PURE FOOD.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 8100, 27 August 1904, Page 4

PURE FOOD.

v Thft Sale of Eood and Drugs Bill which ««ras introduced into the House of Representatives by Sir Joseph Ward a few days :,- ago, seems to have excited certain of the ■tradesmen who come within its provisions. It would bo surprising were it otherwiseThe honest tradesman is apt to regard it as both unnecessary and an imputation on his calling, and the dishonest person seem ifc a death-blow to unfair dealings. But the general public <_ught to welcome the Bill. 'For undoubtedly it affords them protection which, if nofc of vital consequence now, may become so in a ; > few years. Happily for the people of New 1 Zealand there is reason to believe tfTat a :'"-• wilful adulteration of food is not practised y to a very large extent in this colony. We will not go as far as to declare that it is unknown here. The fact that from tims t- time proceedings against milkmen are 'found necessary is sufficient to demonstrate that the opposite is the case. At the same ... time we think consumers generally may v congratulate themselves that most of the foods which they purchase are pretty much what they purport to be. But this fact does not render unnecessary a Bill tp make belter provision for tbe sale of foods and drugs in a pure state. It is a notable, though a well worn truism, that prevention is better than cure, and in the case of the two commodities mentioned it is a thousand times preferable that adulteration should be prevented than that it should be left to be suppressed after it has become an everyday evil. The Bill is not calculated to act harshly or oppressively. - It includes a series of provisions, mostly sensible ones, all designed to protect the consumer from dishonest tradesmen, and sufficiently elastic i to allow of their liberal interpretation in j the event of the law being transgressed in j ignorance. There is nothing in the Bill | to hamp.s/ the person who conducts his j business uprightly and who treats hi 3 customers fairly. At the worst ■ he will ba compelled to submit to having his goods examined by a Government official and possibly certain of them analysed. This is not a very dreadful ordeal after all, and to our way of thinking it is one to which he ought to submit cheerfully. He has nothing to v lose by it and he has this much to gain': that from henceforth his goods become free «f suspicion in the eyes of the public.