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56
The above facts make out a case for interference, and admitting
the difficulties surrounding the subject, and allowing for constitutional
deficiencies in the parents, etc., I am satisfied that good will
accrue from the establishment of a Milk Depot at which to provide,
and from which to distribute, suitable sterilised wholesome
milk for the feeding of infants, chiefly of the poorer classes, amongst
whom ignorance and carelessness most abound, and whose children,
unfortunately, are unable to secure Nature's food from Nature's
supply. Whatever is done, it must be definitely understood that
no artificial method can compare in any way with Nature's supply.
In the opinion of some, it cannot be too much emphasised that
a Municipality is not justified in underselling, or even entering
into the slightest unfair competition with, private traders at the
cost of the rates. What I propose is what the Trade has, practically,
never offered to do, and there can, consequently, be no
injury to any of its members. The establishment of a Milk Depot
is most needed for the Inner Districts, and as Waterloo Road
District is the greatest sufferer from infantile mortality, and as
this particular district contains a Children's Hospital and a
Lying-in Hospital, and is closely adjacent to a large General
Hospital, I suggest that, for these reasons, such a Milk Depot
should be established in that particular district. Further, such
Milk Depot should be established under thestrict medical supervision
of your Medical Officer of Health, and should also, if possible, be
in touch with Benevolent Institutions and Hospitals, where
children and infants attend for treatment, or other purposes.
Indeed, with the help of one or two such Institutions or Hospitals,
the financial, as well as other, success of the undertaking should
be assured.
I have already received written promises of support from the
Royal Hospital for Women and Children, in Waterloo Road;
St. Thomas's Hospital, on the Embankment; and the Lying-in
Hospital, in York Road; so that the difficulties that had
hitherto presented themselves to me, and which had held me
back previously from reporting to, and advising, the Council, on
the subject of the establishment of a Milk Depot, have disappeared.
The experiment may now be tried in Lambeth with
every prospect of success; but I suggest that we proceed
cautiously, and on a small scale to commence with. A house, or
separated part of a house, should be taken in the nieighberhood
of the three Hospitals named (e.g., York Road), and fitted up
with an approved sterilising apparatus, stock of bottles and wire
baskets, apparatuses for washing out, rinsing, and filling the
bottles, tank for mixing the milk, weighing machine, etc. Each
basket should contain 6, 7, 8 or 9 bottles (according to the ages