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2o6
Report of the Medical Officer of Health.
During the period under notice the Inspector has reported to
me on many occasions that he has had great difficulty in obtaining
several samples in one locality, in fact in several instances he has
found that after taking one sample in a neighbourhood before he
can get to the next shop information has been given to other
traders in the neighbourhood. On one occasion, a Saturday night,
two loafers saw the officer sampling in a shop and made it their
business to call at every shop in that road, doubtless to give information
to the traders. This is difficult of proof, and even if proved
could not in law be held to be obstruction, but from the reports
received from other districts there is no doubt that such men are
recognised and find it to their advantage.
To those intimately acquainted with the work of detecting
adulteration it is well known that some fraudulent traders make it
a practice to sell adulterated goods intermittently, so as to have a
better chance of evading detection, and it does not necessarily
follow that because an adulterated sample is sold in one instance
the article supplied to another purchaser will also be adulterated.
In one case reported to the Board of Agriculture, suspicion as
to the methods of a certain trader having been aroused, no less
than 40 test samples were taken and analysed, 28 of these were
reported genuine whilst 12 were illegal mixtures.
During the year considerable attention has been directed to
procuring samples on Friday and Saturday nights, and also to
sampling milk in the early morning, as it was felt that it was
principally during the busy marketing hours that fraud was practised,
and the results obtained have amply justified that conclusion.
In only three cases during the year have summonses been
dismissed owing to the defendants pleading the warranty clause.
In each instance the article in question was milk. As I pointed
out in my last Report every effort should be made by Local Authorities
to procure the abolition of this, the easiest defence that can
possibly be set up, as it is a constant menace to the effective
prevention of adulteration.
It is my duty to again call attention to the great increase in
the number of itinerant milk vendors who are selling separated