THE World of Labour

Sun (Christchurch), Volume II, Issue 378, 27 April 1915, Page 12

THE World of Labour

MUNICIPAL MILK SUPPLY. IN SUPPORT OF THE PROPOSITION "Who can tell what great men have died in their cradles? To think of the victims as weaklings—alas! Ts not. that the beginning of all our folly, the first stumble of the blind? No, they were not all unworthy. In the twilight beyond the glare rises a cloud of dream faces; glows with mystic beauty one and another nameless star. Quenched ashes, debris of the race, cries a sem.ibarbarian thinker in a hurry. But the eyes of the men and women of the future will not thus need the legend or myriads of tiny graves. . . . wrote Margaret McMillan, in "Infant Mortality."

"Then the milkers and the cowhouses far away—who is to overlook them? Of course a certain amount'of inspection there is even to-day, .but after all what docs one know of the milk that conies after a long journey into one's home. The average person knows very little about it. There arc persons, of course, who take means to know —who know the dairy from which the milk is sent. There are people in Finsbury, for example, who know that their milk comes from a model dairy farm of 70 cows near Epping Forest, and that everything, to the smocks of the milkers, and grooming of the cows has been arranged so tliat dCiith in the form of bacteria shall not slip into the baby-bottle in which the milk is sealed. But it is only here and there in England that wo can know much about the staple food of children. Meantime other countries a>-e leading the way. In 1893 the Hon. Nathan Strauss established a milk depot at New York, supplied by a farm on a good hygienic basis. From 1891 to 1895 the infant death rate in the area he supplied fell suddenly to 90 per 1000. It is now only 61.2 per 1000 —lower than the average death rate of the country. ... .Lee wrote Elihu long ago how private enterprise supplies the street with milk. At 7..10 a cart comes along and delivers milk at one house, and away again. Half an hour later another milk cart arrives, and delivers milk first on this side of the street, until seven houses have been supplied, and he departs. During the next three hours four other milk carts put in an-appear-ance at varying intervals* supplying a house here and another there, until at last as it draws towards noon, their task is done, and the street is supplied with milk. . . .'Six men, six horses, and carts rattle along one after the other through the greater x>art of the day. It is a waste,of time and labour. But beyond this there is often a loss which perhaps no one can estimate. Who knows who. may have perished? There is a pedestal somewhere of the fates—one with her face to the sunrise—the fate of birth and young life holding a thin golden thread aloft. That is often broken, before—long before it reaches the Fate of Age."

"These half-starved children want blood, and we offer them a little brain polish; they ask for bread and receive a problem for milk and the tonic Sol-fa system is introduced to them. One cannot look at them without speculating how their sluggish, or -merely snappish, intellects would brighten up and strengthen in grasp could each of them have but two pints of new milk a day. . . .

There is no specific, no infallible panacea that will touch the. spot and make mankind whole. Degeneration has many roots wide-spreading, deep-strik-ing. It must be attacked on many sides, and one way of hunting its ravages is ensuring an adequate supply of milk for the multitude"—thus Sir James Grichton Brown, M.D., in a report presented to the House of Commons many years ago. N.Z. Cost of Living, Eeport.

"Do you think if some better organised system were adopted that the cost of delivery could be considerably reduced, because one sometimes sees a milk-cart coming perhaps for miles and leaving milk at one house in the street, and then going to another house half a mile off, and so on?" The above question was put to Mr Cornelius Taylor, a dairyman of 2"> years' experience, by Mr Trcgear, chairman of the Cost of Living Commission. Air Taylor: "Yes, I have thought of that for a long time; you could only arrive at that by the whole trade of a town being in the hands of the Government or the municipality. Let me put it in this way: We will say that 30 men in the milk trade passed the Three Lamps in Ponsonby (Auckland) for the delivery of milk in the West End of that suburb. It is quite possible that 10 men could do the whole of that work under certain conditions. The conditions would require to be something like this: That a man would go down a certain street and deliver milk to the whole of the customers in that street, and perhaps go down the next street, and then come back to where ho started. That would take place twice a day, and he could deliver 60 gallons a day in that day quite easily." (Note: Despite this statement the witness intimated that he was opposed to municipalisation, on the assumption that a number of highlypaid overseers, etc., would be engaged.) Mr Tregear: "Is there any other statement you would like to make to us in regard' to the milk business?" Mr Taylor: "I do not at present see that we can go back to the old state of things, namely, 3d per quart. I may mention tMs: That it is not uncommon to see a

A Column for Workers

Conducted by D. G. SULUYAN

family of, say, four, getting only a pint ami a half of milk per day.

hi my opinion it is simply disgraceful. 1 think the babies should be given a, great deal more milk. It is fearful to .sue the paltry amount of milk that the average family gets. Mr Tregear: Have they the means to buy more. Air Taylor: 1 .suppose not. You could put the quantity consumed on an average as a pint and a quarter to a pint and a half for a working man's family, all over Auckland, but in the higherclass families in the suburbs the quantity will double that. There are numbers of families in which there are little children which only get about a pint a day.

Mr Tregear: The children are practi cally getting no milk.

Mr Taylor: Yes. It in a Had state of things*, ami 'if any .system could be devised for enabling the people to get more milk at a lower price I would welcome it. One of the chief causes that have been responsible for the rise in the cost of living in New Zealand appears to us to be increased transportation charges. The excessive numbers of those engaged in the work of distribution: the duplication of distributing agcucies. Munieipalisation of markets and services. . . The Commission is of opinion that municipal markets should be established for the sale and distribution of the following articles: Fruit, vegetables, fish, dairy produce, poultry;, ami honey; and suggests that the Permanent Board of Industrial and Social Investigation should take steps to get an authoritative report on the municipalization of the supply of bread aud milk. Effect on Yoimg Children. Referring to the fact that nearly 80 per cent, of the children whose death takes place in the first year" of life die from diarrhoea! causes, Sir James Orichton Brown said, a few years ago: The grave evils with which 3 we are confronted arise out of the insufficient and improper feeding of infants and 'children; and the principal factor of this improper and insufficient feeding is the want of an adequate supply of pure and wholesome milk. The number of deaths of children under one year resulting from diarrhoea is as follows: 390 H 1900 1910 1911 1912 418 249 343 244 178 In 1905 a conference was held in London on the prevention of infant mortality. The following resolution was passed:—"That the special precautions required in the production of cow's milk for infants should include . . . selection, testing, and feeding of the cows, care in their pasturing, sheltering, tending, extreme cleanliness in milking, rigid antiseptic precautions, immediate refrigeration maintained during transport, and prompt dispatch, so that the number of micro organisms and lactic acid in the milk may be reduced to a minimum at the time of delivery, instead of hundreds of thousands and millions of organisms- and excess of lactic acid now to be found in socalled fresh milk.

This is the demand of medical science and experience, and it certainly cannot be met for the multitude by private enterprise. It is the duty of the administrator and man of affairs to devise a way. There is only ouo. In this matter the old proverb, "If you v.ant a thing doing well, do it yourself," applies with peculiar force. If we want to save the nation from the bankruptcy of human life towards which we are rapidly drifting, if we want to secure the physical efficiency of the units that go to make up the Empire, we. must municipalise the milk supply. There is no other way.

Is it Feasible? The. only question is—"l* it feasible?" Let us take a concrete example, and suppose we apply the principle to my own borough of Bootle, says 11. Russell Smart iu discussing this question. The population is. in round. numbers. 60,000, and the number . of cows at present 432, kept ; in 31 shippons, each shippon averaging about 14 animals. Iu addition there are 34 registered dairies, with no cowsheds attached. These in many cases are hucksters' shops, where objectionable and strongsmelling articles are sold along with milk in open vessels. Averaging three gallons a day per cow, the 432 cows would yield 1296 gallons, leaving 579 gallons'of railway milk to be supplied by the small dealers and daudymen, allowing one gill per head per diem for the population. The first point in considering a scheme of municipalisation is the compensation of the 31 cow keepors on a satisfactory basis. Most of the other places could be gradually closed under the present by-laws. The goodwill of the present cows may be put down at £lO each, or a total of £4320. The value of the cows at £2O each total £8640, or a total for purchase of present animals at £12,900. Capital, would also have to bo provided for the purchase of the buildings, horses, carts, etc., but while a loss might be incurred on some a profit would no doubt be made on othors, so that this item would bo simply a turn over, which need not just now enter into our calculations. We should also have to provide one large central shippon, from which the milk could be directly distributed by an organised system at least twice a day, on similar linos to the post office mail distribution. In order to supply each inhabitant with a halfpenny worth of milk, or one gill per day, wo should require 02;*) cows, yielding three gallons each, the total cost of which at £2O each, with the goodwill of £4320 on present animals, would be £10,820. For all other purposes wo would require £19,125—n0t a large capital for a borough of 60,000 inhabitants. Let us submit a .balance-sheet, and,

see what the result would be: — Estimated Capital Outlay required and Revenue therefrom, for' the supply to a population of 60,000. Capital outlay, say— Goodwill. Goodwill on 432 cows, ,ot £2O per head £8,640 Purchase of 625 cows, at £2O per head 12,500 Buildings, Equipment, Horses, and Carts. Equipment «« •» x 625 Horses, carts, and harness . • .. 480 Buildings—Central building- . * 12,500 12 depots .. , t . »■. 1,200 £35,945 Revenue. Income from— Sale of milk, 684,375 gallons, at 1/- per gallon 34,219 Sale of manure at i' 4 per cow ~ 2,500 . _£36,719 Expenditure on —■ Maintenance of cows »«• *. a 16,250 Wages of attendants .. <« «< 7,020 Uniforms of attendants .. . * 25G Salaries of' manager, vet. surgeon, and other staff - 1,000 Maintenance of horses and purchase of stable requisites ... <. 200 Repair of buildings .... . . 137 Routs, rates, taxes, and insurance 430 Wages of depot attendants .. 936 Miscellaneous .. . • . • ♦« • • 116 £26,405 Gross profit , . ~ .. £10,314 ■ Renewals. Cows .. .. 16,670 , Less sales... 11,252 '. Buildings, equipment, horses, and goodwill 525 Interest .. .. .. ..» 1,258 Net profit .. .* »» £3,118 In this article I have brought together the opinions of medical men, health conferences, and experts in Great Britain, as well as opinions, facts and figures relative to the milk supplyquestion in New Zealand. There is no doubt at all that milk is a great culture-medium for bacteria, and no doubt also that bad milk occasions a great wastage in infant human life. In this country the position has improved in this respect, to such an extent that New Zealand, I think, saves a larger proportion of its infant life than perhaps any other country; but if there remained only one child per annum to be saved, and this could be done by the process of municipalising the milk supply—it would be a crime on the part of society to refuse that child's cry for life.