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107
The Chief Sanitary Inspector writes:—
" I would draw your attention to the case of McNair v. Cave, reported
above, the facts of which are as follows:—
" Information was given at the City Hall by a milk contractor whose
business premises are within the City, that milk supplied to him by a
farmer named Cave, of Shottle, Derbyshire, was arriving heavily
adulterated with water, and that the milk was for customers within the
City of Westminster.
" The place of delivery to him was at the St. Pancras Railway Station ;
there the liability of the farmer ended. The contractor asked that
samples of the milk might be taken at the place of delivery and
submitted for analysis. Section 3 of the Sale of Food and Drugs
Amendment Act is as follows:—
" 'Any medical officer of health, inspector of nuisances, inspector
of weights and measures, or any inspector of a market, or any police
constable, under the direction and at the cost of the local authority
appointing such officer, inspector or constable, or charged with the
execution ot' this Act, may procure "at the place of delivery any
sample of any milk in course of delivery to the purchaser or consignee
in pursuance of any contract for the sale to such purchaser or consignee
of such milk ; and such officer, inspector or constable, if he suspect the
same to have been sold contrary to any of the provisions of the
principal Act, shall submit the same to be analysed, and the same shall
be analysed, and proceedings shall be taken, and penalties on conviction
be enforced in like manner in all respects as if such officer,
inspector, or constable had purchased the same from the seller or
consignor under Section 13 of the principal Act.'
" Under this section Inspector McNair was instructed to go to the
place of delivery of the milk in question, viz., St. Pancras Station, and
procure a sample of the milk on arrival by the train. Samples were
duly obtained (one from each of two churns) and submitted to the
Police Analyst, who reported that they contained 20 and 21 per cent,
respectively of added water, whereupon summonses were issued and
heard at Clerkenwell Police Court. The Magistrate, however, dismissed
the case, on the ground of jurisdiction, and held that the Inspector had
no power outside the district for which he is appointed; he, however,
promised to state a case on the point, for the opinion of a higher
Court.
" Your Committee unanimously decided to appeal, and the following
is the report of the Lord Chief Justice's judgment:—
" The Lord Chief Justice: 'This case is to my mind by no means free
from difficulty; but the point, when the matter is threshed out, is