THE SALE OF POISONS.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXIII, Issue 243, 13 October 1902, Page 4

THE SALE OF POISONS.

CHEMISTS B©FQIiE,,THE COUBfi

At the Police Court this morning a number of chemists were fined £or, committing- a breach, of the regufo*tions under the Sale of Poisons Act* IS7I.

Frederick J. ©ooper was charged that on July 26th, on completion of a sale of j)oison, to wit, arsenic, to W. Yandle, he failed to send a statement to the registrar of poisons as required by the Sale of Poisons Act, Walter Howard Dawson, Alfred S.J. Lamb, William Clai-ke, Walter Little, John Edson, Graves Aickin, Stephen Gilbert, Harkness Hamilton, William V>. Hall, Chas. Ratjen and Jas. Neil, were similarly charged, the poisons in question being- either arsenic op Strychnine.

Mr Martin, who appeared for all of the defendants, with the .exception of Messrs Lam<b and Gilbert, -pleaded guilty for his clients. The Act of IS7I required chemists to madce entries in their poisons books, and the regulations under the Act required them to send duplicate copies of the entries to the registrar of poisons; In all the cases entries had been duly, made in the poisons books. Mr Dawson actually sent a statement to the registrar at Wellington, instead of the Auckland officer as required. The regulations of which the omissions in. question were a breach-only came into force on July last, and some chemists did riot know that they, existed. The only place appointed for the notification of the regulations was the New Zealand "Gazette," and there had been no prosecutions until quite recently. ■:.'). Mr Lamb, when called, pleaded guilty, and said he had had no notie'a of the regulations. -.-/■ Mr Gilbert pleaded guilty, and said lie was ignorant of the regulations, He believed that chemists had been rather lax during the plague scare, when poisons were sold for the destruction of rats. ~, I

His Worship said he would accept Mr Martin's explanation, that defendants were not aware of the regulations.. Defendants would each be Us? Ed 1/ and costs.