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184
The fines inflicted varied from a minimum of 10s. (with
12s. 6d. costs) to a maximum of £20 (with 14s. 6d. costs).
The practice of adulterating butter is becoming increasingly
common, and having regard to the profitable nature of the fraud
and the difficulty of detecting these cases, it is not difficult to
understand why it should be popular among dishonest traders.
While it is true that this form of fraud is not so serious from the
health standpoint as adulteration of milk, it is none the less a great
injustice to the community. In the present state of the law it is
not easy to secure convictions against dishonest persons who lay
themselves out to make this form of food adulteration a speciality.
It is the practice of such persons to supply new and casual customers
with butter when asked for this article, reserving for their
regular customers the distinction of supplying them with margarine,
although they ask and pay for butter. The reasons for
this are obvious. Every new or casual customer asking for butter
may be an inspector or his agent, and unless the inspector patiently
lays his net by employing an agent to become a regular customer,
he is unlikely to succeed in obtaining a conviction, although he
may be perfectly aware that the fraud is being carried on. Even
when he has succeeded in obtaining a sample of butter which, on
analysis, proves to be largely adulterated, he has to run the risk
of losing the case through a blunder on the part of his agent.
There appears to be considerable difficulty in securing the services
of suitably endowed persons for this purpose, and this is not surprising,
for the class of person intelligent enough to prove successful
at this work is not often found willing to undertake the
work.
The following cases will serve as examples of the difficulty
experienced in detecting this form of fraud.
A man doing a good business in East Battersea was suspected
by the inspector to be retailing large quantities of margarine
for butter, and several attempts made with ordinary agents
to catch him were unsuccessful. At last, through the agency of
a lad more successful than other agents previously employed, a
sample was purchased as butter, which on analysis was found to
be adulterated.