THE MEAT WARRANTY 63 



sentatives. Mr. Courthope acted as Chairman of the agri- 

 cultural representatives. The conference met twice, 2nd 

 December and 3rd February, 1909, but a letter from Lord 

 Northbrook to the Council stated that : 



'' Although I regret to have to report that the conference has 

 been unable to come to a satisfactory arrangement, I am led to 

 hope that the meetings between representatives of Agriculture 

 and of the Meat Traders' Association, and the friendly and 

 courteous manner in which the points in dispute have been 

 discussed by both parties, may not have been altogether in vain." 



The butchers threatened to enforce the warranty on 3rd 

 May, but in the Annual Report issued in December, 1909, the 

 Council said : 



" So far as there are any means of judging, the whole matter 

 has died down, except in a few isolated localities where the 

 farmers weakly consented to give a warranty (in one or two cases) 

 or to pay an insurance premium. The result in such cases is 

 that those farmers have saddled themselves with an additional 

 liability without any corresponding advantage ; for a study of 

 official market returns fails to show that prices are any higher in 

 those markets where farmers gave way than elsewhere." 



1909. 



The London County Council promoted another Bill con- 

 taining Milk Clauses, and it having been read a second time, 

 Mr. Courthope moved an Instruction to the Committee to 

 strike them out. Mr. John Burns, on behalf of the Govern- 

 ment, strongly urged that these Clauses ought to be aban- 

 doned, as the regulation of the milk supply ought not to be 

 dealt with locally. They were eventually struck out in Com- 

 mittee. A few other private Bills containing the Model 

 Clauses were not opposed. 



In reply to a question by Mr. Astor, on 2nd March, 1914, 

 Mr. Herbert Samuel gave the names of- 102 Corporations and 

 Urban District Councils which had obtained powers under 

 their special Acts to regulate the milk supply up to the end 

 of 1909. 



The Government introduced in the House of Commons 

 their long -promised Milk Bill, to deal with the production 

 and distribution of milk ; a separate and better Bill being 



