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(2) That a circular be sent to all purveyors of milk in
the parish, informing them of the dangers to health of
milk taken from tuberculous cows, and offering to
have their milk bacteriologically examined free of
expense.
1 was asked by the Committee to report upon the same,
which I did in the following letter, maintaining that it would
be difficult to carry out successfully the ideas contained in the
two motions without the unanimous working towards the
same end of all the Metropolitan Vestries, and backed up by
legal powers from Government.
To the Public Health Committee.
Gentlemen,—The great importance of taking every
possible action to avoid risk to human life or health,
especially with regard to food substances, appears so
distinctly to be the duty of the Sanitary Authority, that
if any practical benefit were likely to arise from the
adoption of the measures suggested by Dr. Des Vœux I
should, knowing as I do so well, the reality of the dangers
which he points out, urge the Committee to adopt the
measures suggested. I therefore now propose to analyse
the powers which the Local Authority possesses in this
matter.
Food, and Drugs Acts.—There appears to be no power
under the provisions of these Acts to deal with milk
containing disease germs of any kind, and the extraordinary
precautions necessary to be observed in the
collection of the samples for bacteriological examination
would tend to further complicate the procedure under the
very technical provisions of these Acts.
Public Health (London) Act, 1891.—By the provisions of
Section 71 of this Act, power is given to Sanitary
Authorities to deal with "any dangerous, infectious
disease attributable to milk,'' but the power, whilst being
extensive, cannot be applied to any form of "Tuberculosis,"
the disease not coming within the meaning of the phrase
" dangerous infectious disease.'' Section 47 of the same Act
provides that any article, solid or liquid, intended for food
may be seized by a Medical Officer of Health or a Sanitary
Inspector, hence, doubtless milk, containing tubercle
bacilli, could be dealt with under this section, if it were
known to be so affected; but the practical difficulties in
the way of obtaining a knowledge that the milk was, from