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268
Report of the Medical Officer of Health.
are the defendants the same as those who were previously summoned,
and they have all written in reply explaining the circumstances
under which the omission to label the vessels came about. I am of
opinion that the Magistrate would accept the explanations given
and would not find that the omission was wilful.
"Upon referring to Chambers' Entomological Dictionary I
find that the meaning of the word' wilful' is given as ' governed
only by one's will' 'done or suffered by design,' and in Stroud's
Judicial Dictionary it states that it is the intention to purposely
omit to do the thing that ought to be done. I think it could not be
said in any of the cases that the defendants so acted as to intentionally
or purposely omit to put the labels on the receptacles. In
most of the cases it was the employees of the defendants who made
the omission, notwithstanding (I think in all cases) that labels were
provided for the purpose.
"The words ' wilful neglect' seem a stumbling-block in the
enforcement of the Regulations, but I think if the same defendants
in the future omit to put the labels on, summonses ought to be issued
against the defendants, and the Magistrate would then have to judge
whether the omission was wilful or not."
31st january, 1914.
Case No. 750.
"The summons was dismissed in this case on Wednesday last,
although to my mind the evidence was such that the defendants
ought to have been convicted, but the defendants' Counsel made a
great parade of the Local Government Board Regulations as to the
sale of Preserved Cream
"The defendants' manageress stated that the cream was sold
from a jug which was labelled ' Preserved Cream ' and stated the
percentage of boric acid ; but this witness admitted that she did not
produce the jug to the purchaser nor to the Inspector.
"I should like to say with regard to these Regulations that
they have now created considerable difficulty as to proceedings
under the Food and Drugs Acts relative to the purchase of cream.