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288
[1909
warranty is of no avail if the milk be altered in any way, or if any thing, even
anatto, which is a colouring matter, be added to it. I think you ought to
understand that it was only because of the low official standard that they
escaped a charge of fat abstraction, for the analysis of the milk showed that it
contained only 2.78 per cent. of fat (equal to 2.95 per cent. before the water
was added) a deficiency which is practically accounted for by the addition of
the 6 per cent. of water. It suggested, however, to anyone with the knowledge
of the analysis of milk that fat had been abstracted, either by the addition of
separated milk, or by its direct separation or skimming. It also suggested to
some extent that the sophistication had been practised by the firm, because
they, as experts, would have recognised the milk on its arrival from the farms
as poor milk if it had only contained the minimum amount (3 per cent.) of
fat; and they would in all probability—nay, to a certainty—have communicated
with the inspector or myself, as so many traders do, when they are getting
poor milk, and requested that samples of the farmer's milk should be procured
for examination on arrival at Finsbury Park Railway Station. They would
not have been satisfied with 3 per cent. of fat, when the average percentage
contained in the milk arriving at Finsbury Park Station, based on the analyses
of 1,174 milks, is 3.9, and when the average of 200,000 milks received by the
Aylesbury Dairy Co. is exactly the same figure. This knowledge operated
strongly on my mind and induced me to request the solicitor to cross examine
the witnesses as to the use of separated milk; and no doubt similar knowledge
with respect to milks in general tempt milk purveyors to sin. The
standard is too low, and so long as it remains at 3 per cent. so long will it
place temptation in the way of milk purveyors.
And as they were tempted to add separated milk, so, too, were they
tempted to plead "warranty." They may, perhaps, never have thought of
the serious consequences the success of their plea would have had for the
farmer, who in this instance happens to be a woman, struggling for existence,
or if they did, and it is more than likely, they looked upon a successful prosecution
against her as a remote contingency. It is true that if you decided on a
prosecution against her for giving a false warranty, the witnesses who had stated
that they had sold the milk as they received it would have been called on to
give evidence to that effect, which would have placed them in a very terrible
position, for it would be the alternative of telling the truth, or of committing
perjury. The railway officials would have been called, and they naturally
would have denied doing anything to the milk. Finally, the widow would
have been called, and of course she would have said that she sent it away as
it came from her cows : and the result would most probably have been a