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25
SALE OF FOOD AND DRUGS ACTS.
most difficult matter to prove, for the percentage of
adulterated samples is no guide to the amount of adulteration
in a district. There is nothing easier than to make
any particular district show a high or a low percentage of
adulteration. If it is required to show a high percentage of
adulteration, the inspectors should be directed to confine
their operations to those substances experience has shown
to be most commonly adulterated, and to more particularly
pay attention to the black sheep of the district. If on the
other hand it is desired to show a low percentage of
adulteration, then let a very large number of samples of tea,
of sugar, of flour, of rice, and similar articles be purchased,
which experience has shown to be at the present moment
but rarely tampered with. In this parish, however, the
general method of taking samples has not altered for many
years, so that, although the data are insufficient to compare
with other districts, the data are fairly applicable for a
judgment as to whether adulteration is increasing or
decreasing, and it is satisfactory to note that a smaller
number of prosecutions for adulteration were instituted in
1894 than in any one of the previous ten years.