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170
unsuitable van, especially in warm weather, is calculated to
increase its liability to further rapid contamination when it
reaches the milk-shop. The need for the use of preservatives
in milk would be to a considerable extent unnecessary were
proper conditions observed in transporting milk long distances,
but unfortunately these conditions are not carried out, and the
milk contractor is obliged, for this and other reasons, to resort
to boracic acid or other preservatives in order to protect his
pocket.
Milk, when it arrives at the milk-shop, is stored usually
either in the shop or in the yard at the rear of the premises,
where it remains for a variable period. Usually, in the case
of the larger milk-shops, it is kept in the churn in which it
arrives until the bulk is transferred to the barrow churn for
delivery, the remainder being kept for sale in the shop, in cases
where milk is sold both on and off the premises. In 145 (i.e.,
57 per cent.) of the milk-shops in the Borough of Battersea
milk is sold on the premises only, and the milk on arrival
is at once poured into the counter pan in the shop.
These pans hold from one to four or five gallons of milk, and
the milk in them is constantly exposed to contamination every
time a customer has to be served. In every instance a cover for
this receptacle is suggested in Battersea, but it is not
uncommon to find its use " more honoured in the breach than
the observance," and, as will be seen from the tabulated statement
of defects, 102 cautionary letters had to be sent for
neglect of this precaution in 1907. It is exceedingly difficult
to ensure that the covers are being used, and it is to be feared
that they are more frequently off than on the receptacle. The
stock of milk in these vessels constitutes the day's supply, and
the length of time it is exposed more or less to contamination
from the dust of the roadway, flies, &c., is dependent on the
amount of trade done and the use that is made of the cover.
That the condition of the milk, especially in the small general
shops to which allusion has already been made, becomes
seriously contaminated there can be little doubt, and it is little
cause for surprise that in the poorer districts where these small