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upon themselves these duties; and it is no exaggeration to state that
the requirements and conditions imposed by up-to-date milk vendors
under their contracts with the farmers, furnish an object lesson of
what can, and ought to be done, to the best organised and most
advanced rural sanitary authority in this country. But this is an
unfair tax upon the milk trade, and if rural sanitary authorities
did their duty it would be unnecessary.
Another very necessary reform, is the annual licensing of all
premises where milk is sold, or collected, or prepared for the
purpose of sale. The conditions of the initial grant of the
license must be the suitability of the premises and the sufficiency
of the general arrangement for the important purpose to
which they are put; and the annual renewal conditional upon their
maintenance at a satisfactory sanitary standard. There is already
a precedent for this in the annual licensing of Slaughter-houses, and
none will dispute the greater claims which! may be urged in favour of
licensing Dairies and shops where milk is sold. The provision would
of course apply to Dairy Farm premises, none of which should be
licensed unless there is an easily available supply of pure water,
sufficient in quantity all the year round, unless there is a separate
boiler in which abundance of boiling water can be prepared for
scalding purposes, and unless adequate arrangements are made for
cooling the milk; and under its operations it is to be hoped that
milk will no longer be sold in shops fully exposed to dust and flies,
and more particularly in such places as chandler's shops.
Such a requirement would! not hit anyone who was conducting
the business with due regard to the bare necessities of the case, but
it would eliminate a few from the trade who should not be allowed to
continue to carry it on to the great danger of the community. It
is not necessary that the premises licensed should be structurally
elaborate, elaborate cleanliness is what is wanted, and the means for
maintaining this, and the evidence of a conscientious and intelligent
B