THE HOSPITAL MILK

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 110, 26 January 1918, Page 8

THE HOSPITAL MILK

AND CLEARING HOUSE DELAYS

HEALTH MINISTER'S OPINIONS.

One of the public institutions to J suffer by the council's clearing-house 1 scheme for the treatment of the milk I coming into the city for sale far human J coiLSi',;!:ption was the Public Hospital The milk for the hospital was held up at the ciearing house along with all the other milk coming into the city, and the result was that there was no milk at the hospital that day for the midday meal. This is such a serious matter that members of the Hospital' Board waited upon the Minister of Public Health (the Hon. G. W. Russell) yesterday to ask him to give them some relief i'u the way of exempting tho milk for the iick pooplo at the Hospital from the working- of the scheme, if it should over.be resumed. It was pointed out by the chairman of the hoard (Mr. Baldwin) that tho testing of the milk at the clearing station would occupy half an hour or thereabout, and that this delay would inevitably mean that there would bo no fresh milk for the midday meal. The Hospital authorities were satisfied that they were able themselves to make 6uch tests as might he necessary to see that tho milk was good, and that the delay in going through tho clearing station was vexatious and unnecessary. The Minister said he found it hard to believe that such a small dolay as half an hour should so disturb the arrangements of the Hospital, and be advised the board to give the clearing house another trial. If after that j they found that tho thing would not work they could come to him again. At the same time, he said that the j Hospital authorities had ample facili- ! ties for testing the milk for the institution, and that the City Council '•".isht- with safetv make on exception in favour of the milk for the Hospital. The Minister, in the course of the interview, made the following remarks on the scheme of the Wellington .City Council as he had observed it:— "So far as the Wellington city milk supply is concerned. I have heen watching very closelv' what has happened, nnd, looking at it as an outsider, it does not appear to me that the arrange* ments that have been made in the milk station for the testing of tbe milk and j the carrying on of the scheme are such ; at) to be possible in connection with; the city. Whan the original proposal j came before me I gave approval to the j structure only iw-a temporary expedi-1 ent. These words *ere placed in the approval, that the entire responsibility of tho position was placed upon the City Council, and there I intend to leave it. I do not propose in any way I to interfere with the powers and functions and prerogatives or responsibilities of a public body 'which has its legislation on the Statute Book nnd is carrying it out. My responsibility is I to see that the people get pure milk, j and I am not going to abate that re- j snonsibility one iota in connection with j the railk station. In regard to the hos-1 pital, I appreciate the position you have placed before me. It seems to me that it is of the utmost importance that the milk should reach the board at the earliest possible moment after it has been drawn from the cow, and any procedure that would interfere with that must have very strong compensation in | some other direction to allow it to be | carried on. The only thing that 13 clear is the law. It is not a Government Act—it is a Wellington Municipal Act—and I presume that the Wellington City Council ha 3 thought out its responsibility in connection with its administration. So far as the general public are concerned, that is my responsibility, to see that they got pure milk, j and I am going to do it. If the City j Council's scheme is not workable, it will have to be abandoned, and, watching the discussion that has taken place, it°seems to me that the Bcheme has not been found to be workable. Whether they intend to go in for a larger scheme is a. matter for them to consider. More than that I do not feel called upon to say."