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110
would both cease to have any confidence in his abilities. It
pays a dairy farmer or large dealer much better to secure rich,
milk by proper feeding and breeding, and then to reduce it
to the standard! than to deal with poor milk. When therefore
the Board's officers catch a man it is generally where the
retailer has been doing a little extra work on his own account
upon a milk already "standardised" down to Somerset
House Strength before it comes into his hands. The result
is that we get a regular dead level of milk as defined by the
reference chemists, but do not, as formerly, get one day good
rich milk when the supply is copious and real half-and-half
when it is short. The remedy to this will be in the passing
of a law making it necessary that all milk should be sold at
a fair average standard fixed by Act of Parliament, and that
poor bred cows which do not give a proper article should be
discarded.
In conclusion, I have to report that the food supply of
the district fully maintains its excellent quality. This is no
doubt due to the care with which the Board carries out its
excellent system of daily inspection by an officer specially
appointed for the purpose. Such regular inspection is much
better than sudden raids, and although we may not in Wandsworth
figure in the eyes of the public every now and then
with large batches of prosecutions alternated with periods of
inactivity, I feel satisfied that in no other district is the Act
better carried out. I believe that the regular action of the
Board is universally more respected by the tradesmen, and
that we have now very few in the district who do not honestly
comply with the Act by selling mixed articles as such and
not as pure. The very difficulty that the Inspector experiences
in purchasing impure articles without such declaration
(which then makes their sale legal in the present state of
the law) is a proof of the success of the system originated and
carried out since the first passing of the Act by the Wandsworth
Board.
I have the honour to be,
Gentlemen,
Your obedient Servant,
JOHN MUTER, Ph.D., f.r.s. Ed., f.i.c.
Public Analyst.