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38
MATTERS ASSOCIATED WITH THE SUPPLY OF MILK.
THE MILK AND DAIRIES AMENDMENT ACT, 1922.
REGISTRATION OF RETAIL PURVEYORS OF MILK.—The scheme of
administration under this Act for the City of London, which was detailed in my
Annual Report for 1922, subsequently received the approval of the Court of Common
Council and was put into operation in January, 1923.
It will be remembered that the former register of Dairymen, Cowkeepers and
Purveyors of Milk, kept under the Dairies, Cowsheds and Milkshops Orders, was
superseded, and the new Act required the Local Authority to keep two registers
of Milk Sellers, one relating to Retail Purveyors only, and the other to all Milkdealers,
other than Retail Purveyors.
The first step taken was to classify the existing registrations, and to ascertain
whether the conditions of business to which they related were, in all respects, such
as would justify a recommendation for transfer to the new register. For this
purpose a card of enquiry was completed for each business, giving detailed particulars
of matters relating to the storage and sale of milk, and the methods employed
in connection therewith.
At each meeting of the Sanitary Committee reports respecting premises were
presented, grouped under the following headings :—
1. Satisfactory.
2. Minor defects or omissions.
3. Defects of a more serious character.
4. Unsuitable for retention on the register.
Those in group 1 were recommended for registration. Those in group 2 were
similarly recommended, a letter having been sent previously to the proprietors
calling attention to the defects or omissions.
Letters were sent to the owners of businesses in group 3 notifying them of the
defects found, and intimating that unless satisfactory improvements were effected
the matters referred to would form the subject of a report to the Sanitary Committee,
who would consider whether their names should be retained on the register.
Registration was not recommended until the conditions were rendered satisfactory.
Those in group 4 were speciallv inspected, and a more detailed report on each
was presented to the Committee, who delegated the members of the Ward in
which the premises were situate to visit them so as to become more intimately
acquainted with the matters adversely reported upon. If they were deemed
to be capable of sufficient improvement, either by structural alteration, re-organization
or otherwise, the owners were afforded the opportunity of submitting schemes
to overcome the conditions found to be unsatisfactory. In some instances this
proved effective, and the proprietors were duly registered for a period of 12 months,
at the expiration of which the registrations will again be* reviewed.
Procedure similar to that detailed above was adopted in respect of new applications
and the applicants notified of the defects found. In these cases, however,
registration was not recommended under any circumstances until the premises and
business methods were deemed to be quite satisfactory.
In this way the various essential matters in connection with the formation of
the new register were considered, and the Sanitary Committee enabled to decide
whether it was desirable to permit a continuance of any registration in operation
at the commencement of the Act, and also whether new applications could be
granted. In addition, some degree of uniformity of compliance with requirements
was assured for both old and new registrations.
A schedule of defects, &c., found during the inspection of milk retailers'
premises is as below:—