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24
Common Lodging Houses Acts, 1851 and 1853.
Seventeen Common Lodging Houses are registered in the Borough for 1,220
lodgers, viz., 1,058 males and 162 females.
The Common Lodging House accommodation in Holborn is equal to 28 beds
per 1,000 of the population, a higher rate than in any other Metropolitan area except
the City of London. The death-rate amongst common lodging house residents is very
high; in this Borough it was 45.9 per 1,000 in 1925.
FOOD.
Dairies, Cowsheds and Milkshops.
The number of registered dairies and milkshops in the Borough at the end of the
year was 129. Ten retail dairies and milkshops were newly registered, and eight
removed from the register. One wholesale dairy company was also registered.
In addition to my inspections the Sanitary Inspectors made 141 inspections of
these premises. It was not necessary for any notice to be served for sanitary defects or
breaches of regulations.
Sale of Groceries in Dairies.
There is a growing tendency among dairymen to stock goods ordinarily sold
by grocers. Practically all dairies (as distinct from general shops) sell bread,
tea, flour and mineral waters, but an increasing number of them now sell such
things as jam, tinned fruit and fish, potted meat, cheese, salt, suet, puff pastry,
coffee extract, etc. These goods, except the cheese, are kept in packets. Some
dairies also sell cooked meats in small quantities and meat sandwiches. The
importance of this matter is that this tendency reacts on the general shops,
which, as a rule are not eminently suitable for the sale of milk. A number of
these general shop keepers say they would prefer not to sell milk, but do so in
order to attract customers who also purchase goods such as those mentioned above.
Residue from Milk Clarifiers.
As it would seem probable that pigs have been infected with tuberculosis as
a result of feeding with infected milk and slime from clarifiers, enquiry was made
at the various establishments in the Borough where milk is cleansed by clarifiers
to ascertain what is done with the residue after the milk has been passed through
the cleansers. It was found in each case that this residue is at once washed down
the drains.
Bacteriological Examination of Milk.
Twenty-four samples of milk were examined for the presence of tubercle bacilli; six
of these were also examined to ascertain the number of organisms per cubic centimetre
and the smallest volume containing B. coli.