The principle involved in this amendment was very fully discussed here just a week ago, and all the arguments in favour of the amendment that have been emphasised and put before the House to-day were, with equal emphasis, trotted out to us on Second Reading. All the points in favour of this particular amendment were put very clearly before the House, and it becomes a bit tedious to have to repeat the same arguments again and to have to meet the same line of argument which was already met and which appeared to satisfy the House, when this matter was under discussion before. Senator Counihan, in the course of his remarks to-day, tells us that the average milk from an average cow will contain 3.5 per cent. of milk fat. If that is so, is it unreasonable to ask this House to ensure that milk which is to be the staple food of the children of this country should reach an average standard of quality? That is all we are asking in this Bill.
I pointed out on the last day on which we were discussing this matter that practically all the causes that go to contribute to a fall in the butter fat content below 3 per cent., at any rate, can be removed without any additional expense and at very little inconvenience to the producer of milk, that is, provided he sets himself out and takes sufficient interest in the production of milk of a reasonable standard of quality, to take the necessary steps to ensure that it will reach that standard. I contend, as I contended here the last time we were discussing this, that if a farmer sets out to make a living in this particular branch of agricultural industry, and if the community is guaranteed by statute that the milk produced and sold by any particular farmer or group of farmers will reach a certain standard of nutritive value, it is up to that farmer to produce milk of that standard of purity or nutritive value. If he finds that it is too troublesome, if he is not prepared to do that, he ought not be allowed to sell an article which purports to reach a certain standard of quality, but which does not, in fact, reach that standard.
I do not know whether Senator Wilson would agree with me in this House, but I do know that, outside this House, when discussing this subject with him, he does agree that the big contributing factor towards a fall in butter fat content below the 3 per cent. standard in morning milk is the irregularity of the milking, and I think that most Senators who are well informed on the subject, either by reason of having made a special study of it or by reason of practical experience, will agree that that is so. As I said when we were discussing this matter previously, there is the individual peculiarity of individual cattle. For no reason that I can explain, at any rate, a healthy and well-bred cow will sometimes give a low-grade milk, but if the producer of milk for sale to the public for the feeding of the children of the rising generation wishes to continue in that particular line of business, he has got to eliminate from his herd the cows that give milk of a low standard of butter content. To my mind, the acceptance of this amendment would leave us in a worse position than if we had not touched this Bill at all. The Senators who have argued that it cuts across the whole principle of the Bill have made that point as clearly and as emphatically as I can possibly make it.
All this thing about "straight from the cow" is all right up to a point. There is no question that the vast majority of milk producers are honest men and nobody wants to get the honest milk producers into any conflict with the law, but I think every Senator will agree with me that there are dishonest purveyors of milk, and it is these dishonest purveyors of milk we want to get at. Nobody for a moment suggests that it is anything like a universal practice to skim the milk and sell that skim milk for human consumption, while selling the strippings to the creamery or turning them into butter at home; but it does happen and it should not be allowed to happen, and it is in order that it will not happen in future that I want this amendment rejected. On the question of the fixing of standards, as Senators, I have no doubt, are aware, the standards of butter fat content and of solids other than fats are fixed by regulations made under the Principal Act by the Minister for Agriculture.
When discussing this question last week, Senator Wilson was particularly disturbed about that possibility if the Bill went through in its present form. I undertook to adopt a friendly attitude towards an amendment, to the effect that the Minister for Agriculture would lay the regulations setting out the standards before the House. I felt that Senator Wilson, Senator Counihan and other Senators, who were disturbed about this amendment of the Food and Drugs Acts, were satisfied with that undertaking. We are not setting out standards under this Bill. We are providing against fraud by abolishing the defence "straight-from-the-cow" and laying it down that whatever the standard of fats may be, whether 2.5, 3 or 3.5 per cent., which the wisdom of this and the other House decides upon, that this standard should obtain, and that for no reason the defence "straight-from-the-cow" should be given in future under any circumstances as an impressive defence. If a cow does not give milk of approved standard of quality the milk should not be sold for human consumption. Senators should remember that it is not one cow's milk is tested but mixed milk from a herd. You would have to have the majority of the herd giving milk below the standard prescribed in order that a conviction could succeed. There are seasonal variations. I believe they are governed, not so much by seasonal changes as by the period of lactation. As Senator Wilson knows, the period of lactation has more effect at certain seasons than at others. The question of feeding is not an important one at all. No matter how certain cows are fed they will give a low standard of milk. Feeding will not get over the difficulty, but care in milking, regularity in milking, to ensure that the cow is milked dry, and stripped properly so that no butter fat contents are left in the cow's udder when milking is completed will. These things will have to be attended to in future by producers of milk who do not wish to become entangled in the law. I do not wish to labour the matter further. Although the other amendment is not before the House, it is really related to this one. I am quite prepared favourably to consider that amendment and to recommend it to the Dáil. Senators will have an opportunity then of discussing these regulations and the percentages set out. If they can persuade the House that the standards set up by the Minister are too high, they can reject them for new regulations with lower standards. I think the standards should be set definitely and that any purveyor who sells milk not up to these standards should be liable to the penalties the law prescribes.