PUBLISHED EVERY WEDNESDAY & SATURDAY, SATURDAY, AUGUST, 20, 1881.

Poverty Bay Standard, Volume IX, Issue 971, 20 August 1881, Page 2

PUBLISHED EVERY WEDNESDAY & SATURDAY, SATURDAY, AUGUST, 20, 1881.

“Deathin the milkpail” is the sensational, although appropriate heading placed over telegrams from Christchurch "h-aving reference to the spread of typhoid fever in that city. The circumstances are well known to our readers, so we need but briefly revert To them. The epidemic was distinctly traced to a dairy where a lack of cleanliness and. sanitary precaution existed. The milk was on many occasions placed under the bed of a sick person, and no doubt absorbed the germs of the fell disease which has taken so strong a hold upon the “ City of the Plains.” •“ Better late than never ” is an old and approved saying, and the Christchurch Board of Health have at last become alive to the fact that a Government measure must be passed authorizing the official inspection of dairies, and have accordingly forwarded to Mr. Stevens, M.H.R., a draft Bill to submit to the Government for consideration. From Auckland and Wellington we learn that already active measures are being taken by local bodies to secure to the public milk pure and undiluted ; and that the vendors of laeteal fluid have generally taken alarm at the disclosures made of the dirty and filthy habits of their fellow tradesmen, and have consequently vastly improved their dairies. Unfortunately at present there is no act- by

which punishment can ‘be inflicted upon dairymen who neglect to observe necessary sanitary conditions ; but we hope that ere long a law will be passed providing for systematic inspection, and a rigid Governmental report as to the cleanliness of every dairy in New Zealand. It is monstrous to think that the public are entirely at the mercy of the suppliers of milk, and that there is no supervision for the protection of the general health. The article is bought innocently by confiding householders, who little know that it may possibly be the means of introducing most serious sickness to their families, and this is simply because a milkman may be of filthy habits and neglects to observe sanitary laws. In writing in this strain, be it understood, we are not alluding in any way to our local sellers of milk, but to the dairies in large towns. In Auckland the Milk Supply Association advertise that the proprietors take the utmost care that the milk supplied shall be pure and clean, and, by frequent inspection, the cleanliness of the dairies from w’hich the milk is obtained is secured. They give the public the fullest opportunity of proving the general quality of the milk they supply. This is as it should be, but the inspection by the public is altogether futile unless backed up by some Government measure which will ensure the punishment of careless and dirty people who dispose of milk unfit for use. The passing of a Bill such as that drafted by the Christchurch Board of Health, and the appointment of Government Inspectors would secure the public from the dangers they are continually undergoing and prevent epidemics such as that which now rages in Christchurch. The subject is one demanding immediate attention, and we hope that Mr. Stevens will use his best energies to secure the passage of the Bill.