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83
Further, the object of the Depot is not to compete with the
milk trade. The Act under which the Depot is established prevents
the sale of milk for use by any but children under 2 years
of age, and the milk is chiefly intended for children under 12
months of age, though, no doubt, many children from 1 to 2 may
use it with advantage. The working-classes, of whom the great
bulk of the population consists, are entirely unable to pay the
trade charges for modified milk. At present, about half the
infants in the Borough, who do not have the breast, are fed on
condensed milk. It is thus seen there will be practically no competition
with the trade in fresh milk. The Depot seeks to supply
pure modified milk free from germs, at the same price as ordinary
milk; no trader can do this.
It follows that the Depot will not and cannot be a paying concern,
but as the number of its customers is necessarily limited, it
cannot, on the other hand, appreciably increase the Borough Rates,
and the small additional charge on these will be amply compensated
by the gain in human life.
The Depot consists of a small shop with counter where the
customers are supplied with the milk; a large room in which
are carried out the processes of Pasteurization, cooling and bottle
washing; and a dairy where the milk is tested and modified, and
the bottles filled. The boiler is situated in a small separate
room, and another room is used for weighing babies, in order to
see if they are making satisfactory progress, and if the milk
supplied is suitable for them. All these rooms are on the ground
floor and communicate with each other. The walls and floor of the
shop, working-room and dairy consist throughout either of cement,
concrete, or tiles, and are thus capable of being thoroughly washed
at any time with water. The walls of the dairy are tiled throughout,
but in the other rooms the tiles only reach to a height of about
6 feet, the upper part of the walls being of cement, painted over.
Any water falling on the floor passes swiftly, by channels, to the
outside, where it discharges over a properly disconnected gully.
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