The Dominion. FRIDAY, JANUARY 11, 1918. THE CITY MILK SUPPLY

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 92, 11 January 1918, Page 4

The Dominion. FRIDAY, JANUARY 11, 1918. THE CITY MILK SUPPLY

Attempting a first practical step towards providing for t-lic systematic inspection/of the local milk supply, the City Council has encountered a somewhat discouraging check. It is obvious that until better working arrangements have been devised than were in evidence on Wednesday, the clearing house project must remain in abeyance, and [ the Mayor took the only possible course when he decided yesterday to suspend the new system after it had been in operation for only a single clay. Though the experiment resulted in a somewhat complex muddle, it is evident that a number of factors contributed to the initial failure. Ono cause of undue delay was a shortage of necessary labour at the municipal depot. There were delays also in getting delivery of milk at Lambton Station, and the position was aggravated by the fact that many consignments of milk were not so branded as to enable them to be readily distinguished. Though the City Council appears to \ have allowed itself to be hurried into inaugurating the new system without making all the preparations that were necessary, it is of more serious importance that it has failed thus far to establish such a working understanding with the milk vendors as is essential if there is to be any real improvement upon existing conditions. It would be a waste of time to try to apportion responsibility for the muddle that arose on -Wednesday, but unless the parties concerned are able to meet in a spirit of accommodation and co-operation all idea of establishing a temporary clearing station will have to be- abandoned. The position now reached is that representatives of the vendors and suppliers are to be invited to confer with representatives of the City Council before any further action is taken. Whatever the outcome may be, it is to bo hoped that all three parties will pay due regard to the interests of the consumers—interests which in the course of a long-continued and animated controversy between the vendors and the City Council have been thrust rather into the background. As the Mayor remarked yesterday the paramount consideration is that the people who buy the milk brought into the city have the right to demand that it should be supplied as promptly as possible and in the purest possible condition. Whatever the decision may he in regard to a temporary clearing house, there should be no question of adopting a plan under which milk would bo delivered at inconvenient hours on week days and not delivered at all on Sundays. The last proposal in particular would be distinctly inimical to infant health and welfare, and the general body of consumers ciinnot be expected to tolerate such a state of affairs.

At the same time there should be no question of depriving the people of the advantages arising from a, reasonably efficient inspection of the milk supply if these advantages are attainable. Both the City Council and the business people concerned are, of course, seriously handicapped by the fact that at present it is only possible to provide a temporary clearing house which is .'"I mittedly in several respects far from satisfactory, and is possibly quite inadequate. The authority of the council is weakened also as a result of its inability for the time being to comply with the provisions of the empowering Act under which it is operating. This Act contemplates the erection of a thoroughly equipped milk station, and expressly provides that once the new system has been inaugurated no milk shall be sold in the city until it has been tested and passed at the milk station as reaching the standard prescribed in the Sale- of Food and Drugs Act. Willi such a st&Mon in existence and all faci-

lities provided for the prompt handling and testing of milk, most of the difficulties which now seem formidable would disappear, but owing to the restrictions imposed upon expenditure by local bodies during the war period the erection of this establishment is inevitably postponed. Whether the makeshift arrangements which arc meantime possible can in any case be expected to prove workable is perhaps an open question. The expert employed by the City Council is evidently of opinion, however, that a temporary clearing house might bo made to serve a useful purpose, and inspection of the milk supply is in itself so desirable that an opposite conclusion,, should not bo adopted until the possibilities of the situation have- been fully tested. The unfortunate experiment of Wednesday last is essentially inconclusive. Unnecessary friction and profitless controversies have undoubtedly, accentuated the immediate problem to be solved, and it still seems possible that given the right spirit, of co-operation a system of inspection may be established which would provide a material safeguard without unduly inconveniencing either vendors or consumers.