View report page

67
That it is a profitable business and is not likely to be discouraged
by fines of 5s. and 10s. 6d. may be demonstrated by analysing the
circumstances of a vendor who adds 20 per cent. of water to milk.
That he exists has been evidenced in Stoke Newington during the
past year, and he is by no means uncommon. Assuming that he sells
100 quarts of this mixture a day at 4d. per quart; then he obtains
each day,' in addition to his legitimate profit upon 80 quarts of milk,
a profit of 6s. 8d. upon 20 quarts of! water. In a week he will have
robbed the public of £2 6s. 8d.; and this in a year will amount to
£121 6s. 8d. Assuming that he does not perpetrate the fraud daily
he can still afford to pay many of the usual Police Court fines and
find himself with a handsome sum in hand at the end of the year. Is
an individual with a criminal bent likely to be discouraged by an
occasional fine of 20s. in these circumstances?
The other forms of adulteration also call for strong repressive
measures in lieu of the almost sympathetic leniency which is so often
to be observed. But these are, happily, few in Stoke Newington,
and they are not comparable in their disastrous effects to the evil
consequences of the adulteration of milk.
It will be noted that a prosecution in respect of one sample of milk,
which was reported upon as containing 8 per cent. of added water, was
dismissed with costs against the Council. The third portion of this
sample was referred to the Government Analyst, who reported that it was
extraordinarily rich in solid matter, and that there was, therefore, no
evidence of any addition of water. The Inspector who took the sample
and retained the third portion in his charge failed to tell the Magistrate
that the cork had been blown out of the bottle, and that the contents
had suffered a further reduction by evaporation, so that the third sample
was no longer of the composition of the original milk. The Inspector
who was in default has since left the service of the Council; but the
other Inspectors are instructed in the future, so as to guard against the
possibility of the recurrence of such an incident, to slit the cork of the
third portion down to one-fourth of its length, draw some string through
E 2