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128
A reference to p. 140 will show that 23 prosecutions were instituted against
milk sellers during the year, in which convictions were obtained in 13
instances, and in no less than ten cases warranty defences were successful.
With regard to this form of defence, there can be no question that the
opportunities afforded by the warranty clauses of the Sale of Food and Drugs
Acts are exceedingly prejudicial to the effective administration of the law.
This question was the subject of a Special Report presented by your Medical
Officer to the Sanitary Committee last January, wherein an amendment of the
existing law was advocated. The Board of Agriculture and Fisheries
have also had their attention directed to this matter, and in their Annual
Report for last year referred to two suggestions for dealing with the difficulty.
"The one is that whenever a warranty is pleaded, the Local Authority can
"have the summons adjourned in order to apply for a summons, or in the
"case of successive warranties, for summonses against the warrantor or
"warrantees, and the magistrate shall then hear the two or more summonses
"as one case, so as to decide which is the guilty party. The other is that the
"warranty sections should be repealed, and the seller of the milk be left to his
"remedy at common law against the person from whom he purchased it."
The latter appears to be the best remedy by reason of its simplicity, and
the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries are also of opinion that it is the one
that would commend itself to the agricultural community.
BUTTER.
Three hundred and fifty-four samples of butter were examined, of which
four, or 1.14 per cent., were adulterated.

The increase last year was due to the substitution of margarine for butter
in 12 instances out of 101, where slices of bread and butter were purchased.
These figures showed a marked improvement over those of 1903, when out of
71 such purchases 19, or 26.7 per cent., this fraud was detected, as against
11.8 per cent. in 1904.
Sixteen samples of bread and butter were examined in 1905, and the butter
used was reported as genuine in each case. A decline of adulteration of a
particular character from 26.7 per cent. to nil in three years is another
illustration showing how a mean fraud can be practically stamped out by
repeated sampling.