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69
numerous other instances the dung is stored in ordinary pits, constructed for
stable manure in mewses, and which are totally unsuitable for the purpose.
"Provision should be made for storing the fodder outside the shed, and the
grain-pit should never be within the shed, where now, as a rule, it is found."
In a subsequent Report (dated Jan. 7th, 1879, and published as an
appendix to my 15th Report for 1878 at page 114) your Committee
stated the results of their attendance before the Magistrates on the
annual licensing day, and two adjournments thereof, in substance as
follows:—
"The views of your Vestry as to the necessity of giving each cow a fixed
minimum amount of cubic and floor space, or, in other words, for limiting the
number of cows to be kept in the several sheds, and for the improvement of the
ventilation of certain of the sheds—those especially which are not open to the
roof—were duly laid before the court, which, by its decisions, gave effect to them
in nearly every instance. The Magistrates endorsed the opinion of your Vestry
that the number of cows permitted to be kept in any shed should be specified on
the license, and while in respect of most of the old sheds (viz., by limiting the
number of cows to the maximum fixed by your Vestry) they adopted the "800
cubic feet" rule, which for some years they have acted on in the case of newlylicensed
sheds, they declined in other instances to be bound by a hard and fast
line, upon the ground that it would not be right to interfere suddenly with a man's
business by reducing the number of his cows much below what he had been
accustomed to keep. In most of these excepted cases, however, the Justices
announced their intention of requiring the number of cows kept to be reduced
next year, in conformity with your Vestry's recommendations.
"In several cases, the Justices refused to renew the license until the flooring
of the loft over the shed, and which separated it from the roof of the premises, had
been removed; and your Committee have satisfaction in reporting that not only
has a great improvement in ventilation, &c., been thus effected in several of the
sheds, but also that the licensees themselves more or less frankly admit the fact
though it is alleged that the cooler and better ventilated condition of the sheds
has had the effect of diminishing the supply of milk by the cows—a not unmixed
evil, perhaps, from the consumers point of view !
"For the reasons stated in their previous report, your Committee did not
think it advisable to deal with any other questions than those of space and ventilation
this year. In these respects a good work has been successfully begun, and
next year your Committee hope to see it carried still further, either by regulations
to be framed by the Metropolitan Board of Works (as "Local Authority" under
sec. 34 of the Contagious Diseases (Animals) Act, 1878) or, if necessary, by the
independent action of your Vestry
"The Justices laid down a rule that horses are not to be kept in the sheds;
in other words that cowsheds should be used as cowsheds only, and not as stables,
&c.; a view your Vestry had long ago adopted.