xviii. Timehri. 



working of which is controlled by the Director of Science and Agricul- 

 ture, Its progress is well shown by the following comparison of 

 analyses made in 1897 and in 1916 and 1917 and of their results 



The purity of the milk supply of Georgetown has of late been in a 

 very unsatisfactory condition as compared with that of the colony at 

 large. Its rate of adulteration is about 33% higher than that of the 

 colony at large or 50% higher than that of the country districts. Dur- 

 ing the past sis years the mean rate in the town, 184 per cent., has been 

 57 per cent, higher than the country rate, 117% • It will require strenu- 

 ous and steadfast efforts on the part of the Officers of the Town Council, 

 of the Police, and of the Government Health Department to reduce the 

 present rate of adulteration in milk to the very satisfactory condition it 

 was in from 1909-1912 when the Georgetown rate was only 8.1 per 

 cent, and was lower than that of the country districts. 



A mistake which is not infrequently made is to assume that the 

 percentages of adulteration shown by the official examinations either 

 represent or are less than the actual rates of adulteration. This is not 

 so. These percentages represent the rates of adulteration found in 

 samples the purity of the majority of which is not above suspicion. 

 Hence the rates must be regarded as higher than the actual rates and as 

 showing the purity of a milk supply in a somewhat less favourable light 

 than the true one. 



When, owing to the representation of this Society, the Government 

 took action with regard to the sale of adulterated foodstuffs, the quality 

 of imported foodstuHs as far as could be ascertained by analytical 

 methods was, as it appears to have been throughout the West Indian 

 Colonies, very unsatisfactory. Practically with the sole exception of 

 wheaten flour, every foodstuff' that could be successfully sophisticated 

 was adulterated and not infrequently to very great extents. This has 

 been stopped ; the Government acting on the advice of unofficial members 

 of the Legislature introduced a system of pre- anal ysis and prohibition of 

 landing for the majority of foodstuffs amenable to adulteration, and at 

 present in this colony samples of such foodstuffs in an adulterated or even 

 low grade condition are few and far between. During the 21 years the 

 rate of adulteration in foodstuHs offered for sale in the colony has been 

 reduced by one-half. 



At present the colony is probably in a far more favourable condition 

 with regard to the standard of quality of, and freedom from adulteration 

 in, its imported foodstuffs, than is any other in the r^ritish West 

 Indian Province. 



