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17
his satisfaction, when I had discovered on enquiry that the certificate had
been given as a matter of form, the medical man taking the word of the
applicant, and knowing nothing of his own knowledge upon the matter.
Whenever this has been attempted, I have refused to accept it, and have
warned the owner, that if it were produced in answer to a summons, we
should put the writer of the certificate into the witness box.*
Prior to the October licensing, I visited personally, as is my custom,
all the slaughter-houses and cow-houses in the parish. The magistrates
granted licenses to 114 slaughter-houses, and to 56 cow-houses. On the
opposition of the vestry, a license was refused to two applicants for slaughterhouses,
and to one for a cow-house. Several licenses were held back until
the works on the premises, which I regarded as necessary to be carried out>
were completed. Two of these require special mention, namely, Huckett's
cow-shed in Mildmay Avenue, and Mason's in Upper Queen Street. The
latter is an old establishment which was very crowded and otherwise
imperfect, and with a superficial well upon the premises, which supplied all
the water used for the purposes of the dairy. With the concurrence of the
Sanitary Committee, a reduction of the number of the cows, and other
ordinary amendments were made conditions of the license; but I also
pressed, as another important condition, the abolition of the well. Upon
this latter p oint there was a good deal of discussion, both in the
Committee and in the Yestry, and among other reasons assigned in the
Yestry was this, that to the knowledge of one member, the well was not
a superficial well, having been sunk within late years to a depth of 70 feet.
I was satisfied that there must have been some mistake here, and I had the
well opened, and found that it was only 21 feet in depth, from the surface of
the yard to the bottom of the well, and that there were only 2 feet of water
in it. As I made a report upon the subject in writing to the Sanitary
Committee, I think it best to quote from it my grounds for insisting upon
the importance of the abolition of the well. They were as follows: " 1st.
That it is a well-known—a notorious fact, that London dairymen add a
certain proportion of water to their milk before they send it out for distribution
(the exceptions are very few indeed) and that therefore, it is of great
importance that the water on the premises should be such as is not likely to
endanger public health by its distribution with the milk. 2nd. That it
was clear that the pump on Mason's premises was used for all dairy
purposes—the people engaged there knowing of no other supply, and the
water being held in high estimation. 3rd. That the well is what is
* This has since teen done and a conviction obtained