[Reports and Appendices] of the Irish Milk Commission, 1911.

  • Great Britain. [Royal] Commission on the Irish Milk Supply.
Date:
1913
Catalogue details

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.

    48/1108 (page 28)
    1st December, 191]. Professor Falknee C. Mason, m.r.c.v.s., examined. 716. The Chairman.—You are Inspector oi Dairies in the Rathdown Union?—Yes. 717. And you also lecture on Hygiene in the Univer- sity of Dublin?—Yes. I also have been engaged in giving lectures on Veterinary Hygiene by the Depart- ment of Agriculture throughout the entire of Ireland. 718. And you, naturally, travelling over the entire country as you have done, became conversant with the districts m which the milk supply was deficient?—Yes. 719. And on making inquiries you have ascertained, at all e stents so far as you could gather from casual con- versations with people resident in these districts, the causes which have led to this condition. Will you kindly give us your opinion?—The deficiency in milk is confined to certain districts, and is by no means uni- versal. Sin.-^e I had an invitation to attend here I visited a creamery, and I have here particulars for 1910 and 1911 of the milk that was obtained at that creamery. 720. Mr. O'BraEN.—In gallons?—Yes. 721. Have you got the number of cows?—No, you could not get that. In May, 1910, there were 25,498 galls.; in May, 1911, 32,511 galls.; in June, 1910, 43,903 galls.; June, 1911, 53,146 galls.; in July, 1910, 45,684 galls.; July, 1911, 53,027 galls.; August, 1910, 41,842 galls.; August, 1911, 46,467 galls.; September, 1910, 32,401 galls.: September, 1911, 42,989 galls.: October, 1910; 27,594 galls.: October, 1911, 35,036 galls. Total for 1910, 216,924 galls.; total for 1911, 263,276 galls., which gives an increase in six months of 46,352 galls. 722. The Chairman.—That is a very substantial in- crease indeed?—I look upon that as being due to the excellent management of the creamery for one thing, and also to the best methods being employed by the farmers in that district. 723. Prof. Mettam.—Will you tell us approximately the district?—It is in Coimty Tyrone. • 724. Sir John Lentaigne.—Is all the milk of the district going to the creamery, not to the childreu?—I think that a mean mother would possibly rob her chil- dren whether there was a creamery or not; but it seems to me that you might as well blame the pro- prietor of a bacon factory because people no longer cure their own pork, which they sell at 4d. a lb., and buy foreign bacon at 7d. a lb., You cannot blame the bacon factory for that. I know a case of a \\'oman in Kings- town who made a large fortune and buried twelve of her thirteen children. Her husband asked her for an egg, and she said she could sell it for Id. 725. The Chairman.—Sir John Lentaigne asked the question whether the fact of this creamei'y industry being supported with so much diligence in the district is the means of curtailing the household supply of milk. I suppose it would be possible to ascertain that only by visiting the homes of the people?—I have done that, and in a great many places people never give their children milk or porridge or wholesome food, but that is really due to their ignorance. They consume shop bread and tea which is always stewing. 726. Mr. Campbell. j^What is the price of the milk? —4:^d. a gallon in summer and 5:^d. a gallon in winter. I am only giving you the retvirns of the central branch, in which £30,000 was the turn-over in the last year, and working expenses were five per cent, on the turn-over for sinking fund, interest, and for other expenses of all sorts. 727. Would the creamery sell milk to people who came to them for 2d. a gallon?—I do not know. My point is, that where you have good rnanagement, and where farmers do their business well, and that the creamery does its business well, you can have an in- crease of the milk supply of the district. When I speak of deficiency or increase I speak of the general community. The creamery I spoke of is under co- operative management. 728. Prof. Mettam.—How does tliat price compare with creameries in other parts of the country?—About an average. Mr. O'Brien.—4Jd. a gallon throughout Ireland, or 4J-d. would be about the average. 729. The Chairman.—Does this creamery work for the entire year?—Yes. They do not separate milk on Sundays in the North of Ireland. 730. Miss McNeill.—Is there a likelihood that the increase you have noted means, not so much an in- crease in the production, as in the quantity produced and kept from the homes?—Personally I do not think so. It is quite possible, but it is not my experience. 731. Dr. Moorhead.—Have you any idea of the area of the district that the creamery draws its supply from?—About three miles. 732. The Chairman.—That is in a district in which you believe no shortage exists?—No, because the man- agement is so good. 733. Does it not seem rather a pity that such an essential food as milk undoubtedly is for children, and growing boys and girls, is withheld from them, when it is sold at such a moderate price?—I think it is abso- lutely indispensable to supply a child with milk. 734. Mr. Campbell.—Your evidence is that you do not know whether it is withheld or not?—Yes. 735. Lady Everard.—Do they sell milk?—I do not know. 736. The Chairman.—Have you had any opportunity of inspecting the milk stock in that particular district?— I have. 737. And you also had an opijortunity of seeing under what conditions they are kept?—I had. 738. Speaking generally, do you think that these conditions are satisfactory or otherwise?—I think, com- pared with other parts of Ireland, they are good. I have never yet been in any place that was not capable of some improvement, but the breed of cattle up there on the whole is good also, because you find a great many prize-winners from that district. There is a fine district leading on to Cookstown. 739. Do you think that due attention is paid to the artificial feeding of these cattle at seasons when the pastures are not luxuriant?—The people are very good, and they do more winter feeding than in other districts. 740. They carry on a mixed system of farming?— Yes. 741. In a district of that kind it is always possible to carry on winter dairying?—Yes. 742. You believe a certain amount of tillage is essen- tial for the prosecution of winter dairying?—Yes, and above all things to the health of the animals. You cannot have winter dairying without labour. The til- lage provides man with work and also winter feeding for cattle, and it also banishes disease from the stock. Just for three months, some years ago, in that very district, the amount that was received went down enormously through one disease, and all these diseases can be traced to want of labour and neglect of the land. 743. Did your observation in that district enable you to determine whether those engaged in the milk in- dustry, in drawing the milk from the cows and in the transmission of the milk to the dairies, were cleanly in their habits?—On the whole, yes. They are rather a superior class of people in point of cleanliness and matters of that kind. For instance, every man who attends my lectures wears a collar and tie. 744. We are not much concerned with their holiday attire before a lecturer, but in their garb when drawing milk from the cow?—They deserve credit for their ap- pearance. On the whole, the district is satisfactory. Even there, of course, there might be improvements. 745. Your travels throughout the country are not limited to that particular district?—No 746. You have travelled throughout other parts of Ireland?—Yes. I wish to withhold the name of the county in the case I am going to mention. 747. Dr. Moorhead.—The industry of these particu- lar people struck you as being conspicuous in the dis- trict in Co. Tyrone?—Yes. In one of the most fertile counties in Ireland, chiefly devoted to pasturage, the people depend upon the land to provide them with rnilk. During the summer they have their cows very often milked by female labour imported for the pur- pose, and during the winter months practically nothing in done. The animals are kept in a disgraceful man- ner during the winter. The conditions under which the cows are kept beggar description. You have a cow- shed containing forty cows, a bad floor, mud walls, a thatched roof, cows tail by tail, drainage down the centre, inclined to lie in puddles; ventilation through slits in the wall, which open into a lean-to shed of corrugated iron in which pigs are kept; the drainage of the pigs and cattle emptying into a stagnant pool within ten yards of the dairy. I do not say that this is typical of Ireland, but I mention it to show that where people are industrious and, the methods are* good you' will have a satisfactory milk supply from the hygienic, as well as from the commercial, point of view. What brought me to that man's place was because his losses were becoming so serious among his cows and calves. The Chairman.—That was not difficult to understand.