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94
Since the coming- into force of this section no name has been
placed on the Register until the shop has been found to be suitable,
not only in construction, but also with reference to the character
of the business, its associations and prevailing conditions.
Many of the applications are refused in the first instance, either
because the premises arc unsuitable, or the conditions of trading
render the milk liable to contamination.
In these small shops the number and variety of articles stocked
is often very large, and may include articles like paraffin and boot
blacking; the premises are generally overcrowded with stock
and difficult to keep clean. The proprietors admit that they sell
very little milk-but as it is usual for buyers to wish to purchase
it with their tea, coffee sugar, or bread, the discontinuance of
milk-selling would lead to a serious loss of custom. This is a
very fair and reasonable contention, but the liability of milk to
become contaminated and to act as a carrier of disease renders it
imperative in the interest of the consumer that all possible precautions
shall be taken.
These shops are therefore frequently visited and the owners
instructed and advised as to the measures they should take. One
precaution is especially insisted upon-that the milk shall be kept
in closed vessels or the milkpans kept continually covered.
Last year sections 5 and 8 of the London County Council
(General Powers) Act, 1908, relating to the registration of milkshops
and to the sanitary regulations for premises for the sale
and storage of food for human consumption, were reprinted and
distributed to the shops in the Borough, and where necessary
these provisions explained.
Examination of Milk.—Each District Inspector is appointed
for his district as an inspector under the Sale of Food
and Drugs Acts. Samples of milk are taken in each district
periodically and at other uncertain times whenever anything arises