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were taken, and 1 sample of Demerara sugar. Proceedings were
taken in two other cases on account of margarine, which was sold
without proper labels and descriptions. Of the total number of
samples, 6 were taken in course of, and at the place of, delivery,
by an Officer of this Council direct, of which number 1 was certified
to be adulterated; 10 were taken by an Officer of the Council
direct, of which 2 were certified to be adulterated, and 1 of margarine
was sold unlabelled; the remaining 284 samples were taken
by agents employed by the Officers of this Council. Sixteen
samples were taken on Sundays during the year, only 1 of which
was certified to be adulterated.
The practice of displaying notices in shops, or other similar
premises, making a declaration in more or less ambiguous fashion
to the effect that in order to comply with the provisions of the
Sale of Food and Drugs Acts, "Notice is hereby given that no
guarantee is made or implied as to the purity of any articles,
but that all goods sold at this establishment are of the usual
high quality," is becoming increasingly prevalent, and accordingly
is very materially restricting the operations of the Food
and Drugs Inspector; for whilst the general public read the notice
and understand it to mean a testimonial in favour of the high
quality of the goods supplied, yet on the other hand the Inspector
knows that should goods be purchased at that establishment and
be found to be adulterated, as would most likely be the case, any
Police Court proceedings would be entirely nullified by the production
of the above-mentioned notice.
An illustration of the variable view taken by Magistrates of
the seriousness of any case is shown by the amount of the fine