MOBE INSPECTORS AND INSPECTING.

Otago Witness, Issue 2013, 22 September 1892, Page 8

MOBE INSPECTORS AND INSPECTING.

It was said of the Draconian laws that they were written in blood. ' Had the Hon. John M'Kbnzie lived two or three thousand years ago, and been, as no doubt he would have been, a shepherd king, we imagine that he would have legislated in much the same spirit as King Draco. Happily in these days even a Highland chief is not allowed to hang his clansmen at his pleasure. But the old tendency still runs strong in the blood of the unkilted Celt. The Bill, " intituled an Act to regulate the manufacture of butter and cheese for export, and to provide for the purity of the milk used in such manufacture," introduced by the Minister* for Lands, would have been somewhat of a curiosity had it not been preceded by some others drawn on the same lines ; for the honourable gentleman seems to' have- infected his colleagues with his Draconian spirit. The Bill in question might almost be said to be made up of inspectors and penalties. Hitherto the milking of kine and the making of butter and cheese have been associated with the milkmaid's song and other symbols of Arcadian innocence. But the Hon. J. M'Kenzib has changed, or is going to change, all that. Exeunt Arcadia, and the " fair and happy milkmaid" : enterinspectordom, with its army of bailiffs and long list of pains and penalties. Wo are thus receding further and further from the golden age under the regime of our land-nationalising Liberals. Not that penalties are unnecessary even in a colony like New Zealand, or that it is not desirable to establish the fame of our dairy produce ;, but we think Mr M'Kenzie has rather overdone the penal element in his measure. But to quote from the Bill : —

The Governor from time to time may appoint or remove Buch inspectors and other officers as he shall deem necessary for the administration of this Act, and may, by Order-in-Council gazetted, prescribe regulations for all purposes of such administration, or for the conduct of officers engaged therein.

The Bill, should it pass, would thus have two very evident results : it would, in the first place, give the Minister in charge of the Dairy department an opportunity of rewarding his creatures with comfortable billets ; and it would, secondly, place this particular industry under an irritating espionage. The ordinary kind of inspector might possibly develop into a petty tyrant, meddlesome and always on the hunt for convictions, though subservient to a degree, both officially and politically, to the Minister, or (to adopt a designation from Scottish ecclesiasticism) the Minister's man.

Every inspector under this Act, or other duly authorised officer, shall have and may exercise all the powers and authorities conferred upon an inspector under " The Adulteration Prevention Act 1880," and any amendments or extensions thereof, and also shall have full access, egress, and ingress to all places of busjnefss, dairies, factories, creameries, farms,

buildings, carriages, cars, vessels, cans, and steamers used for the manufacture, storage, and carriage or transit of milk, cream, cheese, or butter. He shall also h<wi3 power aud authority to open any keg, box, or package which contains butter or cheese for the purpose of inspecting (sir) whether or not any false description or brand is placed inside of the keg, box, or package, and he may. take therefrom samples for analysis.

The owner of every dairy, factory, or creamery must havo a duly registered trade mark, wherewith all articles produced at such dairy, factory, or creamery for export shall be distinctly branded or marked in accordance with the subsequent provisions of this Act ; and Every person who shall manufacture and export, and every person exporting.akeg, box.or package, or any greater quantity of cheese or butter, including blended butter, separator butter, or butter iv pats or prints, shall distinctly and durably stamp or mark on both ends of every cheese, and upon each pat or print of butter, and also upon two sides of every keg, box, or package containing such cheese or butter, the following particulars, that is to say, (1) the registered trade mark of such person ; (2) the words " New Zealand dairy," or "New Zealand factory," or "New Zealand creamery," as the case may be ; and (3) the true and exact nature and description as defined in sub-section a of section two of this Act of the cheese or butter contained in each keg, &c.

Every' person who " neglects, fails, or refuses to mark any article produced for export with his trade mark is liable to a penalty not exceeding five pounds for every article not bearing the said trade mark " ; and every person who exports, or causes, .procures, or offers to export, any articles on which the other two particulars which we have just mentioned are also not stamped, is liable for every such offence to a penalty not exceeding one hundred pounds, and not less than five pounds. There is not much to be found fault with in these provisions, as pretty stringent measures are necessary to, pro vent unscrupulous exporters from injuring our nascont dairy industry. But there is a penalty for everything. If any person sells, supplies, brings, or sends to any dairy, factory, or creamery diluted or adulterated milk or milk from which Borne of the cream has been taken, without notifying the same in writing (is adulterated milk to be allowed ?), or milk from which the shippings have been kept back, or milk ■ that is tainted or sour, or milk taken from a cow suspected or known to be suffering from or infected with any disease as defined in the " Stock Act 1891 " — any person doing any of these things, shall, for each offence, be liable to a penalty not exceeding ten pounds and not less than two pounds. This is surely the. height of absurdity to fine a man two pounds (possibly ten) for taking milk that is "turned" to a factory. .It would surely be enough that the manager had, as in fact every manager of a factory has, the power to reject milk not fit to be used. The only one of these cases in which a penalty is applicable is when milk from diseased cows is deliberately taken to a -factory. But such a multiplication of penalties for things which could be quite easily prevented without them, is pure Draconianism. Human life would not be endurable if all our commerce and intercourse with one another were regulated in such a manner. The intentions of the Minister in drawing up a Bill like this are probably right enough. He no doubt thinks that he can, by strict regulations" and severe . penalties, place our New Zealand butter on a level with the best imported to England from Denmark or Normandy. That New Zealand can produce butter capable of competing successfully with French or Danish is beyond question, but Mr M'Kenzie's Bill would be • more likely to hinder than to stimulate and foster our dairy industry. The Minister for Lands apparently assumes that the small farmers, for whom he and his colleagues profess so much affection, are all rogues, and require to be watched in much the same way as prisoners at Avork are watched by their warders. The reign of his dairy inspectors would really be too much for flesh and blood to bear. There is nothing more intolerable than vexatious interference with people in the exercise of their lawful callings. In former days the doctrine of Liberals was that the State could not interfere too little with private enterprise — that practically the only interference permissible was where life or liberty was in question — but now their doctrine, at least the doctrine of our New Zealand Liberals, would seem to be" that the State' cannot interfere too much. It is a good many years since this colony became the laughing stock of its neighbours for the experiments practised upon it by its political quacks, but the empiricism of all former Governments was as nothing to that of the Ballance Ministry. Their design seems to be to put the people in leading strings. This jus their way of bringing about

an industrial millennium. Eidiculously wanting in political tact and discernment, they fail to see the point at which legislation not only ceases to be beneiicial, but becomes absolutely pernicious. They never, indeed, seem to suspect that such a thing as overlegislation is possible, though it is manifest in nearly every one of. their measures — over-legislation and overinspection. The free-born Briton instinctively resents any attempt to direct and supervise his actions; and if this Bill of Mr M'Kenzie's becomes law in its present shape there will be constant war between the farmers and his inspectors. Every person who resists, impedes, or obstructs an inspector (and to delay is tcT obstruct him) is liable i'or every such offence to a penalty not exceeding five pounds, and not less than two pounds. Finally, every person who contravenes this Act in any manner is liable for every such offence, when no other penalty is provided, to a penalty not exceeding twenty pounds. In orddr, moreover, to aid the inspectors in their work of detection, the convicting magistrate or justices may direct that any portion of any pecuniary penalty imposed under the Act, not exceeding one-half thereof, shall be paid to the person „ or divided among the several persons upon whose information a conviction was obtained. The penal machinery appears to be out of all proportion to the ends contemplated by the measure. And after all what ought to be the main provisions of such a Bill are conspicuous by their absence. There is not a word said about the necessity for cleanliness in the dairies and factories. lias Mr M'Kknzie never noticed in his travels throughout the colony how frequently a butter or cheese factory has, so to speak, for its next door neighbour, that foulest of colonial abominations — the average slaughterhouse always excepted — a piggery ? The effluvia from these nuisances would be a great deal more likely to taint the milk than the occasional carelessness of the farmers.