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methods are adopted. These methods are simple and may
be summarised as follows:—clean milk, placed in clean
bottles and sealed in a clean, well-appointed dairy. So far as
actual practice is concerned, the greatest weakness in the
scheme is the clean bottle. Milk usually arrives in the Borough
in a satisfactory condition. At times the cleanliness of a dairy
is not all that could be desired, and sometimes the sealing of
the bottle is omitted, but these circumstances are relatively
rare. Occasionally we have seen roundsmen bottling milk
in the streets—an objectionable practice, not only because
of dust, but also because the milk may be put into bottles
returned unwashed from other houses. The cleansing of
bottles is often unsatisfactory. The responsibility rests
partly on the householder, but mainly on the retailer. So
far as the householder is concerned bottles are often returned,
after some days' retention, with milk, dried and sticky,
adherent to them, thus increasing the difficulties of the milk
purveyor in cleansing them. So far as the retailer is concerned,
he always complies with the provisions of the Milk
and Dairies Order as to the supply of hot water, but he often
forgets that hot water rapidly becomes cold and so loses its
effect as a cleansing agent. With regard to cleansing, the
general practice appears to be that the milkmen, when they
return from their rounds, wash the churns, cans, bottles and
other milk utensils that they individually use. Up-to-date
methods of washing milk utensils require to be adopted and
more adequate facilities for efficient cleansing require to be
provided in some dairies. At present wooden tubs, or galvanised
iron tanks are used in which the bottles and cans
are soaked, cleansed and rinsed. In some instances insufficient
tanks are available for these processes, and all of them
may be carried out in one tank without any change of water.
The cleaning of the bottle, internally, requires some care,