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90
of the Metropolitan Boroughs as to the railway stations at which milk is
delivered in their districts and the amount delivered daily. From the replies
kindly made by them the table appended hereto was compiled. In 6
of the London Boroughs no milk was delivered by rail, in 3 the quantity was
unknown, and in 20 the quantity was approximately known. The known
quantity delivered was about 157,000 imperial gallons, and if 3000 be allowed
for the unknown quantity, it is probable that about 160,000 imperial gallons
of milk were delivered by rail in London daily.
In 1891 Mr. R. Henry Rew estimated the total London milk supply at
133,000 gallons per day (Trans. Roy. Stat. Soc., April, 1892). In 1885
Messrs. A. Wynter Blyth and Alfred Spencer estimated the average daily
supplv of London at 110,000 gallons, including in round numbers about
84,000 gallons by rail, 1000 by road, 23,000 from London cowsheds, and 2,000
miscellaneous (Trans. Soc. Med. Offs. Health, February, 1886). From this it
would appear that the quantity of rail-borne milk will have doubled in twenty
years, and the quantity of town produced milk have diminished to one fourth
of its former amount.
Town A!ilk.—The London cowsheds are licensed for over 6000 cows, and
probably occupied by, at the most, 4000. If each cow yields at least a gallon
and a half a day this represents 6000 imperial gallons of town produced milk
daily. London is now completely surrounded by suburban towns which
probably consume the greater part of the milk they produce, and it is probable
that the road-borne milk coming into London is small in quantity, and that
some of this is compensated for by the milk sent from London cowsheds on
the borders into localities just beyond the London area.
Milk-dealers.—In the London Directory there are some two dozen wholesale
dairymen; some of these firms are solely wholesale dealers and others are both
wholesale and retail dealers. Not 20 per cent. of retailers, and none of the
smallest retailers, are served directly by farmers, and probably over 80 per
cent. of retailers are served by intermediate dealers through first hand, second
hand, and even third hand re-sale, according to the quantity sold by the
retailer. Of 468 dairymen in St. Pancras distributing milk by retail, about
309 appear to sell less than a gallon or two a day, about 76 a churn or two a
day, about 54 several churns a day, and about 29 a van load of churns or more
a day. In other words, two-thirds of the dairymen sell small quantities of
milk, mostly from counter-pans in small general shops, and never receive a
churn.
Sampling Milk for Analysis. — For the purpose of analysis, under the Sale of
Food and Drugs Acts, about three-fourths of the samples that are taken are
usually of dairy produce, about one-fourth being samples of butter and twofourths
samples of milk. Milk is by far the most important article controlled
as to adulteration, and about one half of the samples taken under the Acts
consist of fresh cow's milk.
The Food and Drugs Acts provide for the sampling of milk in transit when
sold wholesale, and for the purchase of samples of milk when sold retail.
When sold wholesale, in transit samples may be taken at railway stations upon
delivery from the farmer or producer to the wholesale dealer, or on delivery
from one wholesale dealer to another or to the retailer, but if found adulterated