THE BUTTER FAKER.

Waikato Independent, Volume V, Issue 323, 12 January 1907, Page 6

THE BUTTER FAKER.

TROUBLE IN STORE

The adulteration of Australian and New Zealand hutter in Dutch factories will become a less convenient source of profit if a Dili now before the Parliament of the Netherlands should pass into law. One of its clauses provides that “ traders arid shopkeepers who make mixtures of butter with any other fat are considered to be manufacturers of margarine.” Factories “ whose butter is made and stored shall be separated from those where margarine is made and stored ” ; and the premises of persons who are engaged in both the butter and margarine trades are to be subjected to continuous Government supervision, the cost of which will fall on the manufacturers themselves. Government officers will be enabled to enter factories and warehouses at any time and take samples of their contents for chemical analysis, They will be given similar authority to make inspections or searches in auction rooms, shops, stores and other places where butter, margarine and fats are present or supposed to be present, and also to examine the contents of delivery carts. Chemists employed to make analyses for judical purposes will be empowered to enter places where “ fats ” are manufactured—presumably fats for use as adulfcrants.' It is proposed to obtain power to prepare regulations dealing with the importation of foreign butters, but in what direction does not yet appear. Possibly the Government desires to keep the destination of imported butters under regular observation. It is especially interesting to note that the Bill contains a clause providing that “ wilful contraventions of the principal provisions of this law are punishable with imprisonment only.” It will be remembered that imprisonment without the option of a fine was recommended by several witnesses examined by the English v ßutter Commission as being the only punishment that would effectually put a stop to faking in the trade in England.