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104
It should be remembered also that this is only justice to those purveyors of milk who
have premises which are really suitable.
Besides the shops which strike one at once as being quite unsuitable for the sale of
milk, many of the others require certain improvements. For instance, many need more
ventilation. Nearly 70 per" cent. of the whole are without any fixed permanent
ventilators. Again, a few (25) are in direct communication with sleeping rooms.
Another important matter is the vessel in which the milk is stored. Many of the
dealers keep their milk on the counter in open pans, or in other vessels which do not
protect the milk from flies and particles floating in the air. Only one quarter of all
milkshops are furnished with milk-pans provided with proper metal covers.
The 107 milkshops which I have classed as "dairies," and a proportion of the other
milkshops can readily, where necessary, be made suitable for the sale of milk. In the
case of the remainder this will depend upon how far the vendor is prepared to go
in order to bring his milkshop into line with any standard that may be set up. In over
a hundred shops the conditions are very bad, and so long as the class of trade that is
carried on in them remains as it is they can hardly be made suitable.
I may add that conversation with the shopkeepers makes it clear that the majority of
those who only sell small quantities of milk do not do so for the doubtful profit which
they make, but in order to attract customers for their other goods, and they would even
be pleased to give up the trade if their competitors did the same.
Legal Powers.
The sale of milk in the Borough is regulated principally by the Dairies, Cowsheds,
and Milkshops Orders of 1885, 1886, and 1899, and the local regulations made thereunder
in 1885. These lay down certain conditions with the object of preserving milk in
milkshops from infection and contamination, and provide that all purveyors of milk
shall be registered; but although they prescribe a penalty for breaches of their
provisions, they do not give the Sanitary Authority power to refuse to place on the
register any person who applies to be registered, or to remove the name of any person
from the register, however unsuitable his premises may be for the sale of milk.
This state of affairs was altered by the London County Council (General Powers) Act
of 1908, section 5 of which enables the Sanitary Authority to remove from the register,
or to refuse to register any person carrying on the trade of a dairyman or purveyor of
milk upon premises which are in their opinion for any reason unsuitable for the sale of
milk therein. There is a proviso that the grounds upon which the premises are deemed
to be unsuitable must not be inconsistent with the provisions of any order or regulation
in force applicable to the premises; and the right of appeal from the decision of the
Sanitary Authority to a Court of Summary Jurisdiction is given to any aggrieved
person.
Article II. of the Order of 1885 reads as follows:—
"It shall not be lawful for any person following the trade of purveyor
of milk, or being the occupier of a milk-store or milk-shop, to use a milkstore
or milk-shop in his occupation, or permit the same to bo used,
for any purpose incompatible with the proper preservation of the cleanliness
of the milk-store or milk-shop, and of the milk-vessels and milk therein, or
in any manner likely to cause contamination of the milk therein."
This (and section 32 of the local Regulations, which has a similar effect), together
with section 5 above-mentioned of the 1908 Act. appears to give the Council full power
to deal with any milkshop in which the other trades carried on are of such a nature as
to be incompatible with the preservation of the cleanliness of the milk.
Many of the Metropolitan Boroughs have put into execution the new powers conferred
by the 1908 Act, and have brought pressure to bear npon certain milk-sellers and
removed others from the register. In certain Boroughs (St. Marylebone, Paddington,
Battersea, Lambeth, and others) this has been done very extensively, and hundreds of
unsuitable milkshops have been struck off the register.