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for cleaning the cows, for the washing of the milker's hands, and for the wearing of clean overalls,
without all of which precautions the milk cannot be preserved from contamination. The enforcement
of these conditions obviously most concerns the communities in which the milk is consumed;
the difficulty which stands in the way of success is that the authorities which represent the consumers
have no jurisdiction in such matter in the districts in which the milk is produced.
The need for speedy identification of a farm, the milk from which is found to be causing
infectious disease in London, has, in the past, been manifested on a number of occasions.
Hence the desirableness of every medical officer of health knowing the sources of milk supply to
his district and the channels by which the milk is supplied. An excellent effort has been made in
this direction by Dr. Newman, the medical officer of health of Finsbury, from whose annual report
the following paragraph is extracted—
During the present year we have made inquiries respecting the source of the milk sold in Finsbury.
In .1 general way, it may be said that vendors have three modes of obtaining milk. First, some 185
milk.sellers in Finsbury obtain their supply through milk contractors, who deal with more than a
thousand country farms. There are 14 such wholesale contractors trading in the borough. Secondly,
there are some 50 milk sellers who obtain their milk through other milk sellers in the borough from
country farms. Thirdly, there are, perhaps, a dozen milk shops which obtain part or all their milk from
town cow.sheds situated in the borough. Speaking generally, therefore, it may be said that about 235
of the 261 milk sellers in Finsbury obtain their milk wholly or partly from country cowsheds, whereas
about a score obtain their milk wholly or partly from town cowsheds. We have a register in Finsbury
of the sources of the milk of every milk seller, whether it be town or country, so that it would be practicable
at any moment to trace a milk supply with some degree of accuracy. A register is also kept of all
the milkshops in the borough, containing particulars of each in respect to general and particular sanitation
management of milk trade, etc. The fourteen contractors deal with some 1,111 farms situated at
varying distances from London.

A cow was seized in a slaughter.house in Camberwell, the carcase of which was unfit for
human consumption. Prosecution by the borough council led to the man who sent the cow to
the slaughter.house being condemned to six months' imprisonment and to the owner of
the slaughter.house being fined five pounds and costs. The conviction of the man who sent
the cow for slaughter was quashed on appeal on the ground that at the hearing of the
case at the police.court the defendant had not been asked whether he would be tried there or
at Quarter Sessions. The County Council, after full consideration of the case, decided to withhold
the licence for the slaughter.house.