285 



CHAPTER X. 



FRAUDULENT COMPETITION. 



ADULTERATION SALE OF SEEDS FERTILISERS AND FEEDING 



STUFFS ACTS ADULTERATION OF BUTTER SALE OF 



FOOD AND DRUGS ACTS PRESERVATIVES - 



SALE OF MILK REGULATIONS - 



FOREIGN MEAT, 



IT was John Bright who advanced the theory that adultera- 

 tion was merely an exaggerated form of competition. Though 

 many have been glad to shelter themselves under this dictum, 

 the putting it into practice has been one of the greatest 

 handicaps to British agriculture, and it has had a most detri- 

 mental effect on the health and pocket of the consumer. 

 Adulteration is such a resourceful foe. No sooner is some 

 malpractice discovered, and more or less put a stop to, than 

 another is started. If the ingenuity displayed in robbing the 

 public by these methods of fraud were only devoted to legiti- 

 mate production, everyone would have benefited, except 

 perhaps a certain number of traders in spurious articles. 



Some early Acts dealing with the adulteration of beer are 

 referred to in the chapter on the Malt Tax, so that part of 

 the subject is not repeated here ; but the extract from the 

 report of the Select Committee on Adulteration of 1856* 

 should be referred to. 



This was followed by an Adulteration of Food Act in 1860. 

 An amending Act was passed in 1872, and in April, 1874, a 

 Select Committee of which Mr. Clare Sewell Read was 

 Chairman was appointed to inquire into the operation of 

 the Act of 1872. This was followed by the passing of the 



* Page 267 et seq. 



