There have been samples of milk purchased from milk vendors, in which not a single trace of cream could be found, but from the defects of the Act, no proceedings could be taken. With regard to adulteration of liquor, the same difficulties exist. Complaint was made of the rum vended by a certain country publican; the sample complained of on being treated by the analyst, was found to contain not a single element of genuine rum, but was one of those mysterious compounds vamped up through the agency of "The Brewers' Druggist." The police authorities endeavoured to purchase a bottle of this stuff in the usual way, but the publican knew his men, and the applicants got supplied with a bottle of excellent rum. What is needed is that the Solice authorities should have, as on the ontinent, the power of purchasing any articles of food exposed for sale, at the market rate, and on their being proved to be unwholesone and unfit for human food, have the balance of like description confiscated and destroyed.