360 MILK AND THE PUBLIC HEALTH CHAP. 



2. They are to be used in association with regular medical 

 supervision of the infants. 



3. The depots should be worked in conjunction with 

 careful home visitation either by a doctor, lady visitor, or 

 experienced hospital nurse. It is a matter of the greatest 

 importance in respect of the work of a milk depot to take 

 means to increase maternal responsibility. 



4. The control of the milk should begin at the farm, 

 instead of having the milk brought into the town in bulk and 

 then sterilised and treated. Whatever modifications milk is 

 to pass through, whatever manipulations it is to receive, 

 it should receive immediately after milking at the farm. 

 Newman, however, admits that this is not always possible. 



A fifth but less important point is 



5. The milk should be sold at market prices; only the 

 expenses of the depot itself, that is, the expense of the 

 management and distribution, should fall on the rates. The 

 children who come to the depot and are too poor to pay the 

 necessary market price, which will range from Is. 6d. to 2s. per 

 week, should be supplied with tickets through the Poor Law 

 under the form of outdoor relief. 



The figures and facts collected in regard to infants fed at 

 these depots show that these institutions have played an im- 

 portant part in the reduction of infant mortality in the areas 

 in which they have been operative. It is not possible 

 to determine the relative value which the pure milk itself, 

 and the additional care and advice bestowed upon the 

 infants, have respectively played in the reduction of infant 

 mortality and morbidity. Both no doubt have been valuable 

 factors. 



Used in conjunction with other efforts to minimise 

 maternal neglect and ignorance and to foster maternal 

 responsibility, milk depots have their place in the armament 

 of preventive measures, but at their best they can play a small 

 part only in the problem. They are in no way a substitute 

 for a general pure milk supply, and while in some places very 

 valuable, they are more or less temporary expedients not to be 

 recommended for wholesale adoption. If they are merely 

 used to supply sterilised milk at a price below the cost of 

 production, because subsidised out of the rates, to all who are 



