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139
gestion has been made that some plan of combined action should
be agreed upon, whereby, at the request and expense of the
Council of the City or Borough to which milk is consigned,
samples might be taken at the railway depots by the Inspectors of
the Councils of the respective Boroughs or Cities in which such
depots are situated. To this suggestion the Lambeth Borough
has agreed, but no practical steps have yet been taken by the
Metropolitan Sanitary Authorities to bring about such a plan
of combined action. Lambeth Borough possesses two large
Railway Depots to which milk is consigned daily from the
country, viz., Vauxhall and Waterloo, and many samples have
been there taken by the Inspector at midnight.
Inspector J. W. Perrin is the special Food and Drugs Inspector,
and the results of the year's work are not so satisfactory
as those of previous years, judging by the percentage of samples
found, on analysis, to be adulterated, and the amount of penalties
and costs obtained on conviction (see Tables in Appendix).
In regard to penalties and costs, a serious diminution has
taken place during 1902, viz.: £14 5s. in penalties, (with
£16 5s. 6d. costs) as compared with £114 15s. in penalties
(with £33 14s. costs) during 1901, and a yearly average during
the 10 years 1891-1900 of £104 5s. 5d. in penalties (with
£35 0s. 3d. costs). This is an unsatisfactory state of affairs.
2. Water.
No sample of water has been taken for analysis during 1902.
3. Sale of Butter Regulations.
These regulations (made by the Board of Agriculture) came
into force on May 15th, 1902, and state that, when the proportion
of water in a sample of butter exceeds 16 per cent., it shall be
assumed that the butter is not genuine by reason of the excessive
amount of water therein.