IMPERIAL LEGISLATION AFFECTING FOOD IMPORTS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2288, 6 January 1898, Page 4

IMPERIAL LEGISLATION AFFECTING FOOD IMPORTS.

So lot'g as trade has eziuted there has been an unequal contest between fraud or sophistication with honest dealing-, and the Report of the Se'ect Committee of the House of Commons on ths proposed Agricultural Produce Marks Bill shows that traders in foods are so extremely expert in reprehensible practices that immediate legislation

is imperative in order to put a check upoa their evil ways. The object of the bill is sound, and when, enacted, as it assuredly will be, will in operation promote a commendable rivalry between exporting countries in the production of meats and dairy products of guaranteed excellence acd purity. In certain quarters the promised measure met with opposition on ths grounds that it is an insidious return to a protective policy, but this was refated by the outspoken support accorded by the leading cbsmbersof commerce in the kingdom; while in their evidence before the Salect Coinonttee ?-ll the farmers asked was that honest goods honestly produced should be honestly placed oa thg market. They proved that it iB a common practice of retail butchers to sell foreign and colonial meat as homsproducad meat, and that la this way enormous profits are realised. They contend, therefore, that those who ask for and are willing to pay for home-produced meat ehoold be fully assured that they are getting what they pay for. This assurance consumers would have were the marking or stamping at port of entry of all dead meat consigned feo British markets made compulsory, acd it is further contended that butter and cheese exports should be also stamped or marked, so that the source of production would be known, as the British markets are now so flooded with adulterated goods that ifc is no longer profitable to make and supply high-class articles. In his evidence before the committee, Mr Jtffreyp, M.P., described the process of marking meat which was carried out in Belgium. All meat exposed for sale in ihat country had, he said, to be stamped. First it showed the origin of the meat, and next that it had been passed as "sound" by the inspectors. There was a particalar stamp for meat killed in the abattoirs in Brussels and the large towns. Theie was anothtr to denote whether the meat received came fiom the provinces, and there was a, third stamp for meat imported from abroad. By looking at the particular stamp in the shops one could at once tell where the meat came from. The stamp was never affixed unless the meat had been previously examined and passed " sound." It was impressed on six different places on the carcase, and it was done, as he himself had seen, in an incredibly short space of time, jnst ns a postmaster stamped letters. When the meat was further cut up in the towns addi'ional marks were put on the joint?. The marks could nob be washed out — they could only be obliterated by being cut out, and that was an offence to which severe penalties were attached. So strong was the ink that he bad seen bacon cooked with the impress of the stamp still visible upon it. Every municipslity had its own inspector, and imposed whaterer mark they chose on each joint. Batchers rather liked this marking of meat, and coneuroera liked it aa well, because it showed not only the country of origin, but the soundness. Since the act had been in force in Belgium there was less disca&ed meat brought in. So far as the Usiled Kingdom was concerned, he wanted all meat imported, whether alive or dead, to be stamped at the port pf entiy. It ought to be done officially. He thought that would be sufficient without carrying the process ont in the detailed way which was observed in Belgium, although, he admitted, this wculd not stop small frauds.

The assumed difficulty of matkisg fnr*'pn meat was rcga)ded by the Select Committee of the House of Commons as not insuperable, but one clause in the promised bill, which was virtu&lly a compromise with syndicates of live cattle importeis, aroused the strenuous opposition of all the influential agricultural associations in the kingdom. The defective clanse is that which prescribes that the meat of foreign animals killed at the port of landirg shall be termed British meat, and as such shall, of course, be exempt from the marking process to be enforced in regard to the meat brought to the country in refrigerators. On the face of it this i 3 an absurd d&iiniiion. It exempts the very class of meat which it is most important should bo covered. The frozen article can with approximate accuracy be distinguished from the British produc*", in conacquence of the irremovable traces of tha proensaes through which it passes before ul(1 during trancpoit; but the fre&h foreign meat killed at Butish ports it

is, of course, impo&iible to d.'v'? a g axsha xsh by the eye from the bome-grc^.j beef or muUon, and it is wiih I'iis oro\q o class of article that deception ;s clnafl i p .c'ised ibd in regaid to which jopipU',ln«..ai«j Eaaiuly offered. No one can gainsay tht tha one class of meat is as strictly ail honestly foreign aa the other. The cere act of landing ths animals afc Batis" pori@> and maybe granting them a "o\v Jays' espif c art er they eet foot on shore, cannot i irly qualify American or Canadian cattls to anJ- iv L h9 same category with th<j a.miv..l* bred, reared, and fed in the Umte-J Kit gdcra. Under the esistißg laws rc^.u'aing cattle importations, it is absolcirely "ini-'o.-ible thac cattle that have been shipped fr',,a ary poit outsids the United Kingdvra c j .n andrr any reasonable conditions be el;.->it>:, to rß>jk under the head of "Srir. h,' aHva ox dead. And why Mr Wi.gn iV^hjb? (of frozen mutton poisoningnotoii^iN r-udtbose who support his views eadeaw,u. lo ccpait so far from truth and comnioti j-nice :.? to qualify it for the disticctioa i- no-.very c'^a 1 ". j To the meat traders a'j to toe catrl.>. im- I porters, the clause is suftlyisnty scciu- j modating. The latter would "in evtry ! way benefit by ita retention in tb» ! bill ; the former could do nioely I without the maiking lestri^'ions i. i.. , :cpo?ed to impose, but thsy w\\], ti-^.-k. illy accept thes?. in view of the r,af a'v^if.^es to be gained by the whitewi-hir.. proviso so considerately slipped into iha Hi:. A.* one witness said bef.ore ihe CDimai.ie" : •' He considered it legislation nn to s«--vl fo gay that an animal which oniy li-v«,rj ; !x hours in this country was British, but V ;a Biikeahead syndicate, or w^ot'ver it iv ghi bs calitd, was anxious t>j gel tat ioreign meat into the large tovvnf, "yhere it could be sold as home-l\jd. It 10s been shown conclusively by a Parlic.mer.*ary committee that foreign meal b:.s ; cer, ?.i '< presumably still i 3, fraudulent y sold balVi' 1 -a ; but this reprehensible piacHce ir. ;s; s now proposed to suppress — nct.a-j it may appear to many should be d n \ by coiflps ling defaulters lo conform to t-it lav; 3o£ justice and equity, but by modif yh.g the Ja*/ to tuit the methods of thfj nade. Ttie cause objected to proposes to le^ui c c- riic practices which constitute an cftltTice ii the oy? s of the existinglaw, although 'Jbe-y bay- .itneitn been pursued, with impunirv ; anr) r,bc reform would technically epara the co^tciviccn of the untcrupulotis doaler r%s well ?.s i.'iajve him from the rarnote risk of p r oj*ecufcjon 10 wh'ch he ia at present exposed, tl c aiea. ure T-'ould naturally be tolerably accej;ti,ble to the tboughtfully-cxred-for ixiiddliciau. It is impossible, however, that the treasure cp.e yass into the statute book with tl is els us*, retained, as all the agriculiural asbOo'ariocs in the country insist wn i!& erssure. Tvs members of the Highland and Atiioultaral Society at their general meatirg i» tho showyard in Q-laEgow unßnitnoutsly resented this clause, while the oMecfc of tha bill was generally approved of ; snd »a the mind of the country generally has been "xuio-sed in similar fabhion, no doabj the clai =c will be deleted.