LOCAL AUTHORITY AND MILK SUPPLY 465 



Sixteen of these were slaughtered on the instructions of the Corpora- 

 tion, but the other 15 were disposed of on tJie open market} In one 

 instance, when a search was being made to find the animal yielding 

 the tuberculous milk, 75 farms were visited containing 181 cow- 

 sheds. The veterinary surgeon reports : — 



" The great majority of the cows and cowsheds were in a very 

 dirty condition, and a considerable number of cows examined, while 

 not suffering from tuberculosis of the udder, were certainly other- 

 wise tuberculous. The farms, in fact, with few exceptions, were 

 totally unfit for dairy farms. Only a comparatively small propor- 

 tion of the milk was sent to Manchester, the remainder, a very 

 large quantity, being sent to London. . . . The dairyman stopped 

 sending to Manchester for some time."- 



In another case the farmer replied to the Manchester Corpora- 

 tion instruction to slaughter his tuberculous cow, " asking to be 

 allowed to keep the cow, as he had discontinued sending milk to 

 Manchester, and was sending to London. The Medical Officer of 

 Health replied that the cow should be slaughtered." To this the 

 Secretary of the local Milk Producers' Association replied, asking 

 that the farmer should be allowed to sell the cow in the open 

 market, as times were hard, etc. The Medical Officer again replied 

 that the cow should be slaughtered. After much delay the cow was 

 slaughtered, and the carcase was found to be "very extensively 

 diseased and quite unfit for food." ^ It had therefore been unfit for 

 milking for a long period. 



Other example's might be given revealing the ways in which 

 tuberculous cows are passed from one farmer to another, or from 

 one district to another, their milk, when its sale is discontinued in 

 one district, being sent to another. It is surely a disgraceful 

 traffic, and fortunately some of these dealers have been brought to 

 justice. In London no control wliatever is exercised over any of tJie 

 farjHs or cows sending milk from the country.^ 



(2) As to cowsheds. — The veterinary surgeon for Manchester 

 reports as follows : — 



\xi Cheshire: "Greater attempts are made at cleanliness, but 



' Report on Health of City of Manchester, 1902, p. 141. Lack of compulsory 

 seizure and slaughter of dairy cows proved to be tuberculous, would appear] to 

 be a grave flaw in our dairy legislation. 



- Ibid., p. 148. 3 Ibid., p. 149. 



* The Public Health (London) Act, 1891, Sec. 71, is a cumbersome arrange- 

 ment for stopping a milk supply after it has been proved to cause disease. 

 See Appendix C, p. 553. 



i G 



