464 



THE CONTROL OF THE MILK SUPPLY 



oil, soap, pickles, candles, bacon, boot blacking, and toffee, also 

 deal in a few quarts of milk. And so from hand to hand the milk 

 passes, and under some circumstances does not reach the consumer 

 until twenty-four hours after being drawn from the cow. 



Lack of control by Local Authority over milk sources. — In a 

 general way it may be said that country cowsheds and country 

 cows are maintained at a lower standard of sanitation than town 

 cows or cowsheds. The Dairy Order is administered in many 

 rural districts with considerable laxity, and the personal interests 

 of the members of the Local Authority lead to a certain degree 

 of supineness. It is the exception rather than the rule for regula- 

 tions under the Order to be adopted, or, if adopted, to be enforced. 

 In towns, on the other hand, regulations are usually enforced with 

 more or less strictness. But the difficulty is that towns at a distance 

 from their milk-gathering ground have no direct control over the 

 contributory farms. An illustration will make this evident. 



(i) As to coivs. — In 1 90 1, 1839 cows were inspected in Man- 

 chester cowsheds, and one only was found suffering from tubercu- 

 losis of the udder ; in 1902, no cases of tuberculous udder were 

 found in the city cowsheds. 



But a very different result was obtained when country cows, the 

 milk of which is sent into Manchester, were examined. The facts 

 are set out in the following table : — 



In this table only the three counties have been taken from 

 which milk also comes into Finsbury. It is evident that a certain 

 percentage of milk from these districts has been found to be 

 tuberculous. But this is not all. Fortunately, the Manchester Cor- 

 poration followed the matter up and endeavoured to remove the 

 tuberculous cows. In 1902, they found that there were 31 cows 

 in these country farms suffering from tuberculosis of the udder. 



