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The proportion of houses attacked was therefore 59 per cent. in the case of houses said to be
supplied with milk from the Princes-road dairy, and 1⅓ per cent. in the case of houses said not to be
so supplied.
In addition to the cases occurring in the Plumstead district it must be noted that there was an
increased prevalence of enteric fever in Woolwich during May and June, and Dr. Davies states in his
special report that it was ascertained that Princes-road milk had been consumed by nearly all the
persons attacked in that district.
In studying the time relations of the epidemic it is desirable to include the Woolwich cases with
those occurring in Plumstead; there is, moreover, advantage in excluding second cases occurring in a
house from which a case had been already notified. If the number of notifications of first cases
occurring in houses be considered, it is found that after reaching the maximum on May 16 the numbers
received from day to day showed no marked tendency to increase or diminish until the end of the
month. The first few days of June however showed a diminishing number of new houses implicated.
On June 3rd no notification was received relating to a member of a household not previously attacked;
the number of new houses notified as being implicated was on the 4th two, on the 5th, four, and on
the 6th, one, while on June 7th it rose to five. After this last date the falling off in the number
of fresh houses invaded was marked. It may be noted that the date of the order stopping the sale of
milk made by the vestry was May 15th, and that the date of hearing the summons for contravention
of the order was May 20th.
Description of the milk-vendor's premises.
The cowshed premises are approached by a gateway at the side of a house in Princes-road.
The latter is a road running north and south, and the premises extend from Princes-road to the road
at the rear, parallel to it, called Barnfield-road. At their northern extremities Princes-road and
Barnfield-road enter the Plumstead-common-road.
The house which was occupied by the milk vendor lies on the west side of the site, and is
separated from the cowshed on the east side of the site by a yard. Passing through a gateway to the
south of the house in Princes-road access is obtained to a covered approach leading to the yard.
Immediately on the left on entering is a side entrance to the house. This entrance gives access to a
staircase leading down to a cellar. The latter is lighted from an area covered by a grating; in the area
is a drain inlet trapped with a bell-trap the top of which was found to be broken. The cellar was,
it was found, occasionally used for the purpose of setting milk for cream, although no notice of the
intention to use the building for this purpose had been given to the Council, as is required by Article 7
of the Dairies, Cowsheds and Milkshops Order.
Beyond the entrance above referred to and opening out of the yard is another door on the left
leading into the house, and beyond this, again on the left, are the water-closet and (adjoining it
but entirely separated from it) a scullery in which the milk cans are cleansed. In this scullery is a
tap supplied by a service pipe communicating with the Kent Company's main in Princes-road. The
drains of the house are not ventilated save in so far as ventilation is effected by a number of rainwater
pipes which are not disconnected from the drain. On testing the drains, the officers of the
sanitary authority found them to be defective. The defects were, however, all outside the buildings.
Beyond the house and its appurtenances the yard broadens considerably, extending behind the
house next door to the milk vendor's house and on its north side. In the north-west corner of this
extended part of the yard is situated the dung-pit, which is a large one; it has not a proper cover, and
its floor is below the level of the yard. Difficulty has from time to time been experienced in securing
the removal of dung at sufficiently frequent intervals, and nuisance having been thereby caused the
occupier of the shed was last year cautioned with regard to this matter.
South of the yard are situated outhouses, used for stabling, &c. The shed itself occupies the
north-eastern portion of the site and abuts upon Barnfield-road. It is a spacious and fairly wellventilated
shed; a few cobwebs were visible in the rafters, but the general condition of cleanliness of
the shed was fairly satisfactory.
The cows stand in two lines along the east and west sides of the shed, and the troughs under
their heads have each an opening at the ends which admits of the contents being carried to a trapped
inlet situated in the middle of the floor adjoining the wall at the north end of the shed. The troughs
are not used, however, for watering the cows, but are dry, merely serving to receive roots, &c. A rainwater
pipe also discharges over the trapped inlet referred to, and the floor of the shed is sloped so that
the surface drainage finds its way there.
South of the cowshed and adjoining it is a shed containing a water tank and the grain pit, and
beyond this is another shed in which roots are stored. The water tank is filled by a tap discharging
over it, and supplied by a service pipe communicating with the Kent Company's main in Barnfieldroad.
The tank is usually kept full of water, and into it pails are dipped and the tank water is used
for watering the cows, for flushing the floor of the cowshed, and for cleansing purposes generally.
It was in the first instance stated by the occupier that the tank water was not used for cleansing the
milk-cans, which, he said, were scalded out in the scullery. It subsequently transpired, however, that
the tank water was used for this purpose occasionally, and it was of necessity so used during the long
frost of February, inasmuch as at that time the supply of water from the tap in the scullery was not
available.*
* The damage caused by the severe frost of February to water fittings on the premises was only slight.
On February 2nd the service pipe from Barnfield-road was repaired, it having burst close to the tap which
discharges over the tank. On March 5th a similar piece of work was carried out in the front of the house, the
service pipe supplied from the main in Princes-road having burst. During the five weeks ending March 5th no
water was obtainable from the scullery tap; but with the exception of one day in February, water was obtained
day by day from the tap discharging over the tank. Indeed, many neighbours were accommodated with water
from this source during February. No underground pipe on the premises burst as a result of the frost, and
a local plumber stated that it had not been found necessary to break up the roadway in either Princes-road
or Barnfield-road.