A MATTER OF HEALTH.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXV, Issue 2168, 26 August 1907, Page 1

A MATTER OF HEALTH.

DISEASE LURKS IN THE MILK GAN. SCATHING REMARKS ON PRESENT SYSTEM. BY CHIEF HEALTH OFFICER. (Special to Times.) WELLINGTON, August 23. In the report of the Health Department there is some reference to the birth-rate amongst children. Dr. 51 a son states that gastro enteritis, diarrhoea, gastritis, etc., are very often the result of the imbibition of impure or unsuitable food. In a country such as this, Dr. Mason points out, there should- lie no difficulty in so arranging matters as to place milk outside the circle of contaminated or dei>recia<ted food, but the reverse is the case. Great care, energy and shrill is exercised in seeing tlia,t customers oversea get none blit tlie best butter and cheese, whilst little, if any, is expended upon tlie milk consumed bv our own people. His attention had been drawn to this, and latterly something had been done, but until tlio Pure Food Bill lias been placed upon the Statute Book all efforts to secure that tills most important article of diet shinl! come to the consumer irr a clean and wholesome condition must fail. When one contrasts the manner in which a small country like Denmark manages such things and

with what obtains in New Zealand one feels ashamed. The ideal conditions would embrace some of the following:—Healthy cows, sanitary byres, dean milkers, suitable dairy, proper cans, insulated cool railway carriages, expeditious delivery, storage (where necessary) in cool chambers, and delivery to the householder in clean glass bottles. As a matter of fact-nearly every one of these conditions is wanting in many instances. Any day at Thorn clou station, Welington, there can he seen milk being transferred from can to can, open to all the dust and dirt that blows about. To watch the feeble efforts mildo to wash the cans with a quart or so of water tumbled from one can to another ought to ho enough to touch the heart of every father and mother.