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pose was fortunately not passed. The effect of this Bill
could scarcely have been anticipated by its promoters, for if
re-introduced in its present form and passed, it will render
the Sale of Food and Drugs Act a dead letter. Among its
minor provisions it legalises the addition of poisonous ingredients
to Margarine. At the request of the Chairman of
your Public Health Committee I have made a more detailed
report on this Bill which is, I understand, now under their
consideration.
In stating above that the Sale of Food and Drugs Act
requires amendment in certain directions, I need only refer,
to substantiate my statement, to the question of Baking
Powders.
In a former prosecution in a case of Baking Powder
for adulteration with alum, a conviction was obtained before
a Magistrate, but was upset on Appeal to a Court of
Quarter Sessions, on the ground that Baking Powder was
neither a Food nor a Drug. Accepting this decision as
right in law, it is time that the law was altered. If a confectioner
or baker were to sell any article made with such
Baking Powder, he would be liable to conviction, but would
have no remedy against the original vendor of the Baking
Powder. This is no hypothetical case, as I have had,
during the last year, two Baking Powders submitted to me
that were both largely adulterated with alum.
Apart from the one or two points I have alluded to
above, and over which your Officers have no control, the
Vestry is to be congratulated on the manner in which the