CITY POLICE COURT.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 13673, 16 August 1906, Page 11

CITY POLICE COURT.

Tuesday, August 14. (Before Mr G. Cruicksliank, S.M.) .Maintenance.—Thomas Faithful waschargjd with tho disobedience of a main'omuice order for 4s per wcok for tlie jropiiorl n[ his son, un inmate o: tiro Industrial Selicol, dml £17 fls in arrears.—Defendant vra.H r.ul in*o tbo bnj; und examined at considerable !cng(!i us lo his earnings for some time pa.-:l by $laticm-?£rgf?;u»t King.—The Magistrate decided to convict, mid sentenced defendiur'. to on© monlli'g impn«oiimcnl, wi'.li hard labour, iiio warrant to be MispenM for three months provided tho arrears are paid tip. Breach of ilie Dairies Act.-Jolm Slater Shaw v/ub charged that, on July Ift, «t S'orlhKast Harbour, he did sell and supply to a itoiry certain milk which was no 4 , pmo miik within tho. Meaning of "The Dairy J miliary Aul, 1898"; further, un two charges, that he mixed with and added lo cerium (miry pro-duce—-milk—-certain extraneous writer—to wit,'water.—Mr J. F. M. Fraser conducted the proceedings on behalf o[ the. sioel; IJeparimcnt, and Mr A. S. Allium represented accused, who pleuded "Not guiHy" en all chargoß.—Mr Frnscr sai'.l Ihc-prnsecu J .ioi: v,-*s under section 20, tfub-seclion i), of (he act, su» section 19, sub-section 1, J)ckn'i,n.'. was k dairyman carrying on hnsino'.i on Hip Peninsula, and he supplied a town linn, which lud a run in tho city, with miik, which v.?* purchased by weight avoirdupois. It would he proved tint defendant supplied 5651 bo; miik on tho loth .Inly, tho average for tiie 1') clays previous being 55:i11> daily. On the llth. however, the supply fell away considerably, ami fop tho five days following the 10: li the averago wan only -13811) daiiy This amounted :o ft difference of some l.ijgal in (he supply since tha millr hnd been •taken for a tc>t, and the court might draw an obvious inference. The Block inspector had tetleil the milk from the herd, and from morning Mid evening samples, ■which wero duly unatysed, it tvorked out nt 4.0.) per cent, of butter fal. Fiom the samples taken on (he 10th, however, the? 3 gave an analysis for the morning mill: of 2.lFJppre r cent, of butter fnt, and no less than 30 per cent, of water added lo it. The evening mill: was found to contain 3.03 per cent, butter fa!. 15 per ecnl. of water having been added. Counsel was justified in saying that this wi:s an retreme'y bad case, pointiitfj to a deliberate fraud having been perpetrated c:i (he public in addition to Messrs Jjeydtn and Smith, the suppliers. The penally clause was under seclion 27 of the act, sub-iseetion fi. The object ®r the act. was to ensure tho public a supply of pure miik. It was not suggested hero that erirancous matter would ba injurious to public lioalth directly, hut counsel would point out that there was no food product sold that was so liable to contain con-lngion, and lhut was the reason it was so carefully guarded by the authorities.—Rupert Fountain, inspector of stock, stated that on tho date of flic.information lio had token four samples of defendant's milk from his milkcart, which he handed over til Mr Or. 11. Thomson for analysis. Sonic time afterwards witness met defendant, who asked liiiu how tho milk bad turned cut. Witness replied. " Not too wei*." and defendant wanted to know then if there was no " get out of it," and ho stated Hint he knew the cause of the milk nol being up io standard. On tha 16th of 'ho month witness visited defendant's farm.—Mr Adams objected to anything being put in iu connection with this dale, but tho Magistrate said ho would allow the evidence a? relevant .to tho prosecution.—Witness, continuing, said that on this latter dale he had obtained four samples, whicli had been analysed by Professor Black. An evening «ump!o had worked out al 4.05 ncr cent, of butter fat. A sample or morning mill; had tested 3.52. and another sample o." mixed morning and evening mill; worked on', at 2.112.—Cr0w-examined: Severe weather affected tho quantity of miik received from a cow. The different peasons, careless milking, and sulking! in cows would have the effect of impairing quality and quantity of milk received, also failure to extract the shippings.— John Charles Robinson, of the Stock Department, also gavo evidence, and Henry Leyden deposed (is to purchasing defendant's mill;.— George Malcolm Thomson, analyst, deposed that on tho morning of the Hth he hid two samples of milk handed to him for examination. One contained 5.05 per cent, of non-fnl# solids and 2.0!) per cenl. of fat. In witness's opinion the average sample of a milk should contain 8.31 per cent, of 11011-fatty solids. The examination had led him to the conclusion that 30 per cent, of water had' been added lo llie milk. The other sample contained 7.KJ per cent, of iion-fatty solids and 3.08 of fat. Ho considered that about 15 per cent, was added wafer.—Cross-examined: A standard of 4.8-1 per cent, of non-fatty solids was accepted as a standard.—Professor IJlack, Government analyst, stilted (hat he received a number ot eamples of milk from the defendant, The morning's miik showed 3..VJ of butler fat and 8.44 of solids olhcr than fat, while the evening mill; showed <.05 butter fat and It.JO of solids other fhnn fat. Tho sample of mixed mill; showed 2.G:l butler fat and 9,23 solids other than fat. He agreed with last witness in regard to Iho 'addition of water in the samples.—lll opening his case Mr Adams said it would he absurd' to take (lie average ol tlio authorities under notice to apply in any herd. While defendant's- herd was considerably above. the minimum in the matter of Gutter fal, i; was below (he maximum. Professor Black took a general average, and a«ked the court Jo f(T opt that as a test oi criminality, while (he variations were considerable, as slated by tho authorities before the court. It was very slartiiug to be fold that there was 30 per cent, of Water iu one suninle and 15 per cent, in another, hut this wss not iu accordance with facts. There was E'J per Wll t. of water in milk to begin with, and this would render the addition oi 30 per cent, of water an absurdity. The mailer should 'not be placed :n that way. Counsel w.uiid point olil that 5.05 uer cent, of nou-fatty solid,s was considerably more than (he minimum, and so was 2.03 per rent, oi butter fid, 1.0 per cent, being tlm minimum. The statement that there had been an addition of water was merely an inference, based upon tho statements submitted by (he scientific witnesses, more or less inaccurately. Defendant had been carrying on business for many years, ami ho had never hnd any complaints, "and prior to July defendant had not been supervising milking operations himself. lli s conduct bail been perfectly frank throughout, After dofendaiit had met the inspector and learned tho object ol his visit, he could easily hii-vc instructed the boy with the cart, to have disposed of all tho milk before tbe inspector could obtain a sample. The held were shorthorns, that had recently calved, and necessarily the null; was of a lower quality than usual.—Defendant said lie had never authorised anyone to interfere with the milk during (lie lime in question, though lie had not been present rI milking limes himself. His wife had been in charge. After Mr Fountain's vi«itwiliirss Inid investigated the cooler, and he found that a mere dribble of water li.ul been leaking into the milk, but he did not think this would amount to tnore than half ?. pintfor « milking. This had been repaired. After ho passed Jlr Fountain on the 10th l,e, told the boy in the cart to pu=li on, as tlm inspector was at the bottom ol fue road waiting to take a test of the milk. The severe weather about that time had interfered considerably with the milk received from the cows.— Ke.becca Shaw, wife of defendant, also gavo evidence, which was corroborated bv Stanley Slunfi her sou.—Counsel addressed the court at length, after whicli the Magistrateintimated that he would reserve his decision, and probably fixe it next. Saturday, ■\VwiXESD.\r, AVBOST 15. (Before Mr C. C. Graham, S.M.) l)iunkeuiier,s and Indecency.—A first offender named William (lleeson was charged with being drunk in High street the previous evening, also with committing a grossly innocent act at Hie same time.—Accuscd said lie did not know anything about it.—After Constable. Stewart- hod given evidence accused waa lined as, with tho usual alternative, on the first charge, and 20s, or one week, on tile fioeoiul, Gleeson also keing ordered to pay 2s cab hire. . Obscene language.—Henry Lyndluirsl, alias Thomas Lindsay, a young man witli a rrcord, pleaded "Guilty ' to using obscene lnuguugo in Howling street within the hearing of persons passing by,—Fined £3, with the option of going lo gaol tor two months. By-law Offences.—Thomas Sp?in was charged with leaving his vehicle, unattended in Moray place without passing a chain through the near wheel.—Defendant pleaded "Guilty." and was lined ss, and costs (7s). —Adelaide M'Bride, who did not p.ppecv. was charged thai, on August 1. the did suffer the chimney of her premises in High street to be on fire.—Fined fis, and cost.? (7s). John Marks was charged willi being the driver ot » vehicle in Rattray street and not keeping as near as possible to [ho left hand side of the street.—Defendant offered the usual excuse that the lio?!yn car tr.is detraining passengers.—Fined 10s, and costs (7si. Prohibition Orders.—An application by a wife for a prohibition order against her spouse was dismissed.—Mr B. S. Irwin appeared for the defendant. A similar application was granted against- a man on the application of his wi!f. fo have effect'in the pHiieilin. CaveTshaiu, and Chaluiers licensing districts.