QUALITY OF MILK

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2882, 21 September 1916, Page 7

QUALITY OF MILK

VENDOR AND FARMER

DEPUTATION TO THE MINISTER

WHOSE THE BLAME? Much has been hoard of late of the alleged poor quality of milk supplied to tho people of Wellington. The vendors, who come in for most of tho blame, went as a deputation to the Minister of "Public Health (tho Hon. G. W. Russell) yesterday, to urge that that they were not always to blamo for the low grado of milk being delivered to the public, and they asked the Minister to provide for oloser supervision of the niiik at farms and in transit. Mr. A, J. Pothorick, speaking for the Milk Vendors' Association, said that tho farmer did not give any warranty that tho milk he supplied would comply with the Act. Vendors had, ho said, already approached the Department with'a request that tho milk sliould bo sent ; from the farm in sealed cans, and, the Departmont was entirely in accord with the recommendation. The vendor who received the milk had at present no means of discovering whe- • her it complied with the Act; in many Vises it was immediately delivered to "tho public He also pointed. out that in some cases all the "strippings" wcro put into one. can, thereby reducing the percentage of solids in tho output from the cows which had been put into other cans.- Further, there was no safeguard provided for the milk- during its. transit from the farm to the vendor.- That could only be got over by sealing the cans. It was discovered .recently that a railway official, of. whom suspicions had beon entertained, had tampered with tho cans. Such an act might easily result in the'standard of the remainder of the milk being lowered. : The deputation suggested that ■thero should be some more satisfactory method of inspection at the Source of supply—the tarn. • Representations -to the Public Health Department to that effect brought tho reply that they had not the men available, with tho result that the farmer was-inclined to get into a lackadaisical method; know-, ing that inspection would not be very frequent! Another proposal was that ponding prosecutions should ; be, delayed while a Royal Commission investigated tho question of whother during' the spring .months—August, September, and consistently showed a lower standardlihan during :the other nino months of the, year. The ex-, porience of farmers and those engaged In tho - production would go to show that- the spring months: did demon'strato, a lower standard,"and it was on those months that the prosent prosecutions were .likely to be "taken—the very worst three months of the twelve. A •Royal Commission might possibly recommend that during'certain months a lower standard should be set. '. The Hon.G. AV. Russell, replying, said-ho-had been watching tlhis matter very closely indeed. -Ho knew that during the early-part of tho • spring, - when the feed was soft and washy, thero wa6 a tendency for the milk to be of. low grade. The first point made by the deputation was that there, was no warranty given by the farmers. Ho would, go into; that question with the Minister of Agriculture- (tho Hon. AA r . D. S. Mao Donald). He himself thought that, in the interests" of fair, dealing, there should bo • some method devised by which, if the farmer was supplying milk below. standard, he should bear the responsibility, and not the. Juan •who.purchased the milk and spld ft tothe public. For his own part he was prepared to exercise all' the powers ho possessod in that respect. As to all the "strippings" being put into one can; that misfit be dealt with by regulations, but it would have to be done by the Agricultural Department.' As to the carriage of milk, as far back as .Tuly J 26 -that question was reported on by' one- of the- officers of the Health Department, and the proposals' ..then made had been submitted to the Chief Health Officers in' tho other centres for report. When those reports were received' he would consider" how' far they could be given effect to; 'He''could not accede to the suggestion that pending proseoutions should bo delayed. He was there to administer' the law) and until the law was altered he-had no'alternative, when tho officers of the Department recommended a prosecution, but' to authorise it to proceed-. . Ho did not think that any reasonable case had been made out for tho setting up of a Royal Commission, as'suggested. He believed the Agricultural Department and the Health Department were ' already' in possession of all the necessary information: As to the suggestion that no prosecution 'should follow when it was' proved that.milk was sold as itoanio from the cow, he pointed out that' ■ whilothey could tell at once' whether water had boen added, they could not' tell whether cream had been taken from the milk." They therefore had to rely on tho standard which had been, set up as to'the quality of milk. A special report had been prepared within the last-few days by one of the responsible officers of the Department, in consequence of a memorandum which ho had sent out. ■ It showed that during August and_ September- 302- samples of milk wore taken in Wellington and" 150 in other parts of the Wellington Health District, which included Marlborough, Nelson, Hawke's Bay, Gisbome, and Wair'arapa, Out of the Wellington number only 12 were recommended for prosecution and four in the rest of the district. The report said it was significant that out of the 12 samples below the standard in Wellington five ■were from one firm. If other people could supply milk up' to standard, the minority who had not been able to do so would have to find it somehow or other. As to tho quality of milk as it came from the cow, he pointed out that that was a matter of feeding and the selection of suitable dairy stock.