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98
Hampstead Heath on August Bank Holiday. He gave a false
name and address and could not be traced. This is unfortunately
a not uncommon occurrence on such occasions, and there is need for
further legal powers to deal with itinerent vendors who give false
names and addresses.
The other absconding defendant was engaged in the " country
butter" fraud to which I adverted in my last annual report. For
some time a London firm has been conducting a lucrative business
in margarine, which they sell as country butter. The actual selling
is done by agents who receive good salaries and whose fines are
paid by their employers. One of these agents was convicted, in
respect of a sample taken in Hampstead, at the Marylebone Police
Court in 1906, and was fined £10. A sample was taken from
another agent in 1907 and was found to be adulterated, but the man
gave, as usual, a false name and address, and has so far eluded all
the efforts that have been made to trace him. In this present state
of the law, this kind of fraud is extremely difficult to deal with, and
the profits from such trading are much too great for the traders to
be deterred by fines of ten pounds or similar penalties.
Six samples of cream were taken during the year and all were
found to contain boric acid. In two cases the quantity of the preservative
did not exceed that which the Departmental Committee
on Food Preservatives recommended should be permitted in cream,
and consequently no action was taken. In the four other cases this
quantity was exceeded; in two cases the excess was slight and the
vendors were cautioned, but in the remaining cases the quantity was
equivalent to 29 grains per pound, and proceedings were instituted.
The cases, however, were adjourned pending the decision of the
High Court in some similar cases in which proceedings had been
taken by another metropolitan borough.
Samples were taken of the following articles of food: pork pies,
pork sausages, beef sausages, saveloys and black pudding. The
total number of samples was 16, and 10 were found to contain boric
acid. In eight of these the quantity of preservative was small, but
in two samples, one of which was a beef sausage, and one a saveloy,
the quantities were equivalent to 191/2 and 213/4 grains per pound
respectively. Proceedings were instituted in respect of these two