HOME ECONOMICS ASSOCIATION NOTES.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 18548, 23 August 1928, Page 3

HOME ECONOMICS ASSOCIATION NOTES.

(Contributed). AN OPEN TREASURY. (This poem has not before appeared in print). There is a peace which lies in fresh, green grass, In little flowers, and tiny silver rills. In calm of purple woods, in scarlet eves, In lofty silence on majestic hills. Earth doles its blessedness with niggard hand, So small a prize for, oh, how gTeat a cost! But Nature gives with free, sweet lavishness, And not one drop of pearlv dew is lost. —rB.L.IL In spite of very uninviting weather and numerous counter-attractions, a good audience of members and friends of the 11.E.A., remembering the pleasure and instruction they had received from the lecture Mr Ferriss, of the Technical College, gave on "Milk” last year, assembled in the Y.M.C.A. concert hall to listen to his interesting talk on “Spoilage and Contamination of Foods.” Mr Ferriss said that he had made a special study of foods and of the necessity for care in handling and cooking them. On the last occasion that he had addressed the 11.E.A. he had chosen for his subject “Milk,” and had thereby landed himself in a controversy with the Mavor. To-night he would try to avoid controversial matter. lie would speak first on the subject of meat, which was even more liable than milk to contamination. The housewife was too apt to blame the butcher and the milkman. She should rather blame her own laziness and carelessness. Meat might be contaminated from air, water, method of preparation for the market, and—quite a common source of contamination—method of storage after purchase. The air on top of Mount Cook is doubtless very pure indeed, but the same statement is not true of the air of the city of Christchurch, laden as it is with emanations from thousands of human lungs, from coal and gas fires, and sometimes, alas, from sewerage connections. Sometimes conveniences are placed within a few yards of a pantry, with dreadful results to the goods stored therein. Electricity is the only suitable and hygienic method of heating and lighting and its use produces none of the evil effects on the air that are caused by tallow, gas, and kerosene. Where there is dust there are the bacteria of hay fever and consumption. The disgusting and disease-spreading habit of spitting on the footpath should be punished by gaol, without tjhe option of a fine.

In speaking of water as a source of contamination, Mr Ferriss spoke of towns in New Zealand where the water supply was criminally dangerous and impure. In one case the water to supply the town taken, not from the running water in the midrlle of the river, but from the almost stagnant waters at the side, and the reservoir in which it was stored was coated with twelve inches of green moss. .Many terrible diseases may be contracted by drinking impure water; amongst them are cholera, enteric fever, dysentery, dyspepsia, goitre, and many parasitic diseases. People have an idea that with a good pump-or a good tank in the back yard they arc well off. Some spring waters are certainly good, but don’t go drinking spring water unless you know something about it. Ordinary spring water may be impregnated with salts and act as a strong purgative. Outbreaks of diphtheria and typhoid often come from shallow wells. Deep well water obtained from properly constructed wells is very valuable. Running water may be one of the best, but it may be contaminated bycattle. Tank water is not by'any means always pure. It is certainly- not so in towns where factory smoke, city- dust, etc., are terrible sources of contamination. In a school where the lecturer once did some relieving work, several cases of illness occurred. The tank supplying the school drinking water was opened up, and at the bottom of it were discovered, amongst other horrors, two bird’s nests and their decomposing inhabitants. Germany leads the way in the correct treatment of water. German water is absolutely pure, owing to the' correct scientific treatment to which it is subjected. The object of cooking is to render food more palatable and more easily masticated. The juices of raw meat are. useful in certain illnesses. Copper saucepans and kettles arc exceptionally dangerous, a violent poison if there is the slightest carelessness in cleaning. Iron utensils arc suitable and strong, but are easily' broken, and very heavy. Enamel saucepans soon get chipped, and there is a danger of some of the chips being eaten with the food cooked in them. Aluminium is the ideal material for cooking utensils. If preservatives arc necessary' to food, leave the food alone—the practice that used to prevail of putting 20 grains of boric acid to lib was simply terrible. Workers who handle food must be scrupulously- clean in their habits and persons. The lecturer had recentlychanged his butcher since he had seen the one from whom he previously- purchased meat cutting it up with fingers adorned with a filthy- bandage. Do without milk altogether rather than purchase it from a shop where it is displayed on the counter. Meat pies and patties are cultures for bacteria at any- time, but when they' are displayed on a counter, upon which a cat is also reposing, they- are absolutely' deadly-. Pasteurisation is all right if you have good material to start with. All tinned meats contain a small quantity of tin. The eye and the nose arc pretty good guides. If food looks good and smells good, it probably is good. Imperfectly-cooked pork, herrings and baracoutg are fruitini sources of worms in the intestines Mr Ferriss*s lecture was illustrated throughout by very interesting slides. At the conclusion of his lecture he was accorded a hearty vote of thanks. In a recent number of the Journal of the American Home Economics Association is a very interesting paper bv Elsie Will cox on “Why We Teach Home Economics,” From it the following paragraphs are quoted' , Instinct alone will not guarantee 1 that a girl will develop into a good wife or mother any more than that a

boy will make a good factory manager. Courses in home-making are planned with the idea of teaching girls that marriage is a life work worthy* of their finest efforts and not a welcome relief from some hated environment. The girl who takes this attitude stands far more chance of conserving and appreciating romance to its last shred

than the girl who is looking for a ‘meal ticket’ or a boost in the social world or even the one who thinks matrimony-

should be all romance, and proceeds to pout when her husband comes home too tired to be amusing or even amiable. The problem of the care of the children is now receiving wide recognition and we arc realising that the children of mothers trained to know how to care for them are likely to be physically well nourished, and to have their mental and spiritual welfare overseen with intelligent effort and interest. . . •

“ Finally there is the joy of being able to put our hands to the dailytasks. We must express ourselves somehow, and for many women the skilful use of the hands seems to play .a. sur ' prisingly important part in satisfying this natural desire.”