THE CITY'S MILK

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2738, 5 April 1916, Page 7

THE CITY'S MILK

, CLEARING-HOUSE SCHEME

OR A MUNICIPAL SUPPLY? ; N

DEPUTATION TO MINISTER

- The need for reform in the ■methods of distribution and sale of milk in tie City of Wellington was discussed by a deputation' from the City Council and the Minv istor for Public Health yesterday. The Minister for Agriculture was present, and also representatives of. the dairy farmers and the milk vendors. The Mayor introduced the deputation. The position was, he said, that the City ', Council had arrived at the stage that -..'. they must take notice of-' the uusatisfac- - j tory state of the City milk supply. The -council desired, to deal with this in suoh a way as to ensure, a pure milk supply. Tho British '■ Medical -Association had ..•' written to the council to express concern lit the state of our milk,, and in view of this the council was aurcly justified in taking action-. The first requirement was a clearing-house. The reply previously to. this demand had ..been that tho proposal' ought to wait for the building of the new. railway station. This was now delayed indefinitely,' but. the City Council could-not'wait longer, and he thought the Railway Department should set aside f '%t once "a site for the clearing-house. • f ■ ' ■ ■ ■ Oan Wait No Longer., Mr. J. Godber, chairman of the City ■ '"' Council Public Health Committee,, ex-' -' " pressed the thanks of the committee to the Minister for having taken prompt ac- ■ tiou to give the milk inspectors power to do their work properly. But this was only tinkering with the question. ' An army of, inspectors would mot be sufficient to-inspect the.milk as it came in now. The clearing-house was an; urgent neoos ; sity. Then the milk could bo. inspected and properly treated,.and the 'council could be sure that- the milk supplied to the people was pure milk. Mr: Russell said .that the Minister for ■ .Railways had. intimated that he could not be present at the deputation, but that he 'would, be willing to receive tho deputation on some othrr suitable occasion on-the railways aspect of the clear- ' ing-house problem. For' this - reason it • Was scarcely worth while to discuss the railways, phase of the question. .:. < v, Mr. Godber said that it had been stat- : ed. that .the. people of Wellington paid ~£IO,OOO a year for water in milk. He believed that the new.station would not be built for ten years, and the people . ' of Wellington could not wait so long, putting up with adulterated, impure milk. He fefused to believe tbat jt was impossible to erect a clearing-houße in a suitable place before the new station was built, and he held that the Government - ought to help the City to safeguard the ■ health of tho people. He asked the Government also to provide'.for tie adequate iuspection of dairy lerds.' .It was also , a fact that the railway transit, was unsatisfactory. A DisQTace and a Danger. ' Dr.' Herbert, representing the 8.M.A., raid that he and his colleagues were present to show their inte-est in.any. proposal to. improve the niilk supply of Wellington, which was a disgrace, indeed a danger to the public health. Wherever the; responsibility lay, improvements were . urgently necessary,' and must be made ; at once. If the dangers were appreciated, the problem/would •■'have attention immediately. If it. were taken in hand firm:ly it would'be' quickly-solved, and we ; would have a milk supply, that would be . a credit to the City. The difficulties of. transport .round, about Wellington'of a commodity like milk, whioh perished so | quickly, were serious, but there ought at ; least to be a clearing-house. The milk ; x n ' a s so'bad' that the.onty v safe thing to do in feeding children in the summer was ; to put them off Wellington milk. This , was the reason. why proprietary goods to. . which .doctors- took objection generally were so much in use in "Wellington. • It was not: safe -to give milk to children. ' Dairy' l Farmers' Viewpoint. - Mr.H. E. Ward, secretary of the Dairy Farmers' Association, said' on behalf of the farmers that tJhey. were anxious to have their milk inspectedby Government inspectors, and this could be done' only at a clearingihouse. At any well-conduct-, ed'butter or cheese factory the milk re- ' ceived was subjected to a more rigorous' examination i.than. was.tho.milk at Wei-, lington. The milk .came into Wellington by seven' trains, and it was impossible for inspectors to keep track of the different parcels of milk. Aw the farmers supplying milk Were entirely at the mercy of those who 6old the milk. Mr. Russell: Isn't it the fact that the persons selling the milk . are at your ._ mercy? Mr, Ward: To a certain extent, yes. < But .what we say is that there, is nowno ■ iuspection to determine who is responsible for the condition of the milk going ' to the consumer. There was a' big gap, he sajd, between the; farmer and the consumer.' The first need 'was.' for a clearing house, where milk could be collected for inspection. Tho railway vans also needed'inspection. Only last week fish was carried in a milk van. He did not think it would bo necessary for .'the milk to be .' held _ while it was submitted to more than-simple tests'to discover whether it was adulterated. This could be dono within half an hour of the arrival of the ■ milk at the clearing-house. >'■ Mr. Russell: I,understand'that yon are opposed to the . application to the milk Qi any process, of cleansing. Mr. Ward: That.is so. Mr. Russell: Sou are aware that- there ;, are in existence' large machines which can rapidly deal with supplies of milk mid extract from them all improper mat- ' lor. _ .-.•■■■ ■■:'■'■ Uv. Ward: Thai is so. , Mr. Ru«cll: What is your objection to -.. the u'so of a madhine which would purify and cleanse the milk? : Mr. Ward:-Our answer is this: Instead , of using a cleansing machine, get milk that is clean and does not want cleansing. ■-. That. is. quite possible. In fapt, there is' plenty of inilk coming in which, does not want cleansing. Mr. Russell: But is not the strength of, «i chain decided by the weak link ? Mr. Ward: If you do away with the ,weak link you have a strong chain. : Some Further Action Needed. Mr. R.'A. Wright said he understood the objection of the local milk-sellers to n clearing house, but he ihought the honest vendor would bo protected by a clearing house. He agreed that the mine supply of Wellington was deplorably bad, and the people could not wait until a railway station was built to 'have their mill: improved. . Mr.'Ji-E. Fitzgerald said it-appeared to ' him that the deputation was.-asking for something to put'tho hall-mark of purity on the milk supplied by tile farmers to the milk vendors. What was required was :some scheme to give the hall-mark of purity to the milk as sup- ■ . plied to the people. The Hon, Dr. Collins said the clearing house was necessary first of all to ensure a pure milk supply, which Wellington certainly had not now. The B.M.A. Nad papsed a resolution on the subject, for .' the reason that the milk supply was so bad as. to be deleterious to the health of infants and children. Hp admitted that much milk was destroyed by careless handling at tho homes of the people, and what was required was an organisation, perhaps to educate the people, to see that the milk was.good when it was ready for use. - . Inspection of the Farms, Mr. Mac Donald said tho duty of the Agricultural Department in relation to milk supply was principally the inspection of dairies and herds. In Wellington district there were 370 dairies registered. During the year milk was supplied from 30 of these during only from one to three ' months. In 07 of them only from one to tlirefc cows were milked. ' During a period of ten months for which he had figures o'j6 visits of inspection • were made to dairies; eight fanners were prosecuted for selling milk from unregistered dairies, and one license was cancelled. There were only three inspectors engaged in this work, but some of the dairies wer so small that the inspection of them was no very difficult matter. Generally speaking, the reports of the inspectors were satisfactory. They were of opinion that the milk was clean when it left the dairy

farms. If a clearing-house were established, and if the tests at the clearinghouse showed that the milk was not pure, then this would go to show thnt the inspeotion at the farms was insufficient. If this should he the ease, ho would provido for a more rigorous inspection. However, tho inspectors reported now that the dairies were sanitary, and that the milk left the farms clean. !■•■ More Information Asked For, Mr, Russell said ho fully realised the necessity for a pure milk supply. Shortly after ho took office he instituted a, crusade against those vendors who were palming off on the public impure or adulterated milk. He would be glad to exercise his influence to secure to the City Council sufficient powers to enable them ■ to give the public of Wellington a.puro milk supply. He was disappointed,'however, that the council had not supplied him with the fullest possible information as. to what would happen to the millin the clearing-house. Indeed,' before ho could approve wholly of tile scheme he would require to know the sort of landing to be erected, and also what was to be, done to the milk when it got there. He thought he should have been supplied with authoritative information, prepared by an officer who had specially studied the question, especially as to how similar schemes in other'cities were worked;', Mr. Godber tendered plans, of the woposed building,' and said he would have . detailed the processes if he had thought this'kt all necessary. Mr. Russell said a scientific statement should have Been presented, and si/ch a statement would have to be supplied hefore he could give his approval to the schemed .The scheme as outlined by Mr. Ward—that the clearing-house should be merely a depot' for inspection—did not appeal to hinn. It did not go far enough. He had no doubt that, the council could erect a clearing-house on the proposed site,'near, the railway .station, but they would'have'to arrange' for the S-anspovt of the milk from the trains to tho clear-ing-house until the Department could make arrangements to do this work for them. They would have to pay a reasonable rent for the land. 0 'On "Going the Whole rlog." One of the weaknesses of the present inspection system was the great hiatus between the farm and the vendor. In his opinion it would be desirable for a City officer to be. in charge of the, milk from the 'time it reached the railway station uitl it reached its destination in the olearing-houße- It was quite evident that there should be some supervision over the milk in transit from the ■farm to the clearing shed, and he thought this work should do done either'by a coiLncil officer or a Government officer. Then there was another interval 'of danger between the clearing-house and •' the consumer. To provide for adequate inspjetion the .organisation would have to be very large. TMs would cost the people money, but it was better that the price of milk 6hould be raised than that an army of doctors should be required in the City. He was sure the medical men would support him in that.' But while through lack of organisation there were 20 carts going into a street to supply. SO customers, the piil> , lie would have to pay a huge price for •this lack of organisation. If the City would "go the' whole hog" and arrange for the distribution and delivery of the milk a pure supply coul dbe assured, and the cost to the people could be reduced, by from 20 to 25 per cent. And this could all be done at a profit. If the milk was entirely under the'control of the- City authorities there could be no doubt about the supply. W v hen the City could show him that the ■• clearing-house proposals were supported by men of standing and experience, he,would be glad to assist in the carrying out- of the scheme. The Mayor supported the Minister's : suggestion for tho municipalisation of the milk supply. He had always been in favour of that, and ne believed that it was < the ultimate goal the council would reach, . and this before very long.. \]

A Railways Difficulty,

'The same deputation interviewed the Minister for Railways (the Hon. W. H. Herries)'afterwards. Their request was thatin', viey-of/the possibility of the new station being,lon^'delayed; ; ,they.|be.'al!pwed to build at once a' cfearihg-hohse on the" site provided for in tho new station plans. They asked also that as they were proposing to spend some .£20,000 on the building they be-given a long lease over the land at a nominal rental. '" | Mr; Herries said he was fully aware of the advantages of a clearing-house for milk.' -He. pointed out, however, the possibility that, the granting of a long lease over- this piece of land might in future hamper the development of the 6tation plans.' He hoped there would be.no long delay in -going oh. with the erection of a new station at Wellington, but at present the Department was hampered, for lack of room;'and if it should be'necessary to postpone the building of a new station' for several years, the building of a milk clearing-house on the proposed site would cause very irksome congestion. He promised to consider the question, and to get the advice of tli9 responsible officers of the Department upon it.,