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124
Three shopkeepers stated that they had refused to buy paper
because the material offered was fouled. Generally, the paper
actually in use was found to be clean, so that the result of the
enquiry, on the whole, was satisfactory.
Milk and Cream Regulation.—Two samples of cream were
submitted to the Public Analyst under the Milk and Cream
Regulations with the following results:—
1. Preserved cream.—Fat, 47 per cent. Boric acid, 0.149
per cent.
2. Fresh cream.—Fat, 43 per cent. No preservative.
No preservatives were found in the 344 samples of milk.
Ice Cream Shops.—These are all periodically inspected. At
the end of 1914, there were on the register the names and
addresses of the proprietors of 100 shops in the borough.
They were inspected on 120 occasions, and as a result 36
notices were served for sanitary and other defects. There were
no prosecutions.
The itinerant ice-cream vendors are probably the filthiest
tradesmen in London. Their ice cream is, or may be, made in
the gutter, and the stain of its place of origin adheres to it
throughout its existence. The use of the small conical glasses
which are mouthed and sucked by children is most undesirable.
For cleaning, they are dipped into dirty water which contains the
mouth secretions of previous buyers, swabbed with a small wet
offensive duster and upended on a soiled barrow-top. One
itinerant attempted to improve upon this method by immersing
his right thumb into the same nauseous water and rubbing it
vigorously on the inside of the glass : he used no duster. Another
was giving the final polish to his glasses by rubbing them
inside and outside with his handkerchief into which he blew his
nose. Still another cleaned out the form in which he made icecream
sandwiches by licking it with his tongue.
Restaurants.—There are 202 restaurants in the borough.
They are regularly inspected. In 1914 the number of notices
served was 61, the number of inspections 226. These premises
are not included in the sum total of workplaces given on another
page.