View report page

53
The following official publications were also issued during the year. They
contained much information which will be of considerable value to those interested in
food supply and control.
Reports to the Local Government Board—
i. On the use of Proprietary Foods for Infant Feeding, by Dr. F. J. H.
Coutts.
ii. On the Analysis and Composition of some Proprietary Foods for Infants,
by Mr. Julian L. Baker, F.I.C.
Report to the Local Government Board on Localised Tuberculosis in Swine,
by Dr. A. Eastwood and Dr. F. Griffith.
INFANTS' MILK BILL, 1914.
The Infants' Milk Bill was a private Bill, presented in the early part of the year,
and contemplated the compulsory sale by Local Authorities of pure milk to mothers, in
quantities not exceeding one quart daily, for three months after confinement.
The qualifying provisions required the mother to have been resident in the district
for one month prior to confinement, and also that, she should be entitled to Maternity
Benefit under Section 8 of the National Insurance Act, 1911.
The prices to be charged were to be fixed by the Local Government Board after
consultation with the local Sanitary Authority, and no person was to suffer any
disqualification or disfranchisement by reason only of the acceptance of the milk under
this Bill.
I was unable, however, to advise the Sanitary Committee to take any active
measures to support the Bill.
In my opinion it is inadvisable for a Sanitary Authority to undertake the sale of
milk.
The duty of the Sanitary Authority in this connection is clear. They are
entrusted with the responsibility of ensuring that milk sold in their district is pure and
clean, and it would obviously be anomalous for them to enter into competition with
other sellers of this article of diet.
It was not proposed to give, but to sell the milk, so the Bill was apparently not
inspired by economic considerations.
In the City, the Corporation, as is referred to elsewhere, annually allocates a sum
of £40 to be expended in purchasing milk for resident mothers who breast-feed their
infants.
By reason of pressure of public business, the Bill was not proceeded with.