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138
ANALYSIS OF FOOD AND DRUGS,
WATER, Etc.
1. Food and Drugs.
During the year 1902, 704 samples have been purchased
within the Borough of Lambeth and submitted to the Public
Analyst for analysis. Taking the average of 10 years (18911900),
the annual number of samples taken in the old Parish of
Lambeth is 501, of which 74 (i.e., 14.8 per cent.) were found on
analysis to be adulterated. The annual average number of
summonses issued is 53, wifh 52 convictions (together with 16
cautions), and £104 5s. 5d. in penalties, and £35 0s. 3d. in
costs, during the same decennium. In the Borough, 710 samples
were taken during 1901.
Of the 704 samples taken during 1902, 51 (i.e., 7.2 per cent.)
were reported by the Analyst to be adulterated; 22 summonses
were issued, with the result that 19 convictions* were obtained,
together with £14 5s. in penalties, and £16 5s. 6d. in costs;
and in several cases the vendors were cautioned. Full details
are to be found on pages 140-142 and in the Appendix.
The minimum number of samples of food and drugs to be
taken each year is 600, and it is to be hoped that the Borough
Council will not rest satisfied until 1000 yearly samples are
taken throughout the large Borough of Lambeth.†
A recent case in the High Court (McNair versus Cave) has
laid down that a Sanitary Inspector has no power to take samples
for analysis under the Sale of Food and Drugs Acts outside his
own district, and that, therefore, the words "places of delivery"
in Section 3 of the 1879 Act mean "places of delivery within
the district of a Sanitary Authority in connection with which
the Inspector taking the samples has been appointed." A
* One summons was dismissed on a legal technicality, and one on
account of the warranty being proved.
† The Council has decided that a minimum 1,000 samples per anuum
shall in future be taken (vide Minutes, 1903, page 585).