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26
Food.
The importance of preventing unwholesome food being
sold to the public is one of the most important duties of
Sanitary Officers, and as many of you know, it is one in which
a great deal of care and skill is required in order, on the one
hand that no injustice should be done to the purveyor, and on
the other hand to protect the public.
During the year 1895 we had a very difficult and delicate
case to deal with, and in the early part of this year another
case equally intricate came under our notice. On entering certain
premises in the district a very large quantity of unsound food
stuffs was found on the premises of a tradesman, something
like two tons: the whole of this was in tins and had to be
sorted by Mr. Twaits and myself before seizing what was
unsound, which was taken to the police-station and condemned
by the Magistrate as unwholesome and unfit for human food.
The Vestry had all the faCts of the seizure placed before them
and they decided to prosecute, it is needless for me to go through
the whole matter, it will be sufficient to say the case
occupied several days at the Police-court, and a great deal of
work was thrown on your officers engaged in getting up the
case, and although we were able to prove to the satisfaction of
the Magistrate that this food was kept in close proximity to
the part of the building used as a cheap eating house, and
also that the defendant had previously been engaged in selling
tinned meat for food when he had given an undertaking to sell
the same for manure, yet it spite of this, because we could not
prove that any of this particular lot seized was being used as
food, the Magistrate in giving his judgment stated
"I have been considering— I was going to say without
"any doubt and that degree of certainty which such a
"result called for, can I say without any doubt that the
"defendant has been guilty of this offence? Well, looking
"at the matter and giving the best attention possible I can
"to this difficult case, I have come to the conclusion that
"I cannot say this with that degree of certainty which
"the case requires.