View report page

THE STRAND DISTRICT, LONDON
159
results against the wholesale seller. But if any article
has been sold to the retailer for food, the person who
so sold the same is liable, on conviction, to fine and
imprisonment, unless he proves that at the time he sold
the said article he did not know and had no reason to
believe that it was in such condition. In a large
number of cases food-stuffs were brought to your
Board's Offices by persons who had bought them in a
damaged condition, and finding they had made bad
bargains, wished to recover the money paid for them
by having the goods condemned. In such cases, if the
articles are found to be bad they are seized and
removed to your wharf, and a certificate is given of
what has transpired, and generally the seller and costermonger
arrange the matter between themselves. In
two cases, however, in which, apparently, the seller had
knowledge of the state of the articles sold, your Board
proceeded against them, and the magistrate being satisfied
that the seller or his servants must have known of
the condition in which the articles were when sold,
fined one £20 and costs, or in default one month's
imprisonment for selling 72 boxes of tomatoes unfit for
food; another £5 and costs for selling rotten cabbages.
The question is one of considerable importance to fruit
salesmen, and in the case of another Covent Garden
salesman, who was prosecuted by Bermondsey Vestry
at the County Sessions and found guilty by a jury,
judgment was postponed until the decision of the Court
for Crown Cases Reserved was given upon the legal
points raised in the defence.*
* In another prosecution instituted by your Board, decided by Mr.
Lushington (during the preparation of this report), notice of appeal has also
been given, so that possibly doubtful points will be cleared up.