CH. xv CONDITIONS OF MILK SUPPLY 263 



It may also be stated that the ordinary 17-gallon churns 

 are too heavy when full, and are too deep to allow careful 

 cleaning and hand-brushing. 



The churns are as a rule sent unlocked. In this way toll 

 can be, and probably often is, taken of the contents on the way, 

 any deficiencies being made good with water. Gross pollution 

 occasionally results from this habit of leaving the churns un- 

 locked. 



The means of transmission are bad. Refrigerator cars 

 appear to be unknown, and while special vans have been 

 provided by a number of railway companies, they are not ap- 

 parently in regular use. The milk churns are usually carried 

 in badly ventilated luggage vans, often containing other and 

 miscellaneous goods, and occasionally live stock. Cases in 

 which the milk has been sent in fish vans or other objectionable 

 vans have been noted by several writers. Orr, for example, 

 reports as regards milk in Yorkshire : 



In only one instance during the present enquiry was milk 

 carried in a van reserved for milk traffic only, and this only for part 

 of the distance to be travelled. Here milk journeyed from Derby- 

 shire to Hull and by the special van as far as Doncaster only. 

 This van and another running from Leeds to Sheffield once daily 

 are the only special vans used for carrying milk in the whole dis- 

 tricts dealt with in this report. In all other cases the ordinary 

 luggage vans, which are usually badly ventilated and close in sum- 

 mer, were used for the milk transportation. The vans, as a rule, 

 contained a miscellaneous collection of luggage, parcels, and dead 

 meat. In one case a crate of live pigeons, in another a dog, and in 

 another a quantity of fish accompanied the milk. In this last case 

 the van was very dirty. 



An Inspector reported, in one instance, that the van was full of 

 people, some of whom were sitting on the lids of the cans, a prac- 

 tice which is common enough, but which might be a source of 

 dangerous pollution, especially when so many defective lids are 

 used. So many people were in this van that the air, according to 

 the Inspector, was foul. As is well known, luggage vans are 

 usually not over clean, and are apt to be dusty. In dealing with 

 luggage also, clouds of dust are apt to be raised, which settles upon 

 the tops of the churns, to drop into the milk through defective lids, 

 or be washed off by the contents of the cans on pouring out. An 

 Inspector reported that " a porter swept out a van, raising clouds 

 of dust while the churns were in it, and the lids defective." The 

 lids here were of the worst type, and badly fitted. 



