DAIRY INSPECTION.

Otago Witness, Issue 2732, 18 July 1906, Page 4

DAIRY INSPECTION.

While the inspection of diary premises and stock by Government officers has for years been desired by Isevr Zealand dairymen, there has been no definite expression of opinion regarding the scope which such inspection should take. The regulations under the Dairy Industry Act are fairly comprehensive, and the penalties provided are severe enough to be deterrent, but they do not meet the requirements of the advocates of a puremilk supply so completely as does the Ontario law which has just come into force. The title of the statute would probably be taken exception to here — "An Act to Amend the Act to Prevent Fraud in the Manufacture of Cheese and Butter," but there would be general approval of the operative clauses, which are — (1) No person supplying milk or cream to a cheese factory or creamery shall keep his dairy, milk-house, milk-stand, or any vessels or equipment used for tlie storing or the carrying of milk or cream in an unclean or insanitary condition. (2) Every cheese factory and creamery manufacturing butter or cheese for public use or sale, and the surroundings of every such cheese factory and creamery, shall be kept in a clean and sanitary condition, and all the ■water used therein for the manufacture of any dairy products must be clean and pure. The penalties for refusal and neglect to observe these provisions are not less than £10 nor more than £40, in default imprisonment with hard labour for a period not exceeding six months. Inspectors are to Jiare free" access to all premises and lands. During the debate on the bill arepresentative of a dairying district referred to the probability of a clash between the Agriculture and Health Departments, and expressed the opinion that the Board of Health was not in a position to attend to the work, and that the administration of the act should be under the charge of a specialist who understood tiie various phases of the dairy industry. The Minister of Agriculture replied that it wa-s possible that by next year the scope of the Health Department would be enlarged so that it would have charge of this branch ; meantime the inspectors would be independent of that department. New Zealand dairymen hava expressed a strong preference for inspection under the control of the Dairy Commissioner, but the fear of clashing ■with other divisions of the Agricultural Department and with the Health Department is not absent here. Another point is suggested, which is that many dairy factories in this colony would be greatly improved by their surroundings being kept in better order than at present.