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52
Borough Council to deal with the matter. Apart from the
nuisance occasioned by the dissemination of dust in this manner,
there is also the possibility of infection to be considered. The
seriousness of the matter was recognised in Paris, it is believed,
some ten or eleven years ago, and a by-law is in existence there
compelling housebreakers to water the part of the building which
they are pulling down, in such a manner as to prevent dust
arising from it. It is to be hoped that some such power may be
obtained in the Metropolis before very long.
THE PUBLIC FOOD SUPPLY.
The safeguarding of the public food supply is one of the
most important duties of a Sanitary Authority, and demands a
well-planned, vigorous and unceasing system of inspection.
Your Council has now appointed an Inspector to give undivided
attention to this matter, and his duties are probably more
onerous and demand more keenness and attention to detail than
those of any other Inspector. His business is to ferret out and
bring to justice those who often make a business, and certainly
never lose a chance, of cheating the public, and cheating them in
a way which directly concerns their health.
If an absolutely pure public food supply could be by any
means secured, there is no doubt that a considerable number of
known diseases, to say nothing of many, the origin of which at
present is sometimes not even suspected, would disappear from
our midst. It is certainly wisdom in this connection to aim at
as high an ideal as possible.
The public food supply in this Borough is safeguarded by
the inspection of premises used for the storage, preparation and
sale of food, and as far as practicable of all articles and utensils
connected with the same, The inspection of persons connected
with food supply is limited at present to the prevention of
certain scheduled infectious diseases, and no account is taken of
personal cleanliness, and the presence of diseases such as skin
diseases, tuberculosis and vermin for example. This inspection
is supplemented by the chemical examination of articles of food
and drugs for the detection of adulteration. Recently, with the
sanction of your Committee, I commenced bacteriological
examination of such thing's as milk, condensed milk, ice cream,
and certain tinned and bottled foodstuffs. The results obtained
indicate that this last line of work must be continued and
augmented if the food supply is to be properly protected. The
only drawback to its practical utility is the absence of reasonably
effective legal procedure to be put into operation on the
discovery of impurity. Doubtless before long the Sale of Food
and Drugs Act will be amended to include bacteriological as