View report page

52
three retailers keep their own cows. There are altogether 71 purveyors
of milk registered, and 68 of them obtain their milk from outside
sources.
We have to depend upon a supply which is not capable of supervision
by our own officials. Apart from this aspect of the question,
the difficulty of transport from the farms also arises. It is well known
that warm transit means impure decomposing milk. The railway
companies do not provide different vehicles for the summer from
those used in the winter, and none provide refrigerating vans for milk
in this country.
These and similar considerations have acted as stimuli in the
establishment of Municipal Milk Depots in different parts of the
country. At the recent conference on Infantile Mortality., this question
was dealt with by flr. McCleary, who gave particulars of the
work done at Battersea. Most speakers praised the work done by
these depots, but it was admitted that they dealt with a symptom and
not with the cause. Some were inclined to believe that our efforts
should be aimed at obtaining a pure milk supply, and thus obviate
the necessity of pasteurizing and such treatment of the milk. A much
stricter supervision of the milk supply is necessary, especially in rural
districts, where the conditions under which it is produced leave much
to be desired.
One word of explanation is necessary as to the objects of these
•depots. The argument has been used that their establishment tends
to diminish the number of mothers who suckle their babies. The
work of a milk depot should not be looked upon as limited to the
handing of bottled, modified and more or less sterlized milk over a
municipal counter. It is claimed that the milk depot may be made
even to promote breast feeding among mothers. At Battersea, the
milk was not supplied for ah infant under 9 months old, unless the
mother could produce a written recommendation from a doctor that
she was unable to suckle her child.
The same objection has been raised to the establishment of
Municipal Creches. It has been said that it would discourage breast
feeding. It will be remembered that a clause was proposed in the
Acton Improvement Act empowering the Council to establish and