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THE AUSTRALASIAN JOURNAL OF PHARMACY. 
THE PROSECUTION OF THE EQUITABLE CO-OPERATIVE SOCIETY, LIMITED. 
( Specially reported for The Australasian Journal of Pharmacy.) 
At the District Police Court, Melbourne, on Thursday, the 9th September, 1886, 
before Messrs. Joseph Anderson Panton, P.M. (Chairman), J. M'Donald, Bear, Rappiport, 
and Lewis Sanders, J’s.P., the Equitable Co-operative Society, Limited, carrying on 
business at 89 Collins-street East, Melbourne, was summoned by Mr. H. W. Shillinglaw, 
Registrar to the Pharmacy Board of Victoria, for that on the 26th August, 1886, at 
Melbourne, in the Central Bailiwick, being a Society registered duly in pursuance of the 
provisions of “ The Industrial and Provident Societies Act 1873,” and not being a 
registered Pharmaceutical Chemist, did carry on business as a chemist and druggist 
contrary to the Statute in such case made and provided. 
The defendant Society was further summoned by the same informant for a second 
similar breach of the Statute, alleged to have been committed on the 26th August, 1886, 
and likewise for a third and fourth similar infringement of the Statute, alleged to have 
been committed on the 31st August, 1886. 
Mr. Isaacs, instructed by Messrs. Emerson and Barrow, for the complainant; and 
Dr. M'Inerney, instructed by Messrs. Lynch and M‘Donald, for the defendant Company. 
Mr. Isaacs : If your Worships please, I appear on behalf of Mr. Shillinglaw, the 
informant in this case. This is a prosecution on information under the Pharmacy Act, 
No. 558, against the Equitable Co-operative Society, Limited. It is under these 
circumstances. The information is against the Equitable Co-operative Society for 
carrying on the business of a chemist and druggist, that Society not being, as indeed 
it could not be, a registered Pharmaceutical Chemist. The section under which the 
information is laid is Section Twenty-five, which provides that “From and after six 
months after the date of the first appointment of the Board ” — that is the Pharmacy 
Board mentioned in the Act — “any person who commits, in Victoria, any of the following 
offences shall, on conviction thereof, be liable to a penalty of not exceeding £10 for 
each offence, and may also be committed to prison for any period not exceeding six 
months;” and the first subdivision: — “Any person not a registered Pharmaceutical 
Chemist who carries on, or attempts to carry on, business as a chemist and druggist or 
homoeopathic chemist or either.” And we allege, and I think will prove most conclusively, 
that on the 26th August this year this Society, being a Society registered under an Act 
of Parliament of Victoria called “ The Industrial and Provident Societies Act 1873,” 
and not being a registered Pharmaceutical Chemist, did carry on business as a chemist 
and druggist; and prove to your Worships that a prescription made up by a legally 
qualified medical practitioner was presented at the Equitable Society’s stores, went into 
this place where all the business is carried on, was dispensed there, paid for, and has 
been analysed. We will show the contents of it, and will give a formal proof ; and I do 
not think I shall occupy very much time in doing this. 
The Chairman : Does anyone appear for the Company ? 
Dr. M‘Inerney : My friend did not have the courtesy to ask who appeared for the 
defendant. The Society at present does not appear. Mr. Nuttall has been served with 
the summons, and on behalf of Mr. Nuttall I appear. 
Mr. Isaacs : Well, this is charming innocence 1 Mr. Nuttall has no locus standi here 
at all. Mr. Nuttall is not summoned to appear, and Mr. Nuttall has no position what- 
ever ; and, of course, I object to anyone appearing that is not summoned. It is the 
Equitable Co-operative Society, Limited, No. 89 Collins-street East, that is summoned. 
That is the only person that can appear. Nobody else is summoned, and it does not 
require any learned gentleman to come here and tell us that the Society does not appear. 
The Chairman: Very well. Proceed with your case. 
Dr. M‘Inerney : If your Worships would permit me, in another form I might put 
it 
Mr. Isaacs : My friend has no right to appear. My friend does not appear. 
Dr. M‘Inerney: I am addressing their Worships now. As I said to your Worships, 
a summons has been served on Mr. Nuttall, professing to be addressed to the Equitable 
Co-operative Society. If it is addressed to them, in your Worships’ opinion, I will appear 
to take exception to the summons. I will ask that the service of the summons be 
proved. 
The Chairman : I only know the case before the Bench is that against the Society. 
Dr. M‘Inerney : The Society then will appear for the purpose of objecting to the 
service of the summons, and they say that they have not been served at all. It is 
under the Justices of the Peace Statute, which reads, “Every summons” — (to the 
Chairman of the Bench) : Might I ask have you a copy of the summons ? 
The Chairman : No ; I have no copy of the summons. 
Dr. M‘Inerney : Then I ask, in the first place, that the service of the summons be 
proved ? 
