MILK VENDORS FINED.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LVI, Issue 17338, 9 December 1919, Page 7

MILK VENDORS FINED.

-o DEFICIENCY OF MILK FAT. PENALTIES OF £20 AND £30. Heavy fines were imposed on two milk vendors for telling milk deficient in milkfat, by Mr. J. E. Wilson, S.M., in the Police Court yesterday. The prosecutions were made by Mr. N. F. Furness, inspector for the Public Health Department. The * first defendant was Alfred Barthow, of Dominion Road, who said he had no knowledge that the milk was deficient in fat, but admitted he had not warned the purchaser of such deficiency, wherein lay the offence. ' The inspector gave evidence that analysis of milk bought at the shop Bad shown a 28 per cent, deficiency of milk-fat. In such a state it was not unfit for human consumption, but it was not the standard commodity. The defendant said the sample must have been taken from the bottom of the can, or the milk could not have been properly stirred. The magistrate said it was the duty of the vendor to see that the milk he sold was up to the standard required by law._ As the accused had a previous conviction under the Act, he would impose a penalty of £20. Costs amounted to 19s sd. The second defendant, Edward Lye, also of Dominion Road, made a similar statement. In regard to the analyst's report that his milk was 31 per cent, deficient in milk-fat, he said — If I had known it was under test, I would'nt have sold it at all." Lye, whose record showed two previous convictions, was fined £30, with 19s 6d costs.