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It will be noted that there has been a considerable decrease
in the number of general shops and dwelling houses. This has
been effected as the result of the Council's action in availing
themselves of the new powers conferred upon them under the
General Powers Act. Accordingly the Medical Officer of Health
was instructed to revise the register, and with that object a
special inspection of all premises in the Borough wherein milk
was sold was carried out. Special attention was devoted to
premises which, owing to the varied character of the business
carried on therein, could not be considered sanitarily suitable for
the sale of milk, such for example as general shops, dwelling
houses, etc. The owners of these premises were asked to comply
with the Council's requirements in such circumstances, to limit
the risk of exposure of the milk to contamination. In a large
number of cases, as this part of the business was of an insignificant
character, rather than incur the expense involved in taking
measures for as far as possible safeguarding their milk from
injury, it was decided to discontinue its sale and application was
made by the owners to have their registration cancelled. In a fewcases
some difficulty was experienced in getting some of these
persons to comply with the minimum requirements, but eventually
the revision of the register was satisfactorily completed.
The number of general shops in which the sale of milk was
carried on has, therefore, been considerably reduced. Those
premises in which milk was continued to be sold were rendered
sanitarily more suitable, or rather less objectionable. The
measures taken in such cases to protect the milk from contamination
were to require that articles likely to affect the milk injuriously
were not to be sold, at least in that part of the premises
in which the milk was exposed for sale, and that as an additional
safeguard a specially constructed safe was to be provided for
holding the counterpan in which the milk was contained.
It was further decided by the Health Committee that the
owners of new general shops were not in future to be placed on
the register.