INSPECTION AND DISTRIBUTION OF FOOD.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 18906, 5 July 1923, Page 10

INSPECTION AND DISTRIBUTION OF FOOD.

iWHAT THE HEALTH DEPARTMENT IS DOING.

E>r T. M'Kibbin, Medical Officer of Health for tho Otago and Southland district, addressed' members of the Women Citizen’s Association on Tuesday night on , “Inspection and Distribution of Food.” Mr Armour, a departmental inspector for tho district, also addressed the meeting. In tho absence of the president (Mrs Leech), Mrs Carmalt Jones occupied tho chair. Dr M'Kibbin, in opening his remarks, paid a tribute to the ladies for their interest in public affairs, and particularly m regard to health matters. He remarked . that Mrs Leech, the president of the association, had called upon him and suggested that there was a danger of contamination, in eases of smallgoods and cake, from flies and human means. He would leave Inspector Armour to deal with that aspect of the question. As regards influenza, it was not a notifiable disease, but pneumonic influenza had to be notified, and so far for the month only six cases had been notified for the Otago district. Doubtless they ■would have a larger percentage within the next few weeks, but (hey did not expdet anything like the visitation of 1918. That was largely due to the crowding of soldiers in camps. With the clearing up of tho camps in England they had a quieter Lime, but with the crowding on transports there wore bad results, and these were followed by serious outbreaks on land. _With the return to a more normal distribution of population, however, tho seriouesuess of the outbreaks might reasonably bo expected to lessen considerably. The Health Department was doing its best. When a case was notified, the department at once inoculated the contacts of patients, and thus prevented tho spread of the disease as far as possible. There was also a serum used with the patients, and ho understood that it had been employed with considerable success in the Dunedin Hospital. Ho denied the , impeachment that health officers wore incompetent,. • They must remember that the Public Health Officer for Otago bud to - cover an area 200 miles in length and embracing 200,000 inhabitants. In the same way the inspector had to attend to a populace of 20,000. The revenue was but a trifle, and the health officers had accordingly to curb their enthusiasm. It bad been asked why they did not employ lady in- • speotors.—(Applause.) Well, they did so as far, as possible, but again lack of funds hampered them. As regards the housing problem, the English authorities, where there were slum areas and overcrowded places, had powers that it had not been found necessary to adopt here. Ihe ■ crowding in houses was a much more serious matter than overcrowding buildings. In Dunedin we had 14-.000 odd acres of space and over 15,000 houses, with a population of 59,000. We had, perhaps, overdone the matter of living space—going out into the country to save money. That was not an unmixed blessing, for the reticulation question was a serious one, and took ft large proportion of the profits from busi- ' ness departments. Re thought it would be a good idea to go in for a proper townplanning scheme. There were many places that could bo condemned, and better houses built with advantage, without going out into the country on to_ larger sites. It would pay the council in the making of streets, drains, etc., to take charge of this matter on a comprehensive scale. Even with building at its present cost, it would pay tho council to erect dwelling-houses, and accept a rental 1 which would represent , a loss, because of the saving effected in ■ drainage and making streets. Here, as in other towns, in tho matter of drainage, wo had, to use a homely phrase, “bitten on more than we can chew.” The water supply was in most coses good, and it was .a fact that even were disease germs blown into- the surface water three weeks exposure would kill the germs. “?y> "no doubt, the City Council would be able ■ to adopt a system of high-pressure filters. ' In New Zealand—because of -Nature s handiwork, and not because of the Publio Health Department—we had one of the ’ lowest death-rates in the world—B.7 per 1000 of the population. Heart disease stood at tho head of causes of death, cancer next (this was going up steadily year by year, and no doctor could explain why), and tuberculosis third. In still-births last year there wore 903 cases; that was one ot the drawbacks of a pioneer country, and would be remedied as the back-blocks life was lessened. He thought m tho matter of publio health there was a general improvement, not a little of which was due to ' the action of the officers of the departmerit; 1 „ . , , Ai - . Mr Armour dealt with the matter of. in* spection of food supply and distribution, and referred to legislation that bad been introduced, dealing with the nature of buildings for the manufacture ami display of butchers’ small goods, milk, and kindred products, and ice cream. A big step forward in comparison with former conditions had been taken, and he thought the regulations covered the requirements very well. Mr Armour instanced several cases that had come under his notice in inspecting bnt- > chers’ premises and houses where milk was stored, showing the fearfully insanitary conditions under which these businesses were formerly carried on. But these premises -were improved, and now they had in Dunedin some of the finest butchers’ shops in the dominion. In one baker’s shop that ' he had inspected the conditions were equally insanitary, hut that had been improved out of sight. It was the same thing with regard to the sale of milk. Doubtless in the suburbs there were still some places where the conditions were not all that could be desired, but these were being weeded o\it. The publio must not, he too impatient with the inspectors. Not many years ago there were only four inspectors from Waitati •to the Bluff. That, number had certainly been added to. but their duties had also been increased, so that tho relief was more apparent than real. He looked forward to the day when they would have ideal conditions for dealing with food—concrete houses, with smooth walls and floors, good drainage, and an ample supply, of hot and cold water, with ample provision for keeping out the flies. Tn conclusion, ho reminded his hearers that householders had their duties in seeing that utensils for the i-eceipt of milk, meat, bread, etc., were clean. Several questions were asked and answered, one piece of information being that any complaint regarding insanitary conditions in the city should be mode to Mr King, city inspector, and, if the oomnlainant failed to obtain satisfaction, j Dr M'Kibbin should ho communicated with, and he would bring the matter before the Board of Health. A hearty vote of thanks was passed to both lecturers at the close of tho meeting.