View report page

129
of the subjects touched on by the Board in their recent correspondence with
the Railway Clearing House, who stated that every reasonable precaution was
taken by railway companies to ensure milk being sent in sanitary vans. They
also intimated that fresh instructions had been issued on the subject.
Two cases of milk being conveyed under insanitary conditions have been
brought under the notice of the companies by the Board. In one instance an
Inspector of the Board noticed milk being loaded in the same van with fish.
In the other a statement was made by an agricultural correspondent that milk
vans on a certain route frequently contained or smelt of fish. This was subsequently
inquired into and verified by one of the Board's Inspectors."
The following is an extract from "Public Health," of October, 1905:—
Railway Rites and the Milk Traffic.
To the Editor of "Public Health."
Sir,
In view of the interest which is being taken in the supply of pure milk, it
may be of interest to your readers if you will allow us to show, by our experience,
how we were prevented from carrying out part of a scheme by the excessive
charges of the railway companies.
We desired to obtain milk, bottle and pasteurize it, in the country near the
source of its collection. We accordingly approached the Great Western Pailway
Company in December, 1897. After several interviews with the head of
the Goods Traffic Department, at Paddington Station, the best quotation that we
could obtain for carrying our milk in this manner was 6d. per ton per mile for
full bottles and cases; the quotation for returning the empties was 6d. per
truck load per mile, the weight to be contained in the truck not to exceed 2½
tons, and the minimum weight either full or empty on this quotation to be one
ton.
Basing our calculations upon these quotations we found that it would cost us
1s. per case, equal to 1d. per quart to bring milk packed in this form from
Aylesbury to London, the distance being only 49 miles; from Chippenham
(where we also have a factory), distance 94 miles, the cost of freight would
have been 21d., equal to l¾d per quart; whereas the ordinary freight on milk
in cans is 1d. per imperial gallon, up to 50 miles, and lid. up to 100 miles.
You will at once see that it was impossible for us to do as we had wished
under these circumstances, namely, to receive our milk at Aylesbury and
Chippenham, and bottle it at our factories there, thereby securing a much more
cleanly mode of transit than in the cans. Consequently we had no alternative
but to bring our milk to London in the usual way, in cans, and do the bottling
at our Kensal Road premises.
We are, Sir, yours very truly
Anglo-Swiss Condensed Milk Co.,
Bottled Milk Department, London,
September 19th 1905. (Frank Hills, Manager).
The preceding extracts show how easily milk may be contaminated in railway
transport and how difficult it is to obtain the only remedy for pollution in
transit from the farm to the consumer. The best solution is the transport of
milk in bottles, but unfortunately it is also the most expensive.