View report page

59
of notices served, and the number of prosecutions. The table has been compiled from information
contained in the annual reports of medical officers of health or subsequently supplied by them.

In several of the annual reports the desire is expressed for greater power of control over the
condition of premises in which milk is sold. At a conference of the Public Health Committee of theWandsworth
Borough Council with dairymen and keepers of milkshops in that district, a resolution was
adopted in favour of the annual licensing of milk premises. The London County Council has, moreover,
been invited to seek powers authorising sanitary authorities to refuse to register premises which
are unfit for use in connection with the business of a milk vendor. Dr. Newman states that there
has been considerable improvement in Finsbury in the care taken to protect milk from pollution, but
that much still requires remedy in the numerous general shops in which milk is sold. Milk coming
from the country was in twenty-five instances examined by Dr. Klein for the City Corporation, and Dr.
Collingridge states that of the twenty-five samples, twenty were reported as clean and pure, two as
tuberculous, and three as unsatisfactory. On one of the two farms from which tuberculous milk was
received a cow was found suffering from tuberculous disease of the udder. From the other farm five
cows had been "turned away" on account of induration of the udder, and the remainder were found to
be healthy. Examination of thirty samples of nursery milk supplied in St. Pancras led, Dr. Sykes
states, to two of them being found to be tuberculous. Both these samples came from the country.
These facts point to the need for systematic veterinary inspection of milch cows throughout the
country. Dr. Davies reports that the general condition of the cows in Woolwich in respect of
grooming and cleanliness is much better than those in Wiltshire, which he visited for the purpose of
ascertaining the conditions under which milk is produced in that county. As showing the infrequency
with which milk is received direct from the farmer by local vendors it is interesting to note that
Dr. Lennane made inquiry in Battersea as to the sources of milk supply to local vendors, and found
that 16 received milk direct from the farmer, 136 from wholesale vendors, 101 from retail shops in the
borough, and 11 from retail shops outside the borough.
Offensive Businesses.
In the year 1906 the County Council received 310 applications for licences for slaughter-houses
and granted 308. The following table shows the number of applications received and the number of
slaughter-houses licensed in recent years:—
14911
H 2