THG JOURNAL^ 



OF 



TPfie department of 



VICTORIA 



LIBRARY 



NEW YORK 



bOTANICAL 



UAKUEN. 



Vol. IX. 



Part 5. 



tOth May, 1911. 





THE CITY .MILK SUPPLY. 



y. iS. McFadzean, Dairy Supervisor , Metropolitan Area. 



Fresh milk is one of the foods in universal use for which we have 

 no substitute. It is nourishment alike for the infant and aged, the invalid, 

 and the robust. Unfortunately, it has the disadvantage of being a 

 perishable product, which deteriorates rapidly ; and, unless proper care 

 is taken in its handling, it may in a few hours become anything but a 

 palatable food. It has also the disadvantage of being very easily 

 adulterated, and thereby reduced in quality to a serious degree without 

 possibility of detection by other than analytical examination. 



Legislative Powers. 



Recognising the necessity for keeping this nutritious and necessary 

 food up to a proper standard of purity, the Victorian Legislature passed 

 laws to control both it.s production and distribution. Every farm that 

 produces milk for city supply, including the cattle, fodder, water, and 

 utens.ls that are used in connexion with the dairy work, is under strict 

 su])ervision. The milking cows are subjected to systematic manual examina- 

 tion by officers trained to the work ; and, should any not be in satisfactory 

 health, they are prohibited from u.se temporarily or permanently, accord- 

 ing to how they are affected. The carriage and subsc(|uent distribution 

 of the milk is also under supervision by this same staff. The distribution 

 is under the surveillance of another staff, whose special province it is to 

 sample the milk as a check against its being adulterated. Samples are 

 taken on the farms, on railway stations, and from dairies or milk waggons, 

 at any hour of the day or night ; and any one found selling an inferior, 

 adulterated, or otherwise unwhulesome product, is pro.st-cuted forthwith. 

 Consequently, it is likely that no food product is of a more satisfactory 

 grade of quality than the milk supplied to those cities and towns of 

 Victoria, where the Milk and Dairy Supervision Act is enforced. 



Not only as an administrative movement, protective of the i)ublic 

 health, but as an economic projiosition that has bein'fited largely tho.se 

 who are engaged in the husinrss concerned, this .Art stands out promiiuntly 



4!M(i M 



