788 
ANNUAL MEETING. 
to educated and competent men. It was quite right that all should pay the penalty 
of their misdeeds, and if any one, by carelessly conducting his business, inflicted an 
injury upon another, let him be brought before the courts and punished; but he 
saw no reason for imposing a heavy obligation upon the whole trade by passing these 
useless restrictions, which, as every one knew, would not really tend to increased 
safety. All these ideas of sand-papers, corrugated and fluted bottles, and other 
appliances to enable a man to do without the senses which God had given him,—one 
of the noblest of which was eyesight,—were really to be regretted. Everything ought 
to be properly labelled, and those who neglected to do so might fairly be punished ; 
but it was absurd to try and relieve either chemists or their customers from the neces¬ 
sity of using their eyesight. 
Mr. Watts thought they were travelling a little out of the record. Every speaker 
hitherto seemed to have lost sight of the fact that what they had to consider was, 
what the public required at their hands. It would be in the recollection of many 
that, some short time ago, a considerable amount of excitement prevailed on the sub¬ 
ject of poisoning, accidental and otherwise; and, in consequence of the introduction 
of the Amended Pharmacy Bill, the Privy Council, on the part of the public, con¬ 
sented to accept a Poison Bill far less stringent than was originally intended. It 
was, therefore, the public whom they had to satisfy, not themselves. Every one 
knew, as had been said more than once, that when they took down a bottle of strych¬ 
nine, they held life and death within their power; but the public required some legis¬ 
lative safeguards for their own satisfaction. He therefore thought it would be much 
better for them to take the matter into their own hands rather than be compelled to 
do so, which they certainly would if they refused. 
Mr. Edwards said he had always been one of those who looked with a great deal 
of jealousy upon any restriction proposed to be introduced into the business either of 
a chemist or any one else. At the same time, he confessed he thought that, to some 
extent, necessity was laid upon them ; and, after giving the best possible considera¬ 
tion to these recommendations, he must say he did not think there was anything in 
them to preclude their universal adoption. It might be very unpopular to say so, 
but he did say it; and he must also add, without intending any disrespect to those 
who had spoken on the sixbject, that if what he had heard against them was all that 
could be urged, he thought the very best thing they could do would be to adopt them 
without delay. If this were brought before a court of justice, was there anything 
which had been brought forward which would tell for one moment with a jury ? One 
gentleman said he had a great objection to these things because he always practised 
them. Another did not like putting things in a cupboard, because he had always 
been accustomed to push them by in a corner. He should certainly recommend these 
suggestions for adoption, and yet, at the same time, he was well aware that any law, 
to be operative, must have the general assent of those upon whom it was to act. He 
would, therefore, strongly recommend that these measures be fairly tried for twelve 
months as the recommendation of the Council, and not have urged against them such 
flimsy objections as he had mentioned, but only such as were felt to be of weight, and 
could be gravely sustained. He had not heard any one assert that it was impossible 
to adopt these regulations, or that they were impracticable. The general statements 
he had heard were, “ We do not like to be trammelled ; and if we do this, there will still 
be opportunities for error.” Of course there would; but the object should be to reduce 
them as much as possible. One thing he had been going to urge, in which he had 
been anticipated by Mr. Watts : they did not look at this matter from the right stand¬ 
point, for the question was, what the public required. A Pharmacy Bill had been 
conceded to them on the condition that they would do what they could for the benefit 
of the public. He had been on the Council long enough to know the history of every 
Poison Bill, and he knew what trouble had been necessary in order to oppose them and 
ensure their rejection. The public was, on more than one occasion, worked up to 
fever heat, and what they wanted was a Poison Bill; they did not care about chemists 
and druggists, or anybody else, but they wanted a stringent measure to regulate the 
sale of poisons. They said, “ We do not care about these men, but whilst poisons 
have hitherto been sold without let or hindrance by anybody, they shall be sold so 
no more.” Bill after Bill w r as introduced, but to them all they objected on principle, 
