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65
The above replies alone when analysed showed that sore throat
illness had occurred amongst the customers of X in undue proportions
compared with other vendors, and can only be attributed to
some infective properties in the milk supplied, except upon the
hypothesis that X supplied 85 per cent. of the households in the area
from which these replies were received; but this I shall show later
on is a very much higher percentage of households than that actually
supplied by X.
Before proceeding with the next head of my enquiry, I have
to state my desire not to exaggerate the incident of sore throat
illness amongst X's customers. I applied to him for a list of them,
or what would have sufficed, the total houses supplied by him in
certain streets; at the same time I asked for the addresses of the
vendors supplying him with milk, but to these requests X informed
me verbally, that he had consulted others in the milk trade and had
been advised not to give me any more information as to his business,
than he was legally compelled to give. The information I asked for
he was not legally compelled to give, but I regret he did not see his
way to assist me.
3. House to house enquiries in special areas. In making
enquiries under this head, I had to take all forms of sore throat
illness into account, including what is generally known as mumps,
and the last was important because several medical practitioners
stated that in some respects the special throat illness resembled
mumps.
This part of my enquiry I divide into two—(1) Area "A." (2)
Area "B." The particular streets in these areas which I chose for
my enquiries were such as I thought would give reliable results.
Method.—Enquiry was made by an Inspector from house to house
in each of these localities as to (a) whether there was or had been
recently any illness in the house; (b) the character of the illness; (c)
the prevalence or not of foul odours: and (d) the milk supply of the
families. Where answers were obtained, certain corrections had to