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130
The unsatisfactory character of the arrangements under the
Act, and the Order, formed the subject of discussion at a Meeting
of the Society of Medical Officers of Health, held in December,
1880, when the following resolution was unanimously adopted:—
"That in the opinion of this Society it is desirable, having
regard to the more effectual prevention of the spread
of zymotic disease by the agency of milk, that the
special sanitary supervision and inspection of cowsheds,
dairies, and milk shops, should be entrusted to
the Local Authorities, the Medical Officers of Health,
and the Sanitary Inspectors of the respective districts."
The Government are now alive to the futility of the existing
arrangements, and to the fact that, except for the purpose of
registration, very few local authorities have carried out the
provisions of the Dairies Order framed under the 34th Section
of the Contagious Diseases (Animals) Act, as they have no
special officers for the inspection of dairies, &c.; the question,
moreover, relating to human health rather than to the prevention
of animal disease.* A Bill to enable the question
to be treated as one affecting the public health, has
recently been brought in by the Lord President, under which
the powers now vested in the Privy Council, with regard to dairies,
cowsheds, and milk shops, including the power of making
"Orders,'' are to be transferred to the Local Government Board.
The "Local authority" is to be the urban or rural sanitary
authority, in urban and rural sanitary districts; but in London
the existing arrangements are to be continued, that is, the
Corporation, a sanitary authority, will be the local authority in
the City; and in the rest of the Metropolis, the Metropolitan
Board of Works, which is not a sanitary authority, will continue
to discharge the duties of local authority, if the Bill
passes in its present form. "Without loss of time an effort
was made to prevent the perpetuation of so obvious a mistake.
* The Local Authorities for Middlesex and Surrey are deserving of
honorable mention, having done their duty by appointing special officers.