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58
The rate of butter adulteration in England and Wales, which was
10.3 per cent. in 1901 and 6.5 in 1902, fell to 5.5 in 1903. In 1887,
the year in which the Margarine Act was passed, the rate of butter
adulteration was 17.5 per cent. In London and the next twenty largest
towns taken together, the rate of adulteration in 1903 was 7.3 per cent.,
and in the rest of the country 36 per cent.
In the past four years 9.7 per cent. of the samples of sugar
analysed have been condemned.
The percentage of adulterated samples of drugs showed a trifling
increase over that recorded in the previous year. Seidlitz powders
continue to be adulterated to the extent of one-fifth of the samples
procured for analysis. The percentage of spirits reported against in
1903 was 11.8, which, it is interesting to remark, is the lowest on
record since the passing of the Act of 1875. The adulteration refers
only to the addition of water. It is pointed out in the Report that in
the case of a large number of watered samples obtained from licensed
houses, prosecutions cannot effectively be instituted on account of the
common practice of exhibiting notices in the bars of such houses,
stating that all spirits sold in the establishment are diluted. Similar
notices are now being exhibited stating that the brandy sold cannot
be guaranteed as consisting entirely of grape spirit. This method
of evading the provisions of the Act should be overcome in some way,
and a publican should be summarily dealt with who refuses to supply
a standard article.
It is obvious that steady consistent work is being done under the
operation of the Sale of Food and Drugs Act, and that the public
analysts are carrying out their share of the work as efficiently as the
provisions of the Act enable them to do.