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138
There has been a considerable reduction in the number
of cowsheds in the Metropolis, viz., from 1044, in 1880, to
536 in 1892, or 61 fewer than in 1891. In Kensington the
reduction has been from 23 in 1880 to 8 in 1892.
I am glad to be able to report that the County Council
no longer suffer horses to be stabled in cowhouses, their
practice, in this respect, now corresponding with the views I
submitted to, and which were approved by, your Vestry many
years ago. The defect in legislation qua Cowsheds, Dairies,
&c., as in the cognate case of the repealed Slaughter-houses
Act, is that no attempt has been made to utilise the services
of the Medical Officers of Health and the Sanitary Inspectors
for purposes of inspection and supervision, the Sanitary
Authorities (Vestries, &c.) being ignored.
In 1885 a new dairies order was issued, which enabled
the Local Authority to frame more stringent regulations,
especially for the prevention of contamination of milk, and
spread of infectious disease through the agency of milk.
The result would appear to be very satisfactory. Many years
have elapsed since I have had any reason for connecting the
occurrence of infectious disease with the consumption of
contaminated milk; and it is comparatively rare now to see
reference to milk, as the supposed cause of disease of an
infectious nature. But legislation would appear to be
necessary for putting a stop to the sale of the milk of cows
suffering from tuberculous disease.
BAKEHOUSES.
The Bakehouses, to the number of 148, viz., 81 in North
Kensington, i.e., north of Uxbridge Road, and 67 in South
Kensington, i.e., the remainder of the parish south of that
road, have been regularly inspected, and such action has been
taken, in individual cases, as was found necessary for ensuring
compliance with the sanitary provisions of the Factory and
Workshop Acts.