TURE MILK SUPPLY.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 14926, 31 August 1910, Page 4

TURE MILK SUPPLY.

A DOCTOR'S RECOMMENDATION. (Fkoh Oub Own Correspondent.) WELLINGTON, August 30. In tho Legislative Council to-day the Hon. Dr Collins (Wellington), in accordance with his notice of motion, moved that.-in.tho opinion of this Council further legislative measures are necessary to ensure a pure milk supply to the inhabitants of the chief cities of the Dominion. Speaking to the motion, the mover stated that milk was use<l in almost every homo iii the Dominion, and if this milk was not absolutely pure those usin« it, principally infants, suffered. It'"was essential that the public should know that the milk used' in the cities was absolutely pure. He quoted from the report ol the Society for the Protection of Women and Children and Dr Mason to show that one of the principal causes of diari'licta in children, was impure- milkana a Plunkct nurse had tokl him that her strong complant was that tho milk •rf w £- !U,(f turned 60ur vei 'y quickly. JTio Wellington City Council had a bill on the milk question before Parliament which aimed at doing something towards improving th e local supply. The fact that this bill had been promoted must meui that counci lore recognised that the milk supply of the city was not-in a satisfactory condition-, and that the people do not get pure milk. The chief impurities to be seen when milk was strained were dirt, manure, hairs, and hay, but there were bacteria also, and they flourished in. milk. . JJr Collins went on to refer to the necessity for keeping milk in a cool place, and dealt at length with the various impuntiea put.into milk to keep it sweet, Most of the more solid impurities got into tthe milk at the milking shed where the milk was kepi., and when it was in transit. One or the chief places where milk got contaminated, however, was when it got to tne consumer. -He thought the people required educating to look after the milk when they got it to their own houses. Dr Collins went on to : reler to the diseases caused by impure milk, naming septic poisoning, tuberculosis, and diarrohea, and enteritic diphtheria was also caused by impure milk in some instances, but it was difficult to trace it. Scarlet fever was another disease, but typhoid was the most common disease produced by impure milk. The order of diseases was: Typhoid fever, scarlet fever, and diphtheria. The death rate in New Zealand last year was 0.57 for every 1000 people—a low percentage.—but the greatest mortality was amongst children under 12 months of age. The large infant mortality was probably due or was helped to a great extent by some impurity in the milk. As the years go on, said Dr Collins, we should grapplp with this subject and pay more attention to bacteriology. We would never, in his opinion, get a pure milk supply until we studied bacteriological methods thoroughly, but he thought pure milk would come. The occupants of farmers' houses ■and the people who did the milking should, be thought, be registered, and immediately any form of sickness occurred in any farmhouse the occupants should be compelled lo notify the Health Department of the outbreak. He also thought a doctor should pay surprise visits to farms and see the condition of the farmhouse and occupants. Such a scheme, he 'thought, would get the co-operation of the farmers who dealt in milk.' Some cows no doubt were specially susceptible to tuberculosis, just as some human beings were. He had been told that the Jersey cow, lor instance, was more prone to tuberculosis than the" bliorthorn, and he would liko to know- if this was so. He believed that in Wellington, whero probably 8000 cows would be required to supply the city with milk, tha.t 10 per cent, of tho cows would be found to be suffering- from tuberculosis: If- tested, about 2 per cent, of the above, he thought, would bo suffering from tuberculosis of 'the udder. "Surprise visits by veterinary surgeons would, he considered, do an immense amount of good. If the -farmer consented to report every case of sickness to a. special officer, particularly in cases of soro throat, and if he consented to surprise visits,'and if he would have the byres put up properly, ventilated, aired, and looked after, and with floors, that can he. easily cleaned, some good would be obtained. 'Ail that was needed in addition to this was that the people who did tho milking should wear clean overalls,, wash their hands in pure water, and look fefter their nails. This was as far as he thought we could go with the farmer. The people should then come in. Let us, said Dr Collins, have central depots in town, and at these places sterilise the carts, seal them, and send them up in the train in a cool van ::t ho expense of the city or the Government to the milking shed of the producer. The farmer would have to sec that all things were clean at his end, and that the can into which he milked was sterilised. Tho milk would come from the cows into the sterilised, pail, from which it would be turned into the sterilised can' to be immediately sealed and brought to town. If it was kept at the railway station for any length of time the milk should bo placed in a cool chamber until it could be removed to the depot. At the depots the milk would bo analysed and would go through all the process of cooling and be placed into bottles, which would bo sealed and removed to the' retailers. They must not mt-kc the farmer do everything. Something should bo done from the other end. If the expense was too .great—but he thought that under his proposed scheme the milk'would not cost.more tlian or 5d a quart,—he did not see why a special rate should not levied, the same as the water rate is levied.

■ At the close of Dr Collins's speech the debate was adjourned.