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128
LICENSED COWSHEDS.
The licensed cowsheds are 18 in number, viz., 12
in the district north of Uxbridge Road, and 6 in the remainder
of the parish south of that road. The names of
the licensees and the localities of the licensed premises are
set out in Table xii (appendix). The several premises were
inspected in July by the Works, Sanitary, and General Purposes
Committee, and were found in a clean and wholesome
condition. The sheds, which in the aggregate are licensed for
the keeping of 239 cows, were found to contain 122 cows only
at the time of inspection.
DAIRIES, COWSHEDS, AND MILKSHOPS ORDER
OF 1879.
Sanitary Supervision of Dairies, Cowsheds, &c.—The
Metropolitan Board of Works is the "Local Authority"
under this Order, which "provides for the registration of all
persons carrying on the trade of cow-keeper and purveyor of
milk, etc.," and under which 14,201 persons have been registered,
of whom 931 are the occupiers of licensed cowsheds, the
remainder being "dairymen or milk-sellers only." The Board
state in their Annual Report that "in the larger dairies and
milk stores much improvement has taken place, and they are
generally in a satisfactory condition; and in the small shops
where milk is sold there has been considerable improvement in
point of cleanliness, and in the separation from the place of
storage of substances likely to contaminate the milk." Registration
appears to be enforced mainly in respect of shops where
milk is the staple article of trade; many "general" shops,
where milk is but one of a hundred articles sold, are still
unregistered. It would involve endless trouble, doubtless, to
register, regulate, and inspect such shops, and yet they might
easily become the centres for the spread of disease by the sale
of contaminated milk, as in case of an outbreak of scarlet
fever, or typhoid fever, on the premises. The Board has taken