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57
Report of the County Medical Officer—General.
The Dairies, Cowsheds and Milkshops Order, 1899, provides that the milk from cows certified
by a veterinary surgeon to be affected with tubercular disease of the udder shall not be
(a) mixed with other milk, or
(b) sold or used for human food, or
(c) sold or used for the food of swine without having first been boiled.
In 1904 this power was supplemented in London by additional powers, incorporated in the
London County Council (General Powers) Act of that year, to remove any cow from any dairy, farm
or cowshed in the County (elsewhere than in the City), if such cow is suspected to be suffering from
tuberculosis of the udder, and if, upon slaughter, these suspicions are verified, a sum equal to threequarters
of the agreed value of the animal (not exceeding £22 10s.) is payable by the Council. If,
however, the cow is proved to be free from tuberculosis of the udder, the full agreed value (not
exceeding £30), together with a further sum of £1, is payable by the Council.

Tuberculoeis
of the udder
in London
cows.
London
County Council
(General
Powers) Act,
1904(Part V.)
During the year 1912 there were six inspections of
all the cows in the London cowsheds, and the results of the veterinary inspector's examinations are
shown in the following table:—
Details of Examination.
1st period,
13th Jan.,
1912, to 7th
Mar., 1912.
2nd period,
8th March
to 26th April,
1912.
3rd period,
27th April
to 26th June,
1912.
4th period,
27th June, to
10th August
1912.
5th period,
2nd Sept.
to 25th Oct.,
1912.
6th period,
26th Oct.,
to 29th Dec.,
1912,
Total number of cows examined
2,935
2,829
2,896
2,771
2,790
2,747
Affected with disease or defects of
the udder
88
79
87
62
68
58
Affected with tubercular disease of
the udder
4
1
14
1
2
0
Subjects of acute mastitis
14
11
10
8
5
12
Affected with chronic induration of
the udder
20
26
25
23
21
15
Atrophy of one or more quarters
39
38
35
27
33
26
Injuries, abscesses, simple eruptions,
strictures and obliterations of
milk ducts
11
3
3
3
7
5
Tuberculous
miik; London
County
Council
(General
Powers) Act,
1907. Part
IV.
The 22 cows suffering from tubercular disease of the udder were slaughtered, and the carcases,
with the exception of the hides, destroyed, compensation being paid by the Council to the owners in
accordance with the provisions of the London County Council (General Powers) Act of 1904. The hides
were sold and the amounts received were paid into the County fund.
Part IV. of the London County Council (General Powers) Act of 1907 empowers the County
Medical Officer of Health or other duly authorised person to take, within and without the County,
samples of milk produced or sold or intended for sale within the County; and, having obtained a
justice's order, in company with a veterinary surgeon, to enter any dairy from which milk is being
sold or suffered to be sold or used within the County, and to inspect the cows kept therein, and if the
Medical Officer or such authorised person has reason to suspect that any cow is suffering from tuberculosis
of the udaer ne may take samples of the milk of such cow. If it appears to the Council that
tuberculosis is caused, or is likely to be caused, to persons residing in the County from the consumption
of milk from any dairy, or from any cow kept therein, the Council may make an order prohibiting
the supply of such milk in the County until the order has been withdrawn, and any person contravening
the order is liable to a penalty not exceeding £5, and for a continuing offence to a daily
penalty not exceeding 40s. Appeal may be made against the Council's order.
On 11th February, 1908, the Council delegated to the Public Health Committee the authority
conferred by Part IV. of this Act, dealing with tuberculous milk, and fixed the 1st July, 1908,
as the date upon which the Act should become operative. The method of procedure adopted is as
follows: Samples are taken by the Council's inspectors from churns of milk consigned from the
country to the various London railway termini, and these are submitted to the Lister Institute for
bacteriological examination. In the case of those samples in respect of which the examination proves
that there is evidence of the presence of tubercle bacilli, a clinical examination of the cows at the dairy
farm from which the milk is consigned is made by a veterinary inspector appointed for the purpose
under the Act, and cows found to have tuberculous udders are certified for the purposes of the Dairies
and Cowsheds Orders and copies of the certificates forwarded to the local sanitary authorities
concerned.
During the year 1912, 2,991 samples of milk were taken. The milk had been sent to London
from the following counties: Bedfordshire, Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Cambridgeshire, Cheshire,
Derbyshire, Devonshire, Dorsetshire, Essex, Gloucestershire, Hampshire, Herefordshire, Hertfordshire,
Huntingdonshire, Kent, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, Middlesex, Norfolk, Northamptonshire,
18820 H