[Reports and Appendices] of the Irish Milk Commission, 1911.
- Great Britain. [Royal] Commission on the Irish Milk Supply.
- Date:
- 1913
Licence: In copyright
Credit: [Reports and Appendices] of the Irish Milk Commission, 1911. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Library & Archives Service. The original may be consulted at London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Library & Archives Service.
1044/1108 (page 162)
![air. J. W. RoBERTSON-ScoTT.—11th NovemhcT, 1912. paddock, with foot-high benches out of the wind, and perfectly dry. I think there is a saying in Horace : My little goat safe from wind and wet.' 32498. Mr. Wilson.—With regard to the reason for liaving the goat developed in those islands, you wrot€ an essay to draw attention to the milk-failure in rural districts. Are you able to say something as to the difficulty the labouring man in rural districts has with regard to the supply of milk?—I can only say that in my ov\-n hamlet, which is within 35 miles of London, arid at night-time, within the glare of the city, there are a considerable number of labourers who never have any milk supply at all. •32499. Do you mean for thei# infants?—No, nothing but condensed milk: they get into the way of drinking it, and even make rice puddings of it. They also get into the way of drinking their tea and coffee without milk. .32500. Lady Evei!.\1!D.—Are they labourers or small farmers?—In my district all the farmers are large farmers. These are the agricultural labourers I am speaking of. All the milk is sent to London. 32501. Do not the farmers give them milk or allow them to buy it?—No, there is the difficulty of—>— 32502. Peddling it you mean?—Yes, that is the very word: peddling it out in penuywosths and half- pennyworths to the labourers, whose children do not always bring the money with them, all of which means a lot of work, and so keeps the servants from doing other work. I had a surplus once, and offered to let the labourers have it, and asked them only the same price they had to pay for condensed milk. But eventually I had to find some excuse for not supplying it. It caused such »a lot of bother ; they would not come at a regular hour, and as often as not they forgot to bring the penny. It was no end of bother. I can quite understand the position of the farmers, although it seems dreadful, and undoubtedly the childi'en are suSering from lack of milk. 32503. Mr. Wilson.—Very interesting. We have a very similar state of affairs in Ireland. Most of the creameries take the milk wholesale in Ireland, and do away with peddling.—Mine is not exactly a dairy district'In Essex: the farmers keep cows for their own use, so that it is a bit of a favour to get milk at all. There have been occasions when cottagers have been ill, and they could not get milk: but I have had n;iy ordinary supply and have given them some of it. 32504. I see that in an article you mention families brought up without an adequate supply of milk, and that they were ready to buy it?—That is so. It is not so much a shortage of money, but we have to remember some households have got into the way of doing without milk, and that being so the more they do without it. 32505. Sir Stewai;t Woodhouse.—Do you know whether the condensed milk is condensed from separated or whole milk?—I don't know. There are very different brands. 32506. IMr. Wilson.—Have you any other suggest<>d alternative besides the goat for getting over the lack of milk in the labourer's cottage? We have had it suggested that it would be possible to have milk clubs, and order the milk from the farmer or creamery in large quantities and to have it delivered round?—^That is an admirable idea, and would meet the difficulty. 32507. It would get rid of peddling for pennies.—The farmer is not prepared to keep a slate for halfpennies and pennies, and to have the servants worried and always making excuses when wanted for something else that they have been attending to the milk. (To Mr. Wilson) : It is not your experience that in the Scottish dairying districts—Aberdeenshire for instance—there is any shortage? Mr. Wilson.—I don't know the country. 32508. Miss McNeill.—In Holland is it not the custom to deliver milk from dog wagons?—Yes: but in Holland there must be quite a large number of small men keeping cows, and they would not feel the same objection as the large farmers—I am speaking of farmers of five or six hundred acre?. 32509. Mr. Wilson.—Well, we find the small man with only one cow sends his milk to the creamery wholesale ruther than sell it to the neighbours and labourers. Miss McNeill.—That is true of labourers them- selves who have had a cow. Is it not a question of trading when they get into trouble with their neighbours?—The children appear without the money, and it makes trouble between the neighbours. 32510. Mr. Wilson.—How have they got over that trouble in Holland when the labourer has not sense enough to send the money at the time? Do you know whether there is any device by which that difBculty is got over?—I shall be pleased to make an inquiry abo\it this and let Mr. Strange know. 32511. Sir Stewakt Woodhouse—We have had sugges- tions of a ticket system?—I should think the milk supply is met to a very considerable degree by the large number of goats and milk-sheep in Holland. The number of goats in Holland is enormous for six million people. There are some 230,000 goats, and the number in- creases. I was assured by the State agricultural teachers more than once that their labourers did not suffer from a lack of milk. 32512. Mr. Wilson.—With regard to Holland, it would be interesting if you could give us on our notes a few figures with regard to milk-yielding, etc., in Holland. We have started in many parts of Ireland cow-testing associations, and the more information we can get the better?—Certainly. No one can go through rural Holland, and make inquiries as I did, without being struck by the way the milk yields have been increased by the State control. (Reading from his book)— In Friesland the average milk yield in the best herds of cows is given as 860 gallons and over when all the animals, including those which have calved for the first time, are included. On best soils an average below 645 gallons is not found, but on sandy soils there must be lower yields. Shall I pursue the question? .32513. Mr. Wilson.—Yes. Witness (reading)—In the one province of Friesland milk records are kept of 53,000, or nearly one-third of the milking cows in the province. Here is a case in a report to the dairy instructor of the province of what a farmer, whose cows were controlled, obtained in 1909—-1,300 lbs. more butter than in 1909 under similar conditions. 32514. Do you know what has been done in Holland with regard to the elimination of tuberculosis from cattle?—I have noted the conditions in which the State compensates for slaughtering tuberculous cattle. 32515. That will be interesting to us?—For cattle slaughtered for tuberculosis generally, or of the udder onl\ ? I simply describe them as tuberculous cattle, and would not like to charge my memory. The farmer agrees to permit his whole stock to be examined by the Government veterinary inspector, to assist in the examination, to lead all diseased cattle to slaughter after valuation, and to buy only healthy cattle inspected by the Government vet. 32516. Lady Ever.\rd.—Do you remember having seen any of the tubei'cle-free herds?—I have an impression of seeing several tubercle-free herds. 32517. Sir Stewart Woodhouse.—Thank you very much for your expert knowledge on goats, which was very material. The goat has but few friends with us?— If there is an^- information I can obtain I shall be glad to do so if Mr. Strange communicates with me. May I add that in reading Mr. Prothero's new book on the History of English Farming he speaks of six or ten ewes giving as much milk as a goat. 32518. Sir Stewai'.t Woodhouse.—Does he say what breed?—That was in the Middle Ages. You must, of course, remember that goats' milk will stand the addition of water. 32519. Sir Stewart Woodhouse—And ewes' milk even more, because there is more fat in it.—Have you any evidence that goats' milk wants careful handling in cooking, because otherwise it curdles? 32520. We have not had any evidence?—Well, there is an objection because it curdles, but anyone accustomed to use goats' milk would never use cows'. 32521. From my own experience I prefer goats' milk? —Even to a cup of coffee it gives quite a different flavour. 32522. It is excellent for porridge. Have you any experience of making butter from it?—Yes; an ordinary grocers' sweet bottle will do. About half a bottleful, give it a shaking, and in ten minutes you have butter. But people must understand that in handling goats' milk the vessels must be perfectly clean, because of the fat, which more readily takes up odours and more readily goes bad. 32523. Have you ever drunk ewes' milk?—No, I never tasted it. Sir Stewart Woodhouse.—It is very rich. In a subsequent comnmnication to the Secretary ot the Conunission, Mr. Robertson Scott wrote :—I learn from Holland that the labovn-ers in the ])rovince of (h'oningen had difficulty in getting milk from the farmers, when their milk-sheep or goats were dry. But the families on the route of the co-operative](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b21358485_1054.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
