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103
Mo. of shops iu which the registered milkseller has also a
"milk-round" 105 or 27 per cent.
Do. do. not do. 284 „ 73 „
No. of "dairies" 107 „ 27 „
Do. "general shops" 246 „ 63 „
Do. grocery and provision shops 22 „ 6 „
Do. other shops 14 „ 4 „
No. of milkshops where paraffin oil is sold 123 „ 32 „
Do. do. firewood is sold 264 „ 68 „
Do. do. pickles are sold (otherwise than in
closed jars) 240 „ 62 „
Do. do. coal blocks, coal or coke are sold 91 „ 23 „
Do. do. greengrocery is sold 31 „ 8 „
Do. do. other dirty goods are sold (hearthstone,
&c.) 182 47 ,,
No. of milkshops with floor so lumbered with articles or goods
that it cannot be kept properly clean 192 ,, 49 „
Do. do. sleeping room in direct communication 25 „ 6 „
Do. do. without fixed permanent ventilation 266 „ 68 „
Do. do. with floor not structurally sound 44 „ 11 „
Do. do. without a properly covered milk-vessel 298 „ 76 „
An outstanding feature of these results is the fact that a very large proportion of
shopkeepers who sell milk do so on a very small scale. Nearly a quarter (93) of the
whole sell no more than one gallon a day, and more than a half (202) sell no more than
two gallons a day. The principal type of shop in which milk is sold in this way is the
general shop, commonly known as the chandler's or huckster's shop. It will be noticed
that this kind of shop makes up 63 per cent. of registered milkshops, and the same fact
is indicated by the small proportion of the total 389 which have a milk-round attached
to the business (27 per cent.).
The ordinary general shop is well-known to be one which sells almost everything that
is required in a household, and is found principally in the poorer parts of the Borough.
They are crowded with a great variety of goods usually sold in grocers' shops, oil shops,
chemists', hardware, and even drapers' shops, and many of them sell firewood, coal or
coal-blocks, hearthstone, soap, soda, greengrocery (potatoes, onions, &c.), vinegar, pickles
(open as well as in closed jars), paraffin oil, and other dirty, dusty, or strong-smelling
commodities, which are likely to load to contamination of the milk. In the foregoing
table I have shown how that amongst the St. Pancras milkshops a large proportion sell
these various goods (firewood 68 per cent., open pickles 62 per cent., paraffiu oil 32 per
cent., coal or coal-blocks 23 per cent. &c.). Many of the general shops are kept in a
dirty condition, and even when the shopkeeper is a clean and careful person the crowded
condition of the shop and the fact of the floor being permanently lumbered up with such
objects as boxes, barrels, firewood, &c., often effectually prevents proper cleanliness.
One half of the milkshops in the borough have their floors lumbered up in this way.
It is now generally recognised that milk, probably more than any other food, requires
special care iu its handling. This is due to the circumstance that on the one hand it
readily takes up any kind of contamination to which it is exposed, and on the other hand
it is an eminently suitable medium for the multiplication of all kinds of microbic and
other injurious growths. This is all the mora important for the reason that cow's milk
is almost the sole food of many of the infants in our population. The use of contaminated
milk for this parpose is one of the factors maintaining the high rate of
infantile mortality which prevails in the poorer parts of the Borough, where the worst
type of milkshop is commonest. Disturbance ot the digestive system is, in years with
hot summers, the largest cause of death in infants under one year of age, and some of
this form of illness must be attributed to the use of contaminated milk. It is very
significant iu this connection that breast-fed children are far less liable to this malady
than are those fed on cow's milk.
There is no doubt that, so long as milk is stored and sold as at present in open vessels,
the milkshop ought to be so ordered as to minimise the risk of the milk becoming
contaminated. At present many of the milkshops in the Borough are far from
such a standard, and it is the duty of the Sanitary Authority to use such power as they
possess to limit, as far as possible, the sale of this food to suitable premises.