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21
This means waste of time as well as waste of milk, and must
of necessity enhance the price of milk. The milk of Acton could be
handled at, and distributed from half-a-dozen premises at the most,
and this concentration would probably effect an improvement in
the facilities for the handling of the milk.
It may be objected that this concentration would eliminate
competition. For all practical purposes competition is already eliminated.
With the exception of one firm, practically all the milk
sold in the district is obtained from one wholesale firm, and a large
part of the retail trade of the district is also indirectly controlled by
the same wholesale firm.
The wholesale firm in question directly or indirectly also
supplies a large proportion of the milk sold in London and it may
be assumed that the condition of the milk sold in Acton approximates
closely to that sold generally in London. It was found in
London that nearly 10 per cent. of the samples contained tubercle
bacilli, as shown by the inoculation of guinea pigs. Almost every
sample is more or less contaminated with dirt, and a teaspoonful
of average milk contains some millions of germs. There is no
"certified" milk sold in the district; some milk was sold as
"nursery" and "invalids" milk in bottles at an enhanced price of
one penny a quart.
Before the latest Order was passed, in many instances this
milk was bottled from the churn in the street. This has now been
stopped, but there is no guarantee that "nursery" milks and others
with fancy names (except "certified" milk) differ in any respect
except in price.
There is reason to believe that some if not most of the large
milk distributors—wholesale and retail—are alive to the danger as
well as the waste which must result from the present state of affairs.
Steps are bei.ng taken by the firms themselves not only for a fairly
complete chemical analysis of milk, but also for its bacteriological
examination. It is hopeless to expect much improvement though,
until some inducement is given to those who produce clean milk of
a high quality, and some punishment meted out to those who produce
dirty milk which just conforms to the Government standard
of fat content.
With the exception of the Graded Milk authorised by the
Food Controller, all milk is sold at one price irrespective of quality
or cleanliness.