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180 Report of the Medical Officer of Health.
The Drugs samples submitted also showed a falling off, for
whereas in 1902 no adulteration was detected, the percentage of
adulteration in 1903 was in. Here it is only right to point out
that whereas in the former year only two samples of Drugs were
submitted for analysis 27 samples were submitted during 1903.
Under the headings Bread and Cereals and Alcoholic
Beverages all the samples submitted were certified to be genuine.
During the year a considerable increase was made in the
number of samples submitted for analysis, viz.:—from 584 in 1902
to 729 in 1903. Where possible samples were purchased by
deputy, and for this purpose different members of the disinfecting
staff have been at various times utilised, and also the service of a
female assistant to purchase grocery samples late on Friday and
Saturday evenings.
In the subsequent proceeding at the Police Court considerable
difficulty has been experienced in obtaining convictions against
the large retail firms. A special defence is invariably set up
which consists of pleading the warranty under which the milk is
sold with the also invariable result that the summons is dismissed.
This question of pleading warranties is becoming a more serious
one each year. It is now a general practice with all the large
firms, and many of the smaller firms are following their lead. In
the course of a few years it will become well-nigh an impossibility
to obtain a conviction against a dishonest milk vendor except
in those cases where the defendants are too poor to bear the cost
of the proceedings.
The necessity for an alteration of the law with respect to
warranty is shown in Case No. 408, where a summons was issued
against a farmer for giving a false warranty, in which the summons
was dismissed by the Magistrate. The defendant proved to the
satisfaction of the Court that the milk was delivered at the railway
station by his servant as drawn from the cow, and yet a
sample taken in this Borough showed 10 per cent, of fat deficient.
It is quite a probable explanation that the milk had been tampered
with between the railway stations as the churns are not locked and
are kept for some time at these stations. The churns ought to
be securely fastened by padlock or seal so that no adulteration in
transit could occur,