THE MILK SUPPLY

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 2155, 22 May 1914, Page 8

THE MILK SUPPLY

SUPERVISION NOT ADEQUATE EVILS rn TRANSIT A CLEARING RCUSE NECESSARY. Tho dangers threatening the public on account of the lack of proper supervision of our milk supply were discussed -yesterday by Mr. George Nash, <'iio of tho biggest- milk vendors in the city, in conversation with a Do.MUOtiix reporter. "Wo have a Health Department supposed to be zealous in its endoawor to safeguard the health of tho community," said Mr. Nash, "but although all health authorities admit that milk is tho most indispensable article in the diet of every soul in tho community, there is 110 adequate supervision, over tho handling of tlio product on the farms, over the carriage- of it by rail, or thedelivery of it to tho public. In my opinion the carriage of milk bv rail needs tho attention of thi; health an* thorjtjes very badly. The railway authorities do not provide proper trucks for the conveying of milk. Even ii no other poduco is carried in the same truck wjtu full cans of mills the trucks provided are only common freight tans, any they are not sufficiently ventilated, nor are they wade sufficiently clean. J ho smell of them is often very offensive. The other day my consignment fit about 250 gallons of milk from fcatherston arrived in tho sawe truck with several cratos of live pigeons, and sonic hrcssea carcasses of pigs. Tho meat was clean enough, but even clean meat ought not to be carried in dose pro:;imity to rresh milk. I took very strong exception to tho pigeons being* in the nii,k van. Now, the snpplv' by this tram is bigger, and. a special truck is psoyided for the milk-, but even the special truck i.s not suitable. As I said before, the trucks are not well ventilated, ana sliey are not clean enough.

At His Farms, rile effcct of this carelessness in tlio carriage of milk by rail is in t-ho •fi , deterioration 'of tho mill;, hut tjw carelessness of the Railway Department makes it impossible for even tho best milk to land in Wellington m iirstielass condition, and I think somo ot the farmers, especially t-t«j small suppliers, a-ic a®t to ho caroloss in consequence, jiro gTci* encos in the amount of care taken in the handling of cans and milk at different farms. Somo suppliers exercise the most scrupulous . care, and others do not, and some have been known te wateiv their milk. This sort of thing is dslEtnilt to guard, against-, and per : naps no amount of supervision will ever prevent it altogether, but a little pioro systematic activity on the- part of tho authorities would minimiso it, I am sure.

Advantages of a Charing Hoiise, "In my opinion it will be impossible to begin with any better system of supervision until tlio City Council establishes a clearing- houso through which all milk to be sold in tile city .must pass. There the milk coiikl ba tested as its . condition, samples could b-e taken of individual supplier's linilv, which could bo analysed to detect the preeenco. or otherwise of added water and the right offenders would inevitably be discovered, 'J'he public w«ttld bo assured that, the milk sup•plied to them was pure, arid the dair.yii3®n woiild bo protected. I say tins, that- in spite ol 1 what you iaay have heard to the i-ontraiy, the majority of dairymen in Wellington . would welcome such a scheme. The clearing house would also bo a cleaning-house. The officer in charge of the establishment would, as part of his duty, liavo to bo sure that all the cans coming into tiio - place full of "milk in tlio morning would be thor- 1 oiighly cleansed and sterilised before they were sent homo again in the afternoon. At- present many of tho dairymen have iiot at their dairies proper ■sterilising appliances, and neither have many of the fai-mets, This, of -course, doos not apply ta all farmers -or to all dairymen.

If tliero were a depot at which tlio condition of the milk as it arrives could ba observed, and also the condition of tho cans as they are sent back, there would at- least be some better security afforded to the public that the milk tbe.y consume is wholesome. From tho dairyman's ]>omt of view there- would w this advantage, that lie wuld bo protected against possible liability for the salo of watered milk. Now lis lias uo wotoptiiin. . He may offer for sale 111 good faith 113i1.1v that has been watered before it reaches Or arte of his employees may water milk 011 his round, and at present tho vendor is responsible. If samples wcr® taken before milk was scut out, the right culprit could be caught every timo, and .the result would be tliat- no one would dare to break .the law.

Grievances Against the Railways. Tlio regulations, as they arc at preseat aro utterly unfair to both suppliers and vendors, and they arc utter* h' Unsatisfactory to the consumers, i l ?.. will take no fespou* sibilitv for the carriage qf the milk, no iexpansibility for the euro of tho empty cans being returned, and m» responsibiiitv far the delivery of the empties at their rieht home stations. Stealing o.f cans used to he a grave nuisance, although now almost disappearing, but iha Railway Department would not render any assistance in tracing lost cans. And everybody knows, fiver,v passenger by tho trams ki>ows liow empty cans are roughly dumped out of the vans Ijy the train men. Perhaps it is searrely fair <o biamo tho men altogether, because as they say. they have to run trains to time and the f»ns have to he got off somehow in- a limited time. That,' is the present arrangement. On the other hand wo say that, the freight charged to us, I'd. per gallon from Featherstoft, ana Id. per g.illqn from Upper Hutt, is smplft to entitle as to very much better service at the hands of tho Railway department, _ My bill for freight frnii* Fontherston is nlwavs between £14 and £20 » week. By the same train that mv milk is carried, about 300 gallons c«mes_ from Foaiherston. That 'brines into the Department about £4 a day, and of ooiirsc there is- all the milk from other stations on tli.nfc line. Surely tho revenue is sufficient to justify the Department in pnttiiX! on another mail or two to attend to Siio eftpty cans. As jms been nointwl out already the battering and dcriting of -cans ,noi- only involves loss to the farmers owing to the. wealing out of these fairly expensive. vessels, but by tnahin? it- impossible to clean the cms thnroushlv, it causes the milk to deteriorate and become unwholesome. Apart from the busiuess aspect of the tbins I think the f-onditkn . of the milk supplv of a. city is of so much miparta'nee thai the Railway ait-; Mmrities shoiild bo compelled to pay c ! li'Ue more Attention to it. * j

Mo Seared Roitfes. '"No, 1 aHi tioi hi fvirviii r <i( : the sciv)L t mo pvopouucled by Mr. Hill for tbo ddiverv of mill; oiieo a dav hi sealed bfittlos. It ermld He doin\ of course, blit I am snpn it would not. !»ivc satisfaction My opiu" inn is that the more fresh milk' is to. lii'sod to thii air tin? better, arid I &■, not think it is improved by sealing it Hp. That plan of soliii.;; milk in si'Slod vossefs was tried by two biff dairy finnn in ViV!lim:ton, but thoy bad to give it up 1 think Hip fvswm was that the imnlie ];rew.'vr("l t« have milk that hiwl liot beon scaled up."