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The above list shows the decline that has taken place in the
number of general shops and other unsuitable premises where
milk is sold in Battersea since 1908. Having regard to the nature
and variety of the articles sold in such shops, it is most undesirable
that milk should be sold from premises other than those
in which dairy produce alone is the business carried on.
The action of the Council in enforcing the powers which they
possess for controlling the conditions under which milk is sold in
Battersea has yielded satisfactory results. During the past four
or five years a large number of persons carrying on a milk business
in conjunction with that of a general shop have been removed
from the Council's register, and particular care is taken in
registering any fresh applicants to secure that the requirements
of the Council are fully satisfied as a condition precedent to
registration.
Systematic inspection of the milk shops in the Borough is
rigidly carried out, and all milk vendors in Battersea are required
to provide suitable covers and properly ventilated and lighted
safes for holding the counter pans containing the milk. In this
way the risk of contamination of this sensitive article of food by
dust, flies, etc., is minimised, a matter of prime importance from
the public health standpoint.
The New Milk and Dairies Bill which is now before Parliament
will, it is to be hoped, still further secure that milk shall be protected
in all stages from the farm to the consumer. It is more
especially at the source of supply that milk should be protected
from infection and contamination, and legislation in that direction
is badly needed and long overdue.
Restaurants and Eating Houses.
The total number of these premises in the Borough of
Battersea at the end of 1912 was 94, as compared with 100 in
1911, and 103 in 1910.