Pure Milk
In moving the second reading of 'the Milk and Dairies Bill, Mr. Hudson made out a strong case for transferring to the Ministry of Agriculture the duties of inspecting premises and methods of milk production. At a moment when it is a matter of urgent national policy to increase the production and consumption of milk, it is more than ever necessary to secure a supply that will everywhere be clean and wholesome, and put an end to con- ditions under which at present so much unreliable, not to say dirty, milk reaches the consumers. This question is not primarily a local one. The milk produced in one district is often transported daily to consumers a hundred or more miles away. The con- sumer in London or Birmingham is at the mercy of the zeal or lack of zeal of many distant local authorities. It is natural and proper that the department which is responsible for the livestock improvement schemes and for grading up the national dairy herd', and intends to have every herd inspected annually by veterinary surgeons, should undertake the task of imposing uniform sanitary standards on the milk. production centres, and seeing that the required conditions are carried out. This is a question of national health depending on the adoption of national standards, and it should rightly be in the hands of the Ministry of Agriculture. The opposi- tion to the Bill arose not from any hostility to its purpose, but from fear that the powers of local authorities were being whittled away. But the proof of the pudding is in the eating. Many of the local authorities have not proved capable of coping with the scandal of milk which is impure at the source. Under the Ministry we .shall be sure of one standard which will be imposed on all the dairy farmers, aryl nothing less will restore_ confidence in the quality of that food which of all foods is the most 'indispensable to nutrition and health. •
Previous page
