But, after all the most important question is, how to prevent the occurrence of such cases? And here the difficulty is apparent of getting such regular skilled inspection of cowsheds (in Town, for it is hopeless, I fear, to attempt any supervision of the extra metropolitan sources of milk-supply!) as would suffice to detect disease in cows or employés, and secure effectual separation of diseased men and animals from the dairy. Probably nothing would have a greater effect in breeding caution in the vendors of milk than legislative enactment imposing severe penalties (not pecuniary only!) for the offence of selling for human food the milk of diseased cows.

In the case before us, it would appear that the dairyman knew that some of his cows were “wrong in their quarters,” and yet, though their milk could be of small value (for disease diminishes the yield rapidly and greatly), families were exposed to the risk of illness, and in one case the calamity of death was brought on a household, that no portion of the profits of business might be lost. We may charitably and reasonably believe that the dairyman anticipated no such consequences; but what so likely to prevent the recurrence of such a catastrophe as a consciousness of the risk incurred by vending diseased milk?

Before quitting this subject I may express my opinion that dairies are multiplied more than is desirable, and as a consequence (I have adverted to the subject in another part of this report), the sheds are often of a very unsatisfactory character. Large dairies, under careful supervision, managed with a due regard to sanitary requirements in man and animals, and situated in the suburbs or outskirts of the metropolis, would be a boon the value of which is likely to be the more appreciated as facts such as those noted above accumulate.

POPULATION, &c.

The estimated population of Kensington at the middle of the year was 138,000, an increase of 5,000 over 1873. The Town sub-district contained about 105,000, and the Brompton sub-district about 33,000 in round numbers. The males numbered about 56,240, and the females 81,760:—excess of females over males, 25,520. In every 1,000 there were approximatively 407 males and 593 females. The subjoined table shows the number of persons of each sex, arranged in groups of ages, at the Census, 1871:

AGES OF MALES AND FEMALES, 1871.

All Ages. Under 5 5 to 15 15 to 25 25 to 35 35 to 45 45 to 55 55 to 65 65 to 75 75 to 85 85 to 94 95 and upwds.
Males, 48977 7065 10198 8948 8317 5963 4339 2464 1270 378 33 2
Females 71322 7147 11527 16585 14203 9080 6241 3768 2000 667 97 7
Total, 120299 14212 21722 25533 22520 15043 10580 6232 3270 1045 130 9

From the above table it appears that there are an almost equal number of the sexes under the age of 5. Between 5 and 15 the excess of females begins, amounting to 1,329—this representing the “school” age, and the preponderance of females being explained, with probability, by the large number of girls’ schools in the parish. In the next three decades (15 to 45) there is a further large increase of females, viz., 7,637, 5,886, and 3,117 = (16,640), a considerable proportion of which doubtless consists of domestic servants. The increase is maintained throughout the table, but on a diminished scale, amounting in the three following decades (45–75) to 3,936, viz., 1,902, 1,304, and 730. Of persons above 75 years of age, 1,184 were enumerated; the excess of females being 358. The preponderance of females at middle life and in old age is probably due to the residence from choice of many independent persons, attracted by the salubrity and by the social and other advantages of Kensington; and to the greater longevity of women.

The superficial area of the parish is 2,190 acres, viz., 1,497 in the Town sub-district, and 639 in Brompton. Some 300 or 400 acres are still uncovered by buildings. The density of the population is about 74 persons to an acre. The total number of houses, including empties and those in course of erection, slightly exceeds 20,000. The inhabited houses at the middle of the year were about 17,667, an increase of 747 over the previous year. There were about 7.8 persons to each house on an average throughout the parish; but at the census, 1871, it appeared that the average in the Brompton Sub-district was only seven.

The subjoined table is of interest, showing as it does the remarkable growth of the parish in wealth and population during the present century: