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the nutriment of which they are thus defrauded. A less
important aspect of the question, but one not to be overlooked,
is the pecuniary fraud perpetrated by the adulteration
of food. The poor, in fact, frequently pay, bulk for bulk,
actuallv a higher price for milk than their richer neighbours.
In poor localities “ milk ” offered at 4d. per quart is freely
bought, and taking 25 per cent. as not an uncommon proportiou
of added water, the price paid for the milk in the
mixture (putting the value of the water at nil) exceeds 5d.
per quart.
Of the 57 samples submitted to the Public Analyst during
the year 15 were found to be admixed with foreign ingredients,
or to have had a portion of their natural quality
abstracted. Prosecutions were instituted in 9 cases, and a
cautionary letter was written to each of the vendors of the
other samples found to be adulterated. Fines varying from
5s. to £5 were inflicted upon the offenders in 6 cases, and
3 summonses were dismissed. The maximum penalty for
selling, to the prejudice of the purchaser, an article of food
or drink not of the nature, quality, or substance demanded
is £20, and in cases of repeated offence, the Yestry will be
compelled, in the interest alike of the purchaser and the
honest trader, to ask the magistrate to inflict an exemplary
penalty.
The following is a list of the articles analysed :—
Bread 2
Coffee 19
Milk 27
Mustard 5
Pepper 3
Water 1
57
The cost incurred by the Vestry for the year, in respect
of the Sale of Food and Drugs Act, is as follows: —