1034 PROCEEDINGS OF SECTION I. 
veterinary inspection of animals supplying the milk, and of the 
general want of medical and veterinary inspection of carcases for 
food. So unsatisfactory indeed is the condition of the milk 
supply, and so small the part taken by many Councils —that is, 
local authorities—in supervising it, that we feel the question 
to be one demanding careful consideration whether we should not 
ourselves do the work in districts where Councils hold aloof ; 
and as concerns the meat supply, we would invite your attention 
to the view we have several times expressed, viz., that for all 
communities of (say) 3,000 persons or more, the sale of meat for 
human consumption which has not undergone medical or veteri- 
nary inspection should be prohibited.” 
A Select Parliamentary Committee sat in New South Wales 
somewhere about twelve months ago, and elicited a considerable 
amount of important evidence on the matter of inspection in 
connection with abattoirs. This Committee reported that ‘“ the 
present system is far from satisfactory,” “that expert inspectors 
should be appointed,” and “ that the Government might even 
work abattoirs in the public interest.” The Committee justified 
this suggestion by eo ing: “This suggestion embodies an innova- 
tion ; but the importance of the matter to the general public would 
more than justify such a departure from the or dinary functions 
of Government,” 
The suggestion of this Select Committee goes beyond the 
advocacy of inspection merely. It all the more emphasises the 
necessity for efficient inspection at the hands of a State authority. 
If nothing short of working the abattoirs by the Goverament 
would meet the case, it the more strikingly demonstrates the 
present deplorable condition of things. So far as the other 
colonies are concerned, I have yet to learn that anything better 
can be reported. Even the supervision of milk supplies, simple 
as it may seem, is not attempted with anv more efficiency than the 
inspection of meat ; yet for years past Central Boards of Health, 
and professional and lay sanitarians, have times out of number 
made earnest appeals to the public, setting out the urgency of 
effective inspection on all food supplies. But they have in most 
of the colonies cried in vain, arousing no response but the sound 
of their own voices. 
New South Waies has had a Dairies’ Supervision Act upon its 
Statute Book for sixteen years, and yet the report of the State 
Board of Health is—‘ That a large number of prosecutions have 
been instituted by the Sydney Council against dairymen selling 
adulterated milk. The police also in a few districts have taken 
proceedings against persons who were not registered.” ‘There 
are, however,” 1t continues, ‘‘numerous cases where premises are in 
an insanitary condition, or where other breaches of the Act are 
committed, and offenders are not punished, as they should be, by 
a 
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