304 FRAUDULENT COMPETITION 



The chief commodities about which complaint is made are 

 meat, dairy produce, eggs, poultry, game, fruit and vegetables. 

 The Chamber has mainly confined its attention to meat. 

 Probably no single factor has done more harm to the British 

 farmer than this particular form of fraud. In this case, 

 however, he has not suffered alone, for the consumer has 

 for at least twenty -five years been robbed in a wholesale way 

 by the impudence with which a class of meat purveyors 

 {many of them can make no claim to be called butchers) 

 have sold foreign meat as British, at double and treble the 

 price that should justly have been charged for it. One other 

 class has also suffered from this fraudulent trading, and that 

 is the genuine butcher, who has sought to do, and sometimes 

 has succeeded in doing, an honest trade ; but most of those 

 who have tried to do this have either been ruined by the unfair 

 competition they have had to meet or have been compelled 

 to follow the dishonest example of the majority. All honour 

 is due to the courage, honesty and patriotism of the few who 

 have insisted on selling an article on its merits at a fair 

 price. 



This form of competition, though carried on to some 

 extent, did not become acute until about 1887 or 1888, and 

 even then the mischief was not realised for some time. It 

 was not until November, 1890, that the attention of the 

 Council was called to it, and on that occasion a resolution 

 w r as passed urging that all imported meat should be labelled 

 when sold in this country. 



In 1893 two Bills were introduced early in the session, by 

 Mr. Coningsby Disraeli and Mr. George Lambert respec- 

 tively, providing for the labelling of foreign meat. In April 

 the Council approved the principle of legislation in this 

 direction. A Select Committee of the House of Lords was 

 appointed to inquire whether legislation was desirable, and 

 the Council sent Mr. Rew (Secretary) to give evidence on 

 the subject on their behalf. This Committee reported later 

 in the session, and Mr. R. A. Yerburgh at once drafted and 

 introduced a Bill to give effect to their recommendations, 

 but it was then too late to proceed with the measure. 



