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55
[1922
at the commencement was 9d. per quart, and the inference regarding anything at less
than this would necessarily be that the article was either skimmed milk, or a mixture.
GROUP "A."
About July, 1921, a milkman commenced to tour the poorer streets of the northern
part of the Borough retailing presumably genuine milk at 7d. per quart. The suspicions
of the Inspector were aroused, and this milkman was kept under close observation for
some time. His procedure was to drive along the streets with a horse and cart, together
with an assistant, both loudly shouting "pure new milk," or "new milk," price 7d. per
quart, or 3½d. per pint, and making every effort to capture the trade of established dairymen
in the locality by just preceding them on their rounds.
His cart was smartly painted, and inscribed with the name "Guernsey Farm Dairy"
in large letters, while it contained two churns and two hand-cans.
Fresh customers were invariably served from a hand-can inside the cart, established
ones from a can at the rear. In every instance the customer's jugs were fetched from the
doors and carried to the cart, where the milk was measured out.
In the first week in August, the first sample was purchased from this vendor, and
the Inspector was served from the can inside the cart. On analysis it proved to have had
12 per cent, of its fat abstracted. A summons was issued, and the man who appeared was
fined /I, with two guineas costs. The lenient manner in which the offence was treated was
responsible to a certain extent for what followed, for during the following week, no less
than five carts, all hailing from the same address in an adjoining borough, appeared on
the scene. These carts were similar in every way to the one described above. From about
the middle of October, until the end of Xovember, practically the whole time of the Inspector
was taken up with tracking these men down, in some cases nearly a whole day being spent
on obtaining one sample.
Between the 3rd August and the 9th November, 1921, a total of 18 official samples
were purchased from these vendors, of which four were sold as "separated," leaving 14,
of which 8 were adulterated.
In addition, 36 informal samples were purchased, of which 18 proved genuine, and
18 adulterated.