Health Department.

Timaru Herald, Volume XIIIC, Issue 14211, 28 May 1910, Page 4 (Supplement)

Health Department.

AXD MILK SUPPLY. C'Oamaru Mail."') Under an arrangement- between the Municipality and the Health Department, we have now the bone-fit of the services of a local health inspector, i It was through his instrumentality that recently a person who supplies milk to a trusting public was haled before the C/iirt tor selling a sample of the fluid which was plus 16 per cent, of common water. Had it not been proved that the water got into the can in the surreptious way—perhaps through the bottom —the accused would have been severely punished. As it is. the police shed tears of remorse because of their cruel accusation of so disingenuous a milk vendor, and the Magistrate looked the picture of commiseration. But. enough of that. What we are wondering is. now that the Municipality and the Health Department have the services of such a guardian of alimentary and sanitary . purity, what are they gtdng to do with him in addition to crediting h'm wth heroic purif ving powers and paving his salary? Dr Finch, the Health Officer for-North Otago, with a view to an effective performance of his duties in that capacity, has lus headquarters in Christehureh. His factotum here is nothing mure, we ie.;r. man a teetotum, ior, naturally, ix ue is uounu uy tiio uimmuy lesUuints of oinc.ai.s.;!, ho can ao nothing without jusliuc"tions irom lis fihouid iiKe to be lniormou v.liat h..s happened since tne imiii which exposed the disquieting tact tuat- mu.c is sometimes' not wnat may be caiied m.ik .1 on.wants to stick to- the truth. Is there no other toreigu matter worse tvon than water that might find ,ts way into the mild tiuid tuat is put on our breakiast titble-s and given to our bab.s and invalids? Whust we should, speaking tor ourselves, preier to autl our own water to our milk, if it bj too rich —as, whdst miik is 4d p. r quarter, water is only i-'l2 10s per horse power per annum —water, it ■ pure, will never kill any man, so long as he keeps lus head above it. But we may be excused for suspecting milkmen. This is no reflection on the of the class, but only on the bad. ffhe calling lends itself to carelessness. Milkers have always all the materials Bt hand for the making of a v.goroi.s „iepidemic wherever they choose to let ;' Nature take its course, as many of '!them do. If those dairy tenders who «rat water in the milk would only use St for cleansing themselves and their knimals ami sluicing their byres, there would be more joy in a glass of the fluid and infinite less danger. ppriiaps we have advanced somewhat in heory since the dark days when milk ifiras kept in bedrooms. B;ri ail other Safeguards are useless so long lis nulkit act presecuted in the clearest

possible conditions. That is to say, of milk is polluted by the impurities of | the operator, or the byre, it does nob j matter where it is kept. Now, wo want the Health Depart incut to wako up and do something in our district to justify its designation, its professions, and its cost, and we intend to do our share towards spurring it out of its lethargy. This is no fuss about nothiuir. If the facts wero not too disgusting, we could demonstrate that, for the sake of the public health, it is imperative That :\ milk inspector should be ennstanttly on the alert. "Who has not found a r-iu«<> fori anxiorv and aluVr«n--o in the dregs , at the bottom of the milk jug? |