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234
1914]
(a) In this instance your Inspector, on visiting a slaughterhouse, examined the carcase of a
pig which had just been delivered by the railway van from a country district in Hertfordshire.
It was found that the right submaxillary gland contained tubercular deposits, but no
further traces of that disease could be found ; but it was also noted that the light costal pleura had
been stripped from the carcase, presumably owing to the presence of tubercular lesions thereon, and
also that the internal organs of the animal were absent, which gave grounds for presuming that
either the consignor or his servant or agent knew that the carcase was tuberculous, and that it
should have been wholly confiscated.
The whole matter was duly reported to you, with the result that the person on whose
premises the carcase was found, who could not, under the circumstances, be held in any sense
blameworthy, agreed to surrender it for destruction, and you then wrote a letter of caution to the
consignor.
Cowsheds.—The four cowsheds on the register have been satisfactorily conducted. 56 visits
were paid to them.
Offensive Tiades.—Comprising 3 tripe boilers, 2 gut scrapers and the knacker's yard,
received 95 visits during the year, and no grounds for complaint have arisen.

I am, Sir,
Yours obediently,
H. WILKINSON,
Inspector of Meat and other Foods
Milkshops and Dairies.—At the end of the year there were 585 milkshops
and dairies on the register, and these received frequent supervision during
the year.
In the report of the Medical Officer of Health for 1913 he dwelt on the
unsatisfactory state of the law in respect to these, and he only wishes now to
emphasise what he then stated, in the hope that the London County Council
may see their way to introduce a clause into one of their annual General
Powers Bills putting this matter on a proper basis, for, as the Borough
Council are advised, a Sanitary Authority can only remove from the register
the names of persons who occupy premises which are themselves in such a state
as to be likely to contaminate the milk, and consequently there is nothing
to prevent foods which might contaminate the milk being sold in these
milkshops.
THE ADULTERATION OF FOODS AND DRUGS
During the year 1,189 samples of various foods were obtained by Inspector
Burrell and submitted to the Public Analyst for examination; of these 1,072
were genuine, and 117, or 9.8 per cent., were adulterated. This is 0.5 per cent.
higher than the adulteration rate of the preceding year, but 11 below the
average rate which obtained during the last 23 years.