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77
Fifty-three butters in all were submitted for examination. Of
these 3 —all procured informally-were reported as adulterated, one
as consisting entirely of margarine; one as being a mixture of
margarine (at least 50 per cent.) and butter; and one as containing
a slight excess of water (0.9 per cent.) over the permissible amount
of 16 per cent.
All butter samples were tested for the presence of preservatives,
with the following results:-
Number of samples containing a boron preservative 34=64.1%
„ „ free from a boron preservative 19=35.9%
Of the 31 samples of butter reported as genuine and which were
found to contain a boron preservative, the mean content of boric
acid was found to be 0.14 per cent., expressed in terms of crystallised
boric acid, equivalent to 9.8 grains per lb. of butter.
In no case was the percentage of boric acid found to exceed
0.5 per cent.

In conclusion, I have to report that the total adulteration
during the quarter amounted to, for formal samples, 6.7 per cent.;
for informal samples, 6.0 per cent.; and for all samples, 6.6 per
cent.
The cost of the above analyses was covered by the Analyst's
salary of £600 per annum.
Fourth Quarter.-By virtue of the requirements of the Sale of
Food and Drugs Acts, I have to report that the total number of
samples examined by me under the Acts during the quarter ended
31st December, 1922, amounted to 283. All these were submitted
by the Council's Inspector, 194 of the samples being taken with the
necessary formalities required by the Acts, and 89 obtained informally.