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267
[1910
I have considered the matter again fully, and I cannot see any reason
to alter my views, which I have already expressed, that the Sanitary
Authority can only look at the premises as such, and not consider anything
that may happen to be stored on the premises. The natural meaning of
the words " premises unsuitable " is that the actual building is in itself
unsuitable, as for instance, that it is badly ventilated, has a w.c. opening
out of it, is dirty, infested with vermin, or other similar causes, or even if
the premises were adjoining some kind of factory from which noxious
fumes would be likely to reach the milk, although this is doubtful. If the
legislature had intended to say what you at first thought they had, namely
to provide that if things unsuitable to be kept with milk were stored on
the same premises, the registration might have been cancelled, it would
have been perfectly easy to say so, and I think it is always a good rule
of construction not to attempt to read into words a meaning which they
do not naturally express, and which it would have been perfectly easy
to express in apt words if that had been the intention.
I am fortified in this opinion by the phraseology of Section 2 of the
Public Health Act " Any premises in such a state as to be a nuisance or
injurious or dangerous to health may be dealt with summarily." It has
been held that this applies to premises which, but for their condition, would
not be a nuisance, and not to premises which are a nuisance by reason of
the purposes for which they are used, and also by the fact that the Order
in Council provides (sec. 11) " It shall not be lawful for any dairyman or
purveyor of milk to use a milkstore or milkshop as a sleeping apartment,
or for any purpose incompatible with the proper preservation of the cleanliness
of the milkstore or milkshop, and of the milk vessels and milk
therein, or in any manner likely to cause contamination of the milk
therein," and by the regulations of the London County Council, Section
30, every purveyor of milk shall not keep milk for sale in any place where
it would be liable to become infected or contaminated by any offensive
effluvia, or by any offensive or deleterious gases or substances.
The matters, therefore, which you require to be prohibited seem to
me to be dealt with by the Order in Council and by the regulations of
the County Council.
Yours faithfully, Arthur M. Bramall.
A. E. Harris, Esq.,
Medical Officer of Health, Islington.