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ordinary milk also. Thus in most of the instances in which the fact, that the business of making
cheese of the kind referred to was being carried on, has been ascertained by the Council's inspector,
the person carrying on the business has been called upon to register as a milk purveyor, and the
Dairies and Cowsheds Orders, and the regulations made under those orders, have been enforced.
While, however, the cleanliness of the vessels used in the milk business and of their surroundings has
been safeguarded, it has not been possible to exercise control under the Orders and Regulations over
that part of the premises upon which the manufacture of butter and cheese is conducted, and in many
cases such manufacture is carried on under conditions which are not satisfactory. In cases of this
kind the Council, being without power to take action itself, has communicated with the sanitary
authority of the district, and in several instances improvement has thus been brought about; but in
the absence of special powers, particularly as regards dealing with risk of contamination, such as are
conferred under the Dairies and Cowsheds Orders, it has not been possible to enforce anything
approaching the standard of cleanliness and purity which could be secured were milk and not cheese
or butter in question.
The cheese is made as a rule from sour separated milk. Several of the large dairy companies
send churns of sour milk from which the cream has been abstracted down to Whitechapel and
St. George's-in-the-East, and these are purchased by the makers of Polish cheese. A churn containing
sixty-four quarts is sold for 1s. 6d. or 1s. 8d., and from such a churn 15 or 16 lbs. of cheese is obtained,
which can be retailed for 2½d. or 3d. a lb. The churns in which the sour milk is delivered are as a
rule rusted and neglected, and no attempt is it appears ever made to cleanse them by steaming or
scalding upon the cheesemaker's premises. The initial process in the manufacture of cheese consists
in warming the contents of the churn either in front of a fire or, as is more commonly the practice,
by grouping the churns round a fire-pail containing a coke fire which is placed in the back yard. The
sour milk is heated for about an hour and stirred the while with a wooden spade or ladle; in some
instances a thermometer is used, but generally the heat attained is merely tested by the finger. Apparently
a temperature of about 150 Fahr. is that commonly employed. A maker who used a thermometer stated
that a temperature ranging between 50 and 80 degrees centigrade, was best suited to separation of the
cheese. When the warming process is completed the contents of the churn are poured into a canvas
bag and the liquor is allowed to drain away, the cheese being retained within the bag. The mass is
then as a rule transferred to pear-shaped calico bags, and after further squeezing and draining away of
contained liquid, these bags are placed on a board and subjected to pressure, usually by having a
churn containing water placed upon them, until the cheese acquires a proper consistence and shape.
The various utensils used in the manufacture of the cheese are commonly cleaner and better kept than
the churns. The cheesemaker as a rule regards the condition of the calico and canvas bags, &c., as a
question which concerns him personally and needs some consideration, whereas the condition of the
churns he holds is a matter for which he is not responsible.
In some of these small back yards, 400 to 500 lb. of cheese are made in the summer time, and
some of these vendors also sell as much as 100 lbs. of butter in a week. Inasmuch as the processes
already described are usually conducted in a small back yard, they are, needless to say, carried on in
close proximity to a water-closet and dust receptacle, indeed I have seen the canvas bags hung over the
water-closet door. The paving of the yard is, in some instances, defective, and unpaved and dirty
basement rooms adjoining the yard are occasionally found to contain churns, &c. In visiting some of
these places during November last, I was struck with the considerable improvement which had been
effected in them since my attention was first directed to them in 1894. The drainage of the premises,
and the condition of the water-closets appeared satisfactory; the observance of precautions against
contamination of the cheese and butter, such as would be regarded as necessary in the case of milk, has
not, however, hitherto been insisted upon. For instance, butter is made in rooms used as sleeping
rooms, cheese is prepared in ill-ventilated cellars, or in close proximity to a water-closet, and while
it is recognised that the milk churn which contains milk must be kept scrupulously clean, no
importance is attached to the appearance of the churn in which sour milk or cream for butter-making
is placed.
Restaurants, eating-houses, dining-rooms—I visited a number of these places in different parts
of London. Apart from defects which can be remedied under the Public Health Act and which are
more or less frequently met with in different districts in accordance with the less or greater
efficiency of the supervision exercised by the sanitary authority, there are three or four points to
which consideration requires to be given. In the first place the situation of the water-closet is in a
large number of instances open to objection. It sometimes opens directly out of the dining-room or
kitchen and may have no means of ventilation other than through one of these rooms. In the central
parts of London, where space is very limited, there is a tendency for both closet and kitchen to be
relegated to the basement, one or both of them under these conditions may be badly lighted and
ventilated, and they not infrequently communicate directly with one another.
The by-laws under Sec. 39 (i.) of the Public Health (London) Act, 1891, made by the Council,
provide that every person who shall hereafter construct a water-closet in connection with a building
shall not construct such water-closet "so that it is approached directly from any room used . . . for
the manufacture, preparation or storage of food for man." The bye-law is unfortunately not retrospective.
There are special provisions it may be noted dealing with this question as regards bakehouses
and milks tores and milkshops. The proximity of the water-closet to the kitchen leads in some cases
to articles intended for food being exposed to risk of contamination, as for example, to quote instances
observed in the course of recent inspection, when a basket of radishes is placed on the water-closet floor
or when milk churns stand close to the water-closet.
A second consideration has relation to sleeping rooms. These are occasionally found communicating
with, or, as in a case I have noted, actually forming a portion of a kitchen. Here again special
provisions exist as regards bakehouses and milkshops, in the case of the former under sect. 35 of the
Factory and Workshops Act, 1878, and in that of the latter under sect. 11 of the Dairies, Cowsheds
and Milkshops Order of 1885.