MILK SUPPLIER FINED

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 19, 17 October 1917, Page 6

MILK SUPPLIER FINED

1?0R SELLING WATERED MILK,

Reserved judgment was delivered by Mr. S. E. M'Carthy, S.M., yesterday m tue case in wnicn the i'ubiic Health Department proceeded against Bertha U'ardle, dairy tanner, Karon, tor sel.ing milk containing added water. the tacts of tno case were that defendant was one of a number of suppliers to the Wellington Dairy Earners' Co-operative Association, Ltd., the milk being carried by lorry over the public roads to its destination. . . The following contentions wert raised on behalf of the defendant: That there was no proof that the doi'endant had added the water; that the sale was n.r.de to the Wellington Dairy Fanners' Cu-tftra-tivo Association; that when t>ie s-ample was taken the milk was Bo lunger t*e. property of the defendant. The Magistrate dealt with these con tentions seriatim, and showed thai they could not hold. A conviction was recorded. and defendant was lirn-1 a 25, t.vl ordered to pay costs .£2 18s. At the hearing Mr. J. Prendeville, of the Crown Law Office, appeared for the Department, and Mr. I'. W. Jackson for defendant.

INFORMATION DISMISSED. In the case against Maitlaml Avilerson, a dairy fanner, chargcd with selling milk containing sixty parts of dirt per million, the Magistrate held that where the proof was that the general practice of the defendant was to eliminate adulteration bv dirt, anil where the defendant delivwd 111? milk to a carrier, who occasionally mi.vd defendant's milk with that of other suppliers, the onus rested strongly on the prosecution to negative all reasonable possibility of the mixing of milk aftci delivery "to the carrier, and before the milk was purchased lo: an.iljns, being responsible for tlie dirt. 'Inr.t o'.ms htci not been discharged, and the information was therefore dismissed. Al the hearing, Mr. J. Prendeville appeared for iho Department, and Mr. T. Weave for the defendant.