View report page

104
In my last Annual Report I referred to the
appointment of a Select Committee of the
House of Commons to enquire into the general
working of the Food and Drugs Acts, &c.
I regret to say no practical outcome has
resulted from this action, and public analysts
throughout the kingdom have not been relieved
from the difficulties experienced since 1875,—a
neglect which has naturally engendered much
indifference on the part of the persons most
interested in the successful suppression of the
adulteration of food and drugs. It is not for
me to say whether these observations apply to
the Legislature or the public generally.
No such reproach, however, can be levelled
against Public Analysts, who have, all over
the country, spared neither time nor money in
formulating reforms which their practical experience
of the working of the Acts convinces
them are indispensably necessary for the
protection of the community against fraudulent
traders.
Two prosecutions were instituted under the