View report page

59
clauses. If the matter was urgent in 1915, how much more is it
now under the prevailing conditions! It is no exaggeration to say
that it is a grave scandal that at a time when the prices of all articles
of food, especially milk and butter, are so high, very little
security exists in the present state of the law against the wholesale
adulteration of the chief articles of food for young and old. I
repeat here with more emphasis the remarks I made in my earlier
report:—"The public must be protected from fraud, and the purveyor
made wholly responsible that the article sold by him shall be
of the nature, substance and quality demanded by the purchaser.
The Local Authority should not be required in their duty of protecting
the public, to go beyond the actual local purveyor. It is
ths duty of the local dealers to see that they are supplied from
wholesale dealers with genuine articles, and if they are not so
supplied, they have their own remedy at law."
I repeat that I am of opinion the warranty defence should be
abolished, and I recommend the Borough Council to obtain the
support of the other Metropolitan Boroughs to this view, and to
press it without delay upon the Local Government Board, the
Board of Agriculture, and the Food Controller.
I remain,
Yours obediently,
(Sgd.) J. King Warry, M.D., M.R.C.P., D.P.H.