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52
This case was argued at considerable length before the magistrate gave his
judgment in the following terms:—
"I am of opinion that it is not a condition precedent to the inspection
"by the Medical Officer or Inspector that the article should have been
"sold or exposed for sale or deposited for sale or of preparation for
"sale within the jurisdiction. I think that if the articles were brought
"within the jurisdiction of the Authority, then the right to inspect
"accrued, provided they were articles intended, as I think they were, for
"the food of man. If, however, I am wrong in this, and it is necessary
''that the articles should either be sold or exposed for sale or deposited
"for the purposes of sale within the jurisdiction of the Port Sanitary
"Authority, then I think these cases were deposited at this transit shed
"for the purpose by delivery when the order was given of carrying out
"within the jurisdiction an agreement for sale made outside it, and so
"were deposited for the purpose of sale within the jurisdiction.
"I think a magistrate, provided he is asked to go and condemn goods
"which an Inspector has seized, as soon as he sees the goods and is
"satisfied that they are intended for human food, and are unfit to be so
"used, he is bound to condemn them. The Act says so in terms and he
"is not to inquire, and it is no part of his duty to inquire if such seizure
"was legal."
The magistrate fined the defendants 40s. and costs of 35 guineas in each
case.
The defendants gave notice of appeal.
FOREIGN ANIMALS.
In July, the s.s. "Sperber" conveyed to Bremen, from London, ten rams,
which were there rejected on the ground of disease, and brought back to
London. The Board of Agriculture would not permit the relanding of the
animals dead or alive. The shipowners were naturally in a difficulty, and
approached the Port Sanitary Authority to learn if any objection would be
taken to the slaughter of the animals on the vessel at sea and the casting
overboard of the carcases. They were informed that, subject to the carcases
being thrown overboard at such a distance from land as would prevent them
being cast up on any part of the foreshore of this country, no objection could
be taken to the course proposed, as no nuisance would be likely to arise.
These rams made several voyages across the North Sea, and I am informed
they improved in health so much that they were ultimately landed at Bremen.
The Board of Agriculture and Fisheries, by an order dated 13th September,
1907, appointed a piece of waste land to the south of No. 6 Berth in the
Royal Albert Dock to be a foreign animal quarantine station, in accordance
with the Diseases of Animals Acts, 1894 to 1903. This was only a temporary
measure for a few months.