256 MILK AND THE PUBLIC HEALTH CH . 



XV 



district, as recently described by Local Government Board 

 Inspectors, may be given. 



Dr. Sweeting, 1 in a report on the sanitary conditions of 

 the Borough of Leigh (Lancashire), states : 



I visited rather more than one half of the cowsheds. Nearly 

 all that I saw were dark, exceedingly dirty, badly ventilated, badly 

 paved and channelled. In many, cubic space was deficient ; but in 

 the majority of instances the cows are grazed out. The udders of 

 most of the cows were very filthy. The practice largely obtains of 

 storing milk in larders and cellars with food and drink. . . . 

 There is an excellent code of Eegulations, adopted in 1901, but 

 these are not enforced. 



Dr. Wheaton, 2 in a report upon the sanitary circumstances 

 of the Helmsley Eural District (North Eiding of Yorkshire), 

 writes : 



The condition of nearly all the cowsheds is extremely unsatis- 

 factory, although a very few satisfactory ones are to be found. 

 Some are mere hovels of rubble, with a little straw thrown over a 

 few beams as a roof, almost wholly without light, ventilation, or 

 drainage, and greatly overcrowded. No attempt is made to keep 

 the cattle clean, or to cleanse the teats or the milkers' hands before 

 milking. The dairies are in nearly all cases mere cupboards, often 

 without light and ventilation, cut off from the living room by a 

 loose partition only, and they are nearly always also used as pan- 

 tries and larders. Frequently an accumulation of stinking filth, 

 manurial or otherwise, is placed beneath the only opening by which 

 fresh air can enter the so-called dairy. It need hardly be said that 

 under such circumstances no cheese or butter industry could 

 flourish. . . . There are Eegulations for Dairies, Cowsheds, and 

 Milkshops, but they are not enforced. 



C. THE TRANSIT OF MILK FROM THE BYRE TO THE PURVEYOR 



Milk after collection at the byre may be distributed in 

 three ways. In rural and small urban districts, the cowsheds 

 are reasonably near the areas to which the milk is supplied, 

 and the farmer either distributes the milk in his own carts, or 

 sells it to a purveyor, who himself at once distributes it. 

 Here there is no delay, and the milk is never cooled. The 

 milk cart is ready, and when milking is completed, the cart is 



1 Report of the, Medical Officer, Local Government Board, 1907-8, p. 51. 

 2 Ibid. p. 84. 



