View report page

99
coal and other dust was found on the surface of the milk in the churns
on arrival from the railway stations. The attention of the wholesale
dealers was called to these cases, and no further complaint has been
made.
Tuberculous Milk.—The County Council were unable to put into
force the powers granted under their 1907 Act until July 1908. They
have now issued a statement that they had taken 416 samples of milk
sent to London from the following counties:—Bedford, Berkshire,
Buckinghamshire, Cambridgeshire, Derbyshire, Dorset, Essex, Gloucestershire,
Hampshire, Herefordshire, Huntingdonshire, Leicestershire,
Norfolk, Northamptonshire, Oxfordshire, Rutlandshire, Somerset, Staffordshire,
Suffolk, Wiltshire, and Worcestershire. The samples were
taken principally from churns at stations of the Great Western, Great
Eastern, Great Central, Midland, Great Northern, Metropolitan,
London and North-Western, and London and South-Western Railway
Companies.
In the first quarter's working 23.9 per cent. of the samples gave a
positive result; in the second quarter 285 samples were examined, and
22 samples (or 7.7 per cent.) were proved to be tuberculous. In
addition, 52 other samples were reported by the bacteriologist as having
caused the death of guinea pigs by an acute infection, before sufficient
time had elapsed to ascertain whether tuberculosis had developed.
The Veterinary Inspector visited 62 farms outside the county
of London, and inspected 2,029 cows, of which 74 (or 36 per cent. of
the animals examined) were found to be suffering from tuberculosis
of the udder. In one case in which the examination of a sample
of milk taken from a churn at a London railway station had given a
positive result, the Council's Veterinary Inspector visited the farm from
which the milk had been consigned, and found that the dairy farmer
had obtained his milk from 18 farms other than his own in the district.
Upon inspection of all the cows (254) at these farms, the Inspector
found 11 cows (or 4.3 per cent.) with tuberculosis of the udder. In every
case in which a tuberculosis udder had been diagnosed the dairy farmer,
or his representative, had undertaken to sell no more milk from the
affected animal. The County Council had been in communication with
the local authorities in whose districts were situated the farms in which
affected cows were found, with a view to preventing the supply of
tuberculous milk from these animals, and they were informed that two
of these authorities had recently appointed veterinary inspectors to deal
with this work. The total number of cows inspected since the Act
came into operation on July 1st, 1908, had been 3,192, of which number
84 (or 2.6 per cent.) were found to have tuberculous udders.