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235
[1903
BAKEHOUSES.
These places are dealt with in Part IV. of this report which treats
of the work done under the Factory and Workshops Act, because such work
must be reported on as a whole (vide p. 175).
KITCHENS OF RESTAURANTS AND EATING HOUSES.
These are also dealt with in Part IV. of this report under the heading of
" The Administration of Factory and Workshop Act, 1901."
MILKSHOPS AND DAIRIES.
There were at the end of the year 674 milkshops, dairies, and premises
where milk was sold on the register, as compared with 661 at the end of the
preceding year. They were from time to time carefully inspected, with the
result that it became necessary in 47 instances to serve notices, and in two
instances to prosecute the proprietors for keeping the milk vessels in a dirty
condition. In each of these cases the defendants were cautioned by the
magistrates and fined a small penalty.
ADULTERATION OF FOOD AND DRUGS.
There were 1,016 samples of food and drugs submitted to the Public
Analyst (Mr. F. L. Teed, D.Sc.) as compared with 932 in the previous year,
and with an annual decennial average of 769. The increase in the number of
samples was due to the desire of the Public Health Committee that in future
not less than 1,200 samples should be procured annually. This resolution
came into effect in the fourth quarter, when 301 samples were examined, as
compared with 284 in the first quarter, 203 in the second quarter, and 228 in
the third quarter. The number now fixed on is none too many, for it is to be
recollected that nearly fifty per cent. of the samples are milks, and twenty per
cent. butter and margarine. These may seem large percentages of the
whole number of samples examined, but it must not be forgotten that they are
the chief foods of the people that are liable to adulteration, and are, in fact,
the articles that are most frequently and most largely adulterated.
Q 2