204 ADMINISTRATIVE SECTION 



uncontrolled area may have a farm which is insanitary 

 and dirty to a degree. 



I am convinced that one of the first things to 

 be done in this country to improve the state of the 

 milk supply is to sweep away the awful conditions 

 of housing cattle which exist. 



Unfortunately at present the person legally 

 responsible for the insanitary conditions of the farm 

 is the tenant. The full responsibility should be placed 

 upon the landlord. 



Often enough I have found when I have tried to 

 get improvements carried out, that when the tenant 

 has approached his landlord to ask him to do some- 

 thing for him, he has been told that if the conditions 

 are not suitable for milk-selling, he will have to stop 

 and start cheese-making or rearing. I know the 

 situation is a difficult one, and far more difficult than 

 appears on the face of it; but there can be no question 

 that the owner of property must be made to fulfil his 

 obligations ; at present these obligations are more in a 

 moral sense than a legal one, and the only one which 

 is of real value is the legal one. Many landlords 

 cannot carry out the work required, their estates are 

 so heavily encumbered that it has become impossible 

 to spend money on the tenants ; but surely in a work 

 of such immense national importance, both to agricul- 

 ture and the preservation of the public health, it is not 

 too much to suggest that where such a set of condi- 

 tions does exist, compulsory powers should be available 

 for insisting on the work being carried out, the State 

 to advance loans at a low rate of interest and repay- 

 able over an extended period. 



I have seen it stated that this is not really the crux 

 of the problem, but that the dirty conditions existent 

 are of far greater importance. I know what it means 

 to keep stock, and I have experienced the many 

 difficulties, and I tell you it is impossible to keep these 

 dark, unventilated, overcrowded places clean. But 



