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140
ing the power of making "Orders." Had the Bill passed, the
Metropolitan Board of Works would have continued to be the
"Local Authority" for the Metropolis, outside the city—an
objectionable arrangement. Under the auspices of your Vestry, a
strong opposition to this part of the Bill was raised, upon the
ground, that, while it was desirable to give the Board power to
frame bye-laws for the regulation of dairies and cowsheds, so as
to secure uniformity, the duty of carrying out the bye-laws, by
supervision of cowsheds, dairies, etc., should be entrusted to the
Sanitary Authorities—i.e., the Vestries and the District Boards;
these bodies having Medical Officers and Inspectors accustomed
to the work. The views of your Vestry accorded with those of
the Society of the Medical Officers of Health, as expressed by
resolution to the effect—
"That 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 Sanitary Authorities, the Medical
Officers of Health, and the Sanitary Inspectors of the respective
districts."
Communications were addressed to the Lord President of the
Council, the President of the Local Government Board, and the
several Vestries and District Boards, with the view to obtaining
modification of the Bill in the sense above indicated.
The Bill, however, was dropped, but its main provisions
have been re-enacted in the Contagious Diseases (Animals) Act,
1886, a fact which did not come to my knowledge until too late
to be of any service. This is much to be regretted. The
question obviously is not understood by those who had the
conduct of the measure, otherwise so great a mistake as that of
placing the sole legal control over dairies, cowsheds, and milkshops,
in the hands of the Metropolitan Board, to the exclusion
of Sanitary Authorities, could hardly have been perpetuated. The
Board have no medical adviser, and but a very limited staff of
inspectors—seven, I believe, for all London; and these officers,
moreover, are responsible for inspection of premises where explosives
are stored, as well as of the premises where " offensive