Sept. 1894.] 



PARLIAMENTARY PUBLICATION>S. 



105 



soaks into the shell and becomes indehble, while one person 

 could mark many thousands in a day. 



There is no reason, it appears, to suppose that any misrepre- 

 sentation exists in the trade in forage. 



The Committee are of opinion that the competition between 

 English and foreign fruit, though severe, is not, except in so far 

 as wilful misrepresentation is carried on, on the whole, unfair. 



The Committee believe that a vigorous application of the 

 powers conferred on the Board of Agriculture by the Merchan- 

 dise Marks (Prosecutions) Act just passed will be sufficient to 

 check this misrepresentation, but they desire to point out that it 

 may not be possible for the action of a Government department 

 in this direction to be sufficiently far-reaching. If the working 

 of the Act should not be found to attain the object desired, it is 

 a question whether powers might not be conferred by Parlia- 

 ment on county and borough authorities to conduct these 

 prosecutions, the cost of which might be defrayed out of the 

 rates. 



The conclusions and recommendations of the Committee are to 

 the effect that increased vigilance might with advantage be used 

 by inspectors under the Public Health Acts, especially in Scot- 

 land, to see that fruit imported by manufacturers of jam is in 

 sound condition and fit for consumption before it is made into 

 jam, but they do not think that legislative powers are needed in 

 addition to those conferred by the Public Health (England and 

 Wales) Act, 1875, and the Public Health (Scotland) Act, 1867. 

 The Committee are further of opinion that it would conduce to 

 their own as well as to the general interest, if traders and 

 manufacturers would make themselves more fully acquainted 

 with the remedies under the existing law than they appear to 

 be at present. 



The Committee have no doubt that the compulsory marking 

 of packages in which fruit is imported is feasible, but they are 

 not satisfied that the results to be obtained would justify the 

 trouble and expense which would be entailed on the importer, 

 while the marking of every parcel of fruit in the hands of the 

 retailer would be impossible. 



The proposal to compel English manufacturers to mark their 

 jam-pots differs from the proposal to exclude goods arriving at 

 the ports without marks, and could not in the opinion of the 

 Committee be satisfactorily enforced. 



The Committee are of opinion that there are some imported 

 articles of agricultural and horticultural produce, such, for 

 example, as eggs, which could be marked, and that such mark- 

 ing would render difficult the present fraudulent practice, which 

 appears to be widespread, of selling foreign goods as English, 

 with the further result of stimulating the British agriculturist 

 to produce articles of the freshness and origin of which purchasers 

 would then be assured. 



They consider that the subject of the compulsory marking of 

 imported goods is deserving of careful consideration by Parlia- 



