WATERED MILK.

Press, Volume LXVI, Issue 19970, 3 July 1930, Page 5

WATERED MILK.

VENDOR BLAMES EMPLOYEE. Harry William Smith, for whom Mr A. H. Cavell appeared, was-charged at the Magistrate's Court yesterday with selling milk containing added water. Mr A. W. Brown appeared for the Health Department. Mr Cavell stated that on' March 12th last defendant was notified of the apparent breach, but he did not receive the summons for some time. The test had shown that the milk contained 20 per cent, of water. Accused was entirely unable to account for the presence of the water, and eventually had decided that his own man had added it.

There were several grounds for believing that the employee was responsible. Suspicion had been aroused in accused's mind at the beginning of April, when''one morning he noticed that the can seemed to have in it a different quantity of milk from what it had contained the night before. A sample showed 20 per cent, of water, while the morning's milk contained 10 / per cent. As the supply of milk was not quite sufficient to supply all the customers, the man had been instructed to buy three gallons of milk each day to make op the quantity, and to deduct the amount paid tpr it from the takings. Accused had asked the employee where he had been buying the extra milk, and Cook's dairy was named, but when enquiries were made there it wafe found that he had been buying only two gallons for the previous fortnight, and that before that he had not been buying any. The defence submitted that the presence of the large percentage of water in the sample ,of milk tested was due to the action of this employee.

Mr Brown objected to the statements being made against the employee in his absence,. but the Department had expected .him to appear in Court, and was prepared to lay a charge against him. The case was adjourned sine die.