View report page

71
imposed in a case of marked adulteration during the year. A
person carrying on a large business in a poor class neighbourhood,
who is known to deal extensively in margarine and other adulterated
goods, was proceeded against in the Police Court, and the
case was proved to the satisfaction of the Magistrate; then came
the question as to any previous convictions, and we were able to
prove that in this same Police Court the same Defendant had
been fined the following amounts for similar infractions of the law,
in consecutive order during the last five years:—in 1901, £4;
1902, £1 in two cases; 1903, £10 and £3; and in 1904, £20;
from a consideration of which amounts one naturally expected
that the fine on this occasion would have been of a very substantial
character indeed, as the previous warnings did not appear to
have had much effect. The Defendant, however, was agreeably
surprised to find that he was let off on this sixth occasion with a
fine of £10.