View report page

64
evidence that "disease in man may be caused through the agency of
milk: (1) By insanitary conditions in the cowshed or in the dairy,
viz., by the absorption by the milk of sewer gas, or the products of
excremental decomposition: (2) By the pollution of water: (3) By the
use of improper or unwholesome food for the cows: (4) By disease
derived from the employes in the cowshed or dairy; (5) By disease
affecting the cows themselves." I stated, moreover, the proper subjects
of bye-laws, viz.: (1) The position, construction, and sanitary
condition of the sheds, including' questions of cubic and floor space,
lighting, ventilation, drainage, paving, &c.: (2) Everything relating
to the health and management of the, cows, including quarantine arrangements,
the isolation of sick animals, the quality and the storage of
the food: (3) The sanitary condition of the dairy, and of the vessels
used for receiving, storing and distributing milk; and the health of
the persons engaged in the conduct of the business."
In a draft code of "proposed bye-laws" I dealt with all these
subjects, and having in view the importance of getting "uniform regulations,"
I suggested the desirability of power being conferred on the
Metropolitan Board of Works to enable the Board as "Local Authority"
to form a code of bye-laws. The Society referred my paper and
proposed bye-laws to the Council, and ultimately adopted the bye-laws
in the form in which they appeared in my Annual Report for 1876.
I cannot conclude this section of my report without expressing my
sense of the valuable support your Vestry, and notably the Works,
Sanitary and General Purposes Committee, have invariably accorded
me in my efforts not only to improve our own licensed cowsheds,
but also to bring all cowsheds and dairies under regulation by byelaws.
Without that support, and the adoption of a standard, which
has been as far as possible enforced in our local cowsheds, I could
have done little.; and it is but just, while putting on record a sketch
of some of the steps by which a great sanitary improvement has been
effected, that due credit should be awarded to your Vestry for the leading
part you have taken in bringing about a settlement of the question.
BAKEHOUSES.
The special duties that devolved on the officers of your Vestry under
the Bakehouses Act were transferred on the 1st of January, 1879, to