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20
Food and
Drugs Acts
not effective.
Public not
protected.
Evasion of all
responsibility
made quite
easy.
The steady regular enforcement of the Sale of Food
and Drugs Acts, ineffectual and most unsatisfactory
as they are known to be, has been continued with
more or less satisfactory results. In view, however, of
the many technicalities and conflicting decisions that
have been given from time to time, the successful
administration of these Acts is becoming increasingly
difficult, and moreover a large amount of the protection
originally intended for the public benefit has
been destroyed. The effect of these technicalities can
be seen on reference to the Appendix containing the
list of legal proceedings, where it will be found a
large number of summonses are dismissed on what are
termed "warranty-defences." The procedure is quite
simple. The wholesale dealer procures a warranty
from the farmer or other contractor; the retail vendor
proves a warranty from the said wholesaler. Both
prove respectively that they never tampered with the
milk whilst it was in their possession and the law is
complied with. A good legal defence has been set
up, and in the result the standard fixed for milk by
the Board of Agriculture is daily rendered meaningless,
the protection afforded the public as to the
genuineness of the milk is illusory, and the administration
of the Food and Drugs Act becomes an endless
farce except in the expenditure of public funds which
are largely wasted in this will-o'-the-wisp business.
Action taken
by Committee
This question of Milk Warranty defences has been
under your consideration on many occasions, in common
with that of the other Sanitary Authorities of
the Metropolis, and recently the Town Clerk was