London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972
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Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
Finsbury 1905
Report on the public health of Finsbury 1905 including annual report on factories and workshops
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| Date of Trial. | Defendants' Name and Address | Article | Where seized and Name of Inspector | Penality and Costs In flicted. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sept. 13 | Michael John Ludgate, 214, Bartholomew Buildings, Seward Street, Finsbury. | A quantity of pears weighing about 200 lbs. These pears were rotten and almost unsaleable. | On a stall in Whitecross Street, Finsbury. (Inspector Billing.) | 10s. and 2s. costs. |
| Nov. 23 | Harry James Green, 39, Bath Street, Finsbury. | Thirty-three pieces of beef weighing 376 lbs. The whole of this beef was foreign—and was mouldy, slimy and smelt very offensively. | 39, Bath Street, Finsbury. (Inspector Billing.) | £15 and £5 5s. costs. |
| Dec. 5 | Lipton Ltd., (Secretary, W. S. Carmichael), Registered Office, City Road, B.C. | Five pieces of pork weighing 282 lbs. These five pieces of pork consisted of a head, a piece of collar, a piece of the pillars of the diaphragm, and two sides from which the head, collars, flanks, kidneys and kidney fat had been removed. The whole of it was affected with generalised tuberculosis. | At a Sausage Factory in the occupation of Lipton, Ltd., situated in Cayton Street, City Road. (Inspector Billing.) | £50 and £21 costs. |
It has been my practice to advise prosecution only in cases about
the seriousness of which there could be no doubt whatever; that is
to say, we have only taken to Court cases where the meat seized
was extremely unsound or in a state of advanced disease, or cases
where continued warnings have been of no avail. In other
cases, where extenuating circumstances of one kind or another
existed, we have been satisfied with reprimanding or warning the
owner of the meat, and in that way have given him the benefit of
any doubt. This policy has been adopted, not from any desire to
diminish the absolute strictness of meat inspection, and, where
necessary, prompt prosecution, but from a knowledge of the
ordinary exigencies and difficulties of the trade, especially in hot
weather.