QUALITY OF MILK

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXI, Issue 21855, 18 July 1934, Page 10

QUALITY OF MILK

Several facts very disturbing to consumers in the area covered by the Auckland Milk Council were revealed or implied by 'proceedings at the Hospital Board meeting yesterday. Two that were very definite were stated by the medical officer of health: the council itself is appointing no more staff, and will not pay for work done by the Health Department. It also appeared from discussion that tests of milk supplied to the hospital itself during June yielded one sample, out of four taken, that was definitely bad. If milk described by a member who is himself a medical man as unfit for human consumption is to be found in the hospital supply, there is a strong inference that it could be found also in the milk sold to the general public. Yet the anxiety of the health officer to have the inspection system kept up to standard, and, if possible, improved, has obiviously aroused no answering enthusiasm in the council. Dr. Hughes, therefore, appealed to the Hospital Board to reduce the fees it charged for tests'made on behalf of the department. The response to this was that the tests were expensive to make and that the responsibility really rested on the Milk Council. This last contention cannot be gainsaid. According to the legislation from which it draws its authority, the council has been given extensive powers, especially in the licensing of those engaged in the milk business, in order that a pure and adequate supply may be assured to the public. It has never been proved that, quantitatively, the supply was in danger, though there have been numerous assertions to that effect. Regarding the quality, whatever deficiencies there may have been in the. safeguards before the council began to operate, there is no indication that they have since been reduced; rather the contrary, in fact. It is obvious that the medical officer of health believes a stricter oversight to be necessary. He is a disinterested party, and he speaks as an expert. The economics of the milk supply may be important, but they are not everything. The Milk Council has a hard enough task to convince the consuming public that it is better off with dearer milk than it was with cheaper. Unless it can dispose of this very strong inferential charge of insufficient zeal for the purity of this dearer milk, it Vill stand even more strongly, and much more justifiably, condemned in the eyes of the public.