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all the cows in the London cowsheds, and the results of the veterinary inspector's examination are
shown in the following table :—

The 28 cows suffering from tubercular disease of the udder were slaughtered, and the carcases
destroyed, compensation being paid by the Council to the owners in accordance with the provisions
of the London County Council (General Powers) Act of 1904.
During the year the President of the Local Government Board introduced a bill into Parliament
providing for the supervision of dairies and of the conduct of the milk business. The bill was not
proceeded with. A circular letter was issued by the Board of Agriculture to Local Authorities on
27th May, 1909, enclosing copy of an Order to come into operation on 1st January, 1910, providing
for the notification and slaughter of tuberculous cattle subject to compensation; the Order was,
however, subsequently withdrawn.
London County Council (General Powers) Act, 1907.—Part IV.
Milk Supply (Tuberculosis).
Part IV. of the Act of 1907 empowers the County Medical Officer of Health or other duly
authorised person to take, within and without the County, samples of milk produced or sold or intended
for sale within the County ; and, having obtained a justice's order, in company with a veterinary
surgeon, to enter any dairy from which milk is being sold or suffered to be sold or used within the
County, and to inspect the cows kept therein, and if the Medical Officer or such authorised person
has reason to suspect that any cow is suffering from tuberculosis of the udder he may take samples of
the milk of such cow. If it appears to the Council that tuberculosis is caused, or is likely to be
caused, to persons residing in the County from the consumption of milk from any dairy, or from any
cow kept therein, the Council may make an order prohibiting the supply of such milk in the County
until the order has been withdrawn, and any person contravening the order is liable to a penalty
not exceeding £5, and for a continuing offence to a daily penalty not exceeding 40s. Appeal may
be made against the Council's order.
On 11th February, 1908, the Council delegated to the Public Health Committee, the authority
conferred by Part IV. of this Act, dealing with tuberculous milk and fixed the 1st July, 1908,
as the date upon which the Act should become operative. During the year under review, the
method of procedure adopted was as follows : Samples were taken by the Council's inspectors from
churns of milk consigned from the country to the various London railway termini, and submitted to
the Lister Institute for bacteriological examination. In the case of those samples in respect to which
the examination proved that there was evidence of the presence of tubercle bacilli, a clinical examination
of the cows at the dairy farm from which the milk had been consigned was made by a
veterinary inspector, appointed for the purpose under the Act, and cows found to have tuberculous
udders were certified for the purposes of the Dairies and Cowsheds Orders and copies of the
certificates were forwarded to the local sanitary authorities concerned. During the year under review
2,325 samples of milk were taken. The milk had been sent to London from the following counties :
Bedfordshire, Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Cambridgeshire, Derbyshire, Dorsetshire, Essex, Gloucestershire,
Hampshire, Hertfordshire, Huntingdonshire, Kent, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, Middlesex, Norfolk,
Northamptonshire, Nottinghamshire, Oxfordshire, Rutlandshire, Somersetshire, Staffordshire, Suffolk,
Surrey, Sussex, Warwickshire, Wiltshire and Worcestershire, and the samples were taken principally
from churns at stations of the Great Western, the Great Eastern, the Great Northern, the Great Central,
the Midland, the Metropolitan, the London, Brighton and South Coast, and the London and North
Western and South Western Railwav ComDanies.
The following table shows the number of samples taken during the period under review, 18th
January to 31st December, 1909, the counties from which they were derived, and the results of the
bacteriological examination at the Lister Institute.
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