296 FRAUDULENT COMPETITION 



Strachey, who for several years had been Chairman of the 

 Dairy Products Committee and of the Parliamentary Com- 

 mittee while the Chambers had been agitating for legislation. 

 When Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman took office, Sir 

 Edward became a member of the Government, and it was very 

 largely due to his representations that the Select Committee 

 was appointed, that a Bill was introduced to give effect to 

 its recommendations, and that this was afterwards amended 

 in the directions desired by the Council. Sir Edward had 

 thoroughly realised the mischief caused by this fraudulent 

 competition, and made the best use of this knowledge as 

 soon as he had the opportunity. 



The last move in connection with the adulteration of butter 

 was taken by the Governments of the Dominions of Australia 

 and New Zealand. Finding that their dairy produce was 

 being severely hit by this unfair competition, they en- 

 deavoured to persuade the Home Government to pass more 

 stringent legislation against adulteration. Meeting with no 

 enthusiastic response, they enlisted the support of the 

 Chambers of England and Scotland, of the English and Irish 

 Agricultural Organisation Societies, and of other bodies, and 

 after one or two conferences a joint deputation met Mr. 

 Runciman on 3rd March, 1914, who, after hearing the views 

 of several delegates, gave a sympathetic, but not very hopeful 

 reply. 



Preservatives and Colouring Matters. 



The Local Government Board appointed a Departmental 

 Committee on Preservatives and Colouring Matters in Food, 

 and invited the Council to send two witnesses to give evidence. 

 Mr. Carrington Smith and Professor J. Long were nominated. 

 To enable them to give representative evidence, the Secretary 

 circulated a series' of questions to a large number of dairy 

 farmers in all parts of the country, with a view to ascertaining 

 whether the custom of using preservatives or colouring was 

 much in vogue. One hundred and ten replies were received, 

 tabulated and handed in by Mr. Carrington Smith, and 

 printed as an appendix to the report of the Departmental 



