DAIRY INSPECTION.

New Zealand Times, Volume LXXVI, Issue 5229, 19 March 1904, Page 4

DAIRY INSPECTION.

Last year, when the annual meeting of , the New Zealand branch of the British I Medical Association was held at Nelson, a resolution -was passed urging .the Government to gazette a regulation under the Dairy Act, making notification of any disease of the udder of a cow compulsory by the owner. The members present were unanimous, and their motive was the public health. Since then nothing lias boon done. Much, however, has'been written, and this has not been confined ltd the duties of all concerned in oases -of aebuaJ -disease;. it has had much to do with tile question of preventing disease generally by the adoption of simple methods of ordinary cleanliness which is tho enemy of all disease which has its origin in diit, and is therefore preventable. A very important -portion of the subsequent writing on the subject consists, of tho report of the disease known as mammitis, by Mr Wilkie, to the Health Department, and the experiments made m the laboratory by Mr Oilruth. These establish the existence, of the -disease in this country, and show its very dangerous character. Another portion of the literature on this subject consists of tho reports of certain departmental officers deputed to examine dairies in various parts of : tho colony. These, as hound up with the report, make reading which, if interesting, is not of tho kind for whiling away a heavy afternoon., Tile most cogent, perhaps, of the writings on the subject is the insistence of the Chief Government Veterinarian and Pathologist on tho employment as inspectors of dairies of properly qualified persons—that is to say, members of his own department. Before, the resolution of the Medical Association, was passed, Mr Gi-]ruth had warmly recommended tho employment of properly qualified men as inspectors of dairies; properly qualified, that is to say, from the sanitary point of view. In tho report' of last year he repeated, tho advice with considerable emphasis. “Xu this matter of supervision of dailies, with tho perio'dio inspection of cows for disease, it seems regrettable .thait tho services of, tho veterinary officers in the department cannot be more fully utilised. Trained as they are in the hygiene of dairy premises, as well as the diseases of animals, they alone are likely to give confidence to the daily farmer; and from their knowledge of diseases, other than those injurious from the view-pomt of public -health, their visits of inspection would more likely be welcomed than shunned by the struggling settler.” Now the impression is far abroad that the Veterinary Department is doing all the inspection of dairies that is so imperatively required by the public interest. That impression is entirely wrong. : ' The reports of the few who have inspected the dairy farms and milking places is. as wo have said, very interesting reading. Much of it is a high tribute to the ‘'hid-dableness” of the dairy former, as a rule, to all the advice and remonstrance of properly qualified persons. Much, on the other band, is of a character that we could not think of allowing to appear in our columns at any breakfast table except the tables of the kind of farmers who supplied the material for tho reports. Tho condition of the premises described may easily bo imagined-; as for the milking yards that are never cleansed, the less said the better; and as regards the surroundings that are a matter of course a description of them would, if simply published in leaflets, bo vety profitable to chemists to sell as emetics guaranteed against failure. It is in the detail of the habits and practices of the persons who earn their daily bread by endangering the health of the world in general, and the children of the world in particular, that the reports are at the zenith of their greatness. Thefe first effect is to stupefy the lay rea(cfar(; indeed, we should imagine that the average medical man could not have the very rosiest time when reading them. After a time they stimulate reflection. One reflects that the milk which has been subjected to such treatment or such contact is much of it not destined for the butter-facory or the cheese-maker—a thing not comforting to think of at any time, considering the reputation our butter enjoys abroad—hut that this milk is intended for the immediate use of the public, and for consumption, by little children. The compulsory notification of such a disease as mammitis would no doubt diminish' some of the specific dangers cf the state of things reported, hut it would avail nothing against the bad practices complained of in the xe-

pose, general, and there is no reason to believe that there would be any difficulty in putting an end to them, if once they were got under the control of drastic,, intelligent authority. At the same time, the farmers require advice and information on many subjects, and there ill no bettor authority on these subject® than tho officers of tho A’eterinary Department. That they have plenty o{ time as well as ability tho annual report shows clearly. The need for attention to the and habits of dairymen, and, above all things, for notification of disease is cows, was shown in a recent article published in the “ British Medical Journal.” It was entitled “Pus as a Beverage,” and , tiro rest of tho article was worthy of that drastic opening. It waa not written apropos of anything in New Zealand; it dealt entirely with the milk supply of the great towns of Great Britain. AYhat is true of one country is, however, geueraUy true of all countries; it is a more question of degree. Tha need for proper and adequate control is tho •same in every country. Of Groat Britain, tho “Medical Journal” (after liaving sent out a great number of inquiries, and received a great number of replies) satys that tho conditions of the milk supply all over tho country are very unsatisfactory. It refers particularly to tho outbreak of fever and sore tln'oat hi a certain borough “ traced to suppurative mammitia in four corn’s," a disclose that tfioiirishes in this country.. It deals at largo with the way in which healthy piHk-is handled until at last it readies the consumer in a condition of putrescence., It‘concludes with the following far-reaching words:—“Tho evil, effects caused) by tho consumption of this miserable liquid are as pot imperfectly realised by tho public, ( and even, by tho profession. They do not end with the Jnumoroius epidemics which sweep through the poorer quarters of largo towns in warm weather. ‘ They lie at tha, root of muidh of the chronic ill-health of infancy and 1 childhood, and find expression at last in piuny men and women and in undlcrgrouvn lads, whom recruiting sergeants dare not submit to tha. examination of the . anuy medical officers.” In that article cause and effect are brought together, in masterly language, which completes the case for the adequate inspection of all dairies in the, manner recommended by tho New Zealand branch of tho British Medical Ansoola t.ion, audi urged by the Chief Veterinarian of the Agricultural Department.