218 Adulteration of Food in Scotland. 



horsemen £11 to £16, with the usual allowances in the case 

 of married men, and board and lodging in the case of 

 unmarried men. Women and lads got from £6 to £12. 



Adulteration of Food in Scotland. 



The Local Government Board for Scotland, in their Annual 

 Report for 1900, give an account of their action under the Sale 

 of Food and Drugs Acts and of the various orders and 

 circulars issued for the guidance of local authorities. During 

 the year 1900 approval was given to the appointment of 

 public analysts in seventeen counties and in 112 burghs, and 

 other cases were under consideration. There were ten 

 counties and 68 burghs in which no samples were sent to the 

 analysts during the year ; and it is observed that the total 

 population of the districts in which the administration of the 

 Act was neglected was 500,913, being 12 per cent, of the 

 population of Scotland. With regard to the number of 

 samples analysed the returns for the whole year were not 

 available at the date of this Report, but for the nine months 

 ending 30th September, 1900, the number of samples examined 

 by public analysts on behalf of local authorities was 2,253, 

 and on behalf of private persons 144. Of the former 325, or 

 14 per cent., and of the latter ten, or 7 per cent., were found to 

 be adulterated. Prosecutions were instituted in respect of 

 148 of the 325 adulterated samples, and convictions were 

 obtained in 89 cases, the penalties and costs imposed in 78 

 cases amounting to £256, or about £3 5s. 8d. for each convic- 

 tion ; 44 of the prosecutions were withdrawn, costs being 

 allowed against the offenders. 



The article most frequently sampled was milk, 1,137 

 samples being taken of this commodity, of which 180, or 15.8 

 per cent., were reported to be adulterated. The adulteration 

 was mainly in respect of abstraction of fat or addition of 

 water, Sometimes, however, the analysis showed that skim 

 milk had been added to new milk, or that fat had been 

 abstracted and water also added. In the case of butter, 350 



