5i6 THE CONTROL OF THE MILK SUPPLY 



Such examples could be multiplied almost ad libitum, in every 

 part of the country, even in dairying districts. We have visited 

 during the last four or five years a number of the dairying districts 

 in England, and without exception we have found in these districts 

 cowsheds in almost every particular open to grave criticism. The 

 cows live under insanitary conditions, and are kept in uncleanliness. 

 The milking itself is also carried by dirty people in dirty stalls, 

 A pure milk supply is impossible under these circumstances. 



Recommendations. — The Royal Commission on Tuberculosis, 

 1898, recommended as follows : — 



" 10. We recommend that the Local Government Board be 

 empowered to require Local Authorities to adopt regulations as 

 to dairies, cowsheds, etc, where that shall be found not to have 

 been done already. 



" II, That in future no cowsheds, byre, or shippon, other than 

 those already registered, shall be permitted or registered in urban 

 districts within 100 feet of any dwelHng-house ; and that the dis- 

 continuance of any one already existing shall be ordered on the 

 certificate, eitlicr of the Medical Officer of Health that it is injurious 

 to the health of human beings residing near it, or of the Veterinary 

 Inspector that it is not a place wherein cows ought to be kept for 

 the purpose of milk supply, and that it is incapable of being 

 made so. 



" 12. That the conditions of the attached cowsheds that shall 

 warrant the registering of a dairy in a populous place, whether 

 technically urban or rural, in the future shall include the following : — 



" I. An impervious floor. 



" 2, A sufficient water supply for flushing. 



" 3. Proper drainage, 



the Selby urban and rural districts. A study of his admirable return respecting 

 these places shows that all, except one, and that a new shed, were open to criti- 

 cism. — Report on Sanitary Condition of Selby Union, No, 8, 1901, pp. i5) 16, In 

 1902, the same medical officer visited 40 cowsheds in the Pontefract Union of 

 which 5 appear to have been passable. — Report on Sanitary Condition of Ponte- 

 fract Union, 1902, pp. 12-16, One cowshed, Dr Kaye reports, as consisting of 

 "an upturned railway carriage with wooden sides and roof of corrugated iron." 

 The footwalk was laid in bricks, badly and loosely set. Three cows were kept 

 in this place, and the privy entrance was direct from the cowshed. Or take 

 Staffordshire, one of the counties supplying milk to the south as Yorkshire does 

 to the north. Dr Reid, the medical officer for Staffordshire, reporting in 1903, 

 writes : " I very rarely came across a dairy farm which is satisfactory as 

 regards the cowsheds ; most are ill-lit, overcrowded, badly ventilated, and badly 

 drained." 



