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151
pared with insignificant and trumpery fines
imposed upon milkmen and small general
traders who are convicted of deliberate and
fraudulent sophistication of their goods.
It is a common experience that a publican
may be fined £50 for adding half the quantity
of water to his beer that a dairyman would add to
his milk, at the cost, perhaps, of a shilling fine.
In the '23rd Annual Report of the Local
Government Board, 1893-94, we learn that
during last year " 192 fines were of 2s. 6d. or
less (including 29 of 6d. and under), 243 were
over 2s. 6d. and not over 5s., and 444 were over
5s. and not above 10s.; fines being imposed in
2,687 cases of prosecutions under the "Sale of
Food and Drugs Acts," exclusive of convictions
of Excise cases, of which I have no record.
The practical inference to be drawn from
these differences is that, whereas in the case
of milk, a child or an invalid may be deprived
of 25 to 50 per cent., and even more, of
nourishment, essential perhaps to the maintenance
of human life, the publican who may add
the same quantity of water to his beer, which