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36
The Battersea Infants' Milk Depôt.
The Battersea Infants' Milk Depot was established in June,
1901, as the outcome of a special report of the Health Committee
to the Council. The Depot was the first of its kind
established in London (though other Metropolitan Sanitary
Authorities, viz., Finsbury, Lambeth, and Woolwich, have
since followed suit), and the results obtained have more than
realised the hopes which were at its inception entertained by the
Committee.
The principles aimed at by the Committee were :—
(a) Absolute control of the milk, so that the article sold
from the Milk Depot should, so far as it was possible to secure,
be free from contamination previous to being modified and
sterilized. The objections to sterilizing an article already probably
polluted rendered it necessary to seek out a farm where
the conditions were such as to fulfil the requirements of the
Council in this respect.
(b) The distribution of the milk with discrimination and
care to infants mainly of the poorer class, whose mothers were
physically incapable of feeding their children on the breast.
(c) The systematic study of the effect of the milk on the
children.
(d) The sale of the milk to be as far as practicable conducted
without loss to the Council.
With regard to (a), the method adopted was to invite tenders
for the supply of a sufficient quantity of pure cows' milk under
contract, from a farm, and under stringent conditions as to
quality, freedom from risks of contamination, &c. This has not
been an easy task, as the requirements of the Council were such
as to apparently make it impossible for the ordinary farmer to
comply—though these requirements are only in accordance
with the minimum conditions laid down by sanitarians for the
cleanly production of milk. It would appear to be at present a