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to be that the majority of your food samples shall be found genuine,
then we can easily win the approbation of those authorities by
adopting any or all of the following methods:—
(a) Let all your samples be taken during the regular official
hours of duty.
(b) Take samples at the shops in strict systematic rotation,
i.e., begin at one end of the street or district and go straight
through. Do not dodge about from place to place.
(c) Employ as your agent or purchaser one of the male
employes in the Sanitary Department, such as the messenger
or disinfector, or any other of the men equally well known in
the district.
(d) Let one officer, preferably well-known, take all the
samples regularly and without variation or any interference.
Our critics will, no doubt, be surprised to hear that each and
every one of these schemes are actually in force in some or other of
the districts which make up London as a whole, and with which
they compare us; and I would respectfully suggest for consideration
what might be a still better arrangement for procuring
unadulterated samples—Provide the above-mentioned officer with a
most conspicuous uniform or livery, and let him carry a fairly large
sampling bag, and there can be no possible doubt that the amount of
adulteration detected would be reduced to very small proportions.
Whether there would be less adulterated food or fraudulent trading
carried on is, of course, a matter of opinion; but I make bold to
say that our rate of detection is above the average simply because
the methods adopted for taking samples in this district are superior
to those usually in force, and calculated to get at the very class of
trader that the Acts are intended to deter. The conclusion I arrive
at on the point is that you should strenuously continue, and in fact
extend, your operations in this direction.
DISBURSEMENT ACCOUNT.
The following particulars and detailed account shows the expenditure
and receipts under the different heads for each month throughout
the year.
The heading "Small Accounts under £2," includes the sum of
17s. 6d. paid as compensation for temporary shelter for three families
during the disinfection of their rooms; also the sum of £10 17s. 6d.
paid as compensation to 13 tenants for inconvenience caused in the
execution of combined drain or sewer works upon their premises.