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24
Summary of Above.
Character of Milk. No. of Samples. Percentage.
Clean and pure 20 80
Tuberculous 2 8
Unsatisfactory 3 12
Total 25 100
The results obtained in this enquiry again confirmed the unsatisfactory
manner in which much of the milk trade is carried on. In the majority of
the farms there is no real supervision, either of the cows or the buildings, &c.
If any tuberculous animals should by chance be discovered, they are very
likely got rid of in a very questionable manner, i.e., removed from the farm,
either to be used on another for milking, or to be slaughtered for food. The
Medical Officer of Health for Blackburn, in his Report for 1905, refers to the
slaughter, at a Public Abattoir, of 44 cows with tuberculous udders, and
states that "25 of these 44 cows were giving milk until the day of slaughter,
"and milk from 8 of these 25 cows was being sold in Blackburn."
Bearing in mind the fact that milk forms the staple foods of infants and
invalids—that the birth-rate is steadily falling—and that the rate of infantile
mortality is as high as it was 25 years ago, it must clearly be the duty of the
Legislature to devise some practical means of dealing with this grave source of
danger.
The Sanitary Committee decided that the Report on this enquiry should
be forwarded to the Local Government Board and the Board of Agriculture
and Fisheries.
1906 was the third year in succession during which special enquiries as to
the character of the milk supplied to the City had been conducted. The
percentage composition of the three series may be classified as under:—
1904. 1905. 1906.
Clean (pure) 49 per cent. 68 per cent. 80 per cent.
Unclean (dirty) 43 „ 23 ,, 12 „
Tubercular 8 „ 9 „ 8 „
It will be noted that while there has been a distinct and regular improvement
in the direction of cleanliness, the proportion of samples found to be
tubercular is practically constant.