The N. Z. Times WEDNESDAY, JULY 24, 1907. PURE FOOD SUPPLY

New Zealand Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 6269, 24 July 1907, Page 4

The N. Z. Times

WEDNESDAY, JULY 24, 1907. PURE FOOD SUPPLY

wm which is incorporated xnr. “ •mtLUNOTOK INDEPENDENT.” ESTABLISHED 1245-

A measure which went through Committee in the House last week, dealing with the purity of foodstuffs and medicines, has perhaps received less attention than it deservos' from the great body of the public whom it is designed to protect. If the Bill were of no' other interest, it might 'at least servo tp open our eyes to the largo measure in which tilings ■ that are sold come short of what . they purport to be. You buy popper, you got flour; you buy whisky, you get water; you buy mustard, you get something pise. ’ Now,, flour and water, are in themselves commodities beyond price. If wo have to choose between - pepper and flour, or between whisky and water, there is not a moment’s question which is the more valuable as a stand-by. But flpur, is, not pepper, neither is whisky water, and whom wo pay for the one commodity and are served with the other, we have every reason to fool. aggrieved and to take action against the vendor who takes our money and supplies us with an article we do not want. When the Hon. Mr Fowlds moved the . second reading of his Bill he took occasion to say that, under the proposed measure, those “who enjoy a glass of whisky will bo sure that they get the article pure,” whereupon Mr Aitken, with more pro. hibitionist zeal than logic, interjected that “the more it is diluted the better.” Possibly; but, all the same, Mr Aitken is the last man who would say that a dealer in whisky is at liberty to cheat his customer from philanthropic motives. It is.no defence for a dealer to be able to say that the adulterating ingredient is harmless, or even better fqr the health of the individual than the substance adulterated. What tho public require is that there shall bo plain dealing, so that when they hny an article they get tho article and not something else. Most people are agreed that chicory is a very innocent admixture for coffee, and many people oven will not drink their , coffee without ohioory., But that is no reason why. the-' ooffee-merchant should ho allowed to adulterate the,coffee he sells. The buyer who likes to mix his coffee with ohioory will still prefer to receive his coffee pu ro in one parcel and his chicory in another. And if there is good* reason for legislation to secure purity in foods which hitherto, by some convention of tho trade, have boon mixed with cheaper but perfectly innocuous ingredients, what shall be said of those foodstuffs or drugs where the alloy is wholly, innutritions’or positively harmful? :When one comes to think of it, < the wander, is that a colony priding itself on its advanced legislation should have been willing to go on so long being victimised by the lying, white or black, of trade and commerce. And this, too, while we take increasingly elaborate precautions to guarantee the genuineness and purity of the meat, butter, and cheese which we export. Shortly, however, we shall have readied that desirable stage when- every housewife may be absolutely assured that she is receiving for household purposes the commodities she asks, and pays fort

or if there is, for any good purpose, an adulteration of the foodstuff, that the admixture and its proportions are duly notified on tho label attached. In connection with this inattor the Minister's speech would make profitable reading for housewives whoso task it is purvey the household stores. From this speech sho will learn that her pound of coffee may contain only five ounces of the real coffee berry: that what sho supposes to be the “best green peas” owe tho convincing tenderness of their colour to sulphate of copper; that tho condensed milk or other infant food which sho uses for tho nourishment of her children has been robbed of its nutritive substance. Unfortunately, however, condensed milk is not the only milk whose purity as a foodstuff inquires to bp guaranteed. As tho Hon Mr Fowdds said in moving tho second reading of his Bill: “Something requires to bo done to ensure tho purity of the milk on which the rising generation aro fed during the earlier months of their life. Tho present regulations afford facilities for watching -the article from the dairy until it comes into the town; but there is no effective provision for dealing with it after it has got there,” And the Minister congratulates tho city of Wellington on its being aliva to its responsibilities in this direction, and doing something in the direction of preventing the sale of unwholesome milk. Wo aro glad to believe that the Wellington municipality desorvos this eulogy from the Minister-of, Public Health, but, before it can afford to regard this matter with complacency, a good deal remains to be done' by way of regulations for' tho distribution of the city milk supply in order to provide for the citizens a guarantee that the milk they .buy is of tho proper purity. Tho Minister has introduced his Pure Food Bill not before timo, as was generally recognised by,those members who spoko to tho measure; and, if ho places it on tho statute-book, he will by that alone have done something to show that his , service in the Ministry has not been ' in vain. Ail classes of the community will have reason to welcome the measure, and; not least the honest dealers in foodstuffs, who, as matters now arp, find it an almost .impossible achievement to hold thoir ground with honest wares against tho unfair competition of adulterated goods. ,