298 



] Qurnal of Agriculturt, Victoria. 



[10 May, 1911. 



as an example of successful legislation. It came into force in the Metro- 

 politan Area in July, 1906; and the officers intrusted with the carrying 

 out of its regulations had the task before them of raising the standard 

 of the production and distribution of the milk supply, while at the same 

 time it was incumbent on them to effect that result as economically as 

 possible for the dairymen. As might have been expected under such 

 divided control, or want of control, as previously existed, they found 

 dairying being carried on under very varied conditions. A few places 

 were fairly satisfactory. In some others, a little better attention to sani- 

 tary detail, and some inexpensive constructional improvements, were all 

 that was asked for. But there were certain places where the conditions 

 under which milk was being produced and handled were vile. These 

 latter conditions were found to arise from ignorance, carelessness, and, 

 in some cases, even from wilful disregard of reasonable cleanliness. 



INSANITARY DAIRY CONDITIONS. 



Under advice, admonition, or threat of prosecution, according to their 

 respective class, many of these keepers of insanitary dairies improved 

 both their premises and condition of working ; and ultimately received 

 the statutory licence which marks premises as satisfactory. A few others 

 are still on the " withheld " list, which indicates that while their pre- 

 mises are not insanitary, they have not been kept consistently satisfactory. 

 Those who either could not, or would not, 'improve in their methods, have 

 had their application for licence refused ; and in such cases further sale 

 results in prosecution. 



The Licensing Provisions. 



The scope of this Act is sufficiently comprehensive to include under its 



provisions all premises from which milk is distributed in even the smallest 



quantity, either through sale or barter. Where any such disposal of milk 



takes place, a licence fee must be paid, and the premises and stock 



