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113
DAIRIES, COWSHEDS, AND MILKSHOPS ORDER
OF 1885.
The 34th section of the Contagious Diseases (Animals) Act,
1878, provides for the registration of persons carrying on the
trades of cowkeeper and purveyor of milk; for regulating the
lighting, ventilation, cleansing, drainage, and water supply of
dairies and cowsheds; for securing the cleanliness of milk stores,
milkshops, and milk vessels; and for protecting milk against
infection and contamination. The Metropolitan Board of Works
is the Local Authority under the Act for the Metropolis, the City
excepted. Under the provisions of the 34th section the Privy
Council framed " The Dairies, Cowsheds, and Milkshops Order of
1879," which enabled the Local Authority to make regulations
for purposes above indicated. This Order was superseded last
year by a new Order which came into operation in August. The
new Order differs from its predecessor mainly in its more strict
provisions designed to prevent spread of infectious disease through
the agency of milk. It also enlarges the powers of the Local
Authority to make regulations for securing proper construction of
registered premises. The Board have revised the Regulations,
and, with a view of utilising the services of local officials, have
supplied a list of registered premises to the several Vestries and
District Boards. They have also arranged to give notice to the
Medical Officer of Health of the outbreak of infectious disease
upon the premises of a purveyor of milk, &c., asking for reciprocal
action on his part. The new regulations are superior in several
respects to the old ones, and if carried out loyally should be
effectual, to prevent the spread of disease by milk produced in
London, or by country milk—provided it is uncontaminated on
arrival in town. The importance of this reservation will be
obvious in view of an epidemic of scarlet fever, referred to at page
24, which might have been prevented had the cowkeeper, whose
milk was the cause of the outbreak, strictly complied with the
requirements of the Order, section 15, which reads as follows:—