Report of the Royal Commission appointed to inquire into the administrative procedures for controlling danger to man through the use as food of the meat and milk of tuberculous animals.

  • Great Britain. Royal Commission on Tuberculosis
Date:
1898
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Report of the Royal Commission appointed to inquire into the administrative procedures for controlling danger to man through the use as food of the meat and milk of tuberculous animals. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Library & Archives Service. The original may be consulted at London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Library & Archives Service.

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    MINUTES OF EVIDENCE TAKEN BEFORE THE ROYAL COMMISSION ON TUBERCULOSIS, At 7, Whitehall Place, Westminster, S.W. FIRST DAY. Wedneeday, 18th November 1896. PRESENT : Sir HERBERT E. MAXWELL, Bart., M.P. (Chairman)., Dr. R. Thorne Thorne, C.B., F.R.S. I T. Cooke-Trknch, Esq. Professor G. T. Brown, C.B. | John Speir, Esq. Shirlev F. Murphy, Esq. j x M Legge> Esq.? Secretary. Mr. Samuel B. Provis, < 1. (Chairman.) You are one of the assistant secretaries of the Local Government Board ?—I am. 2. And you are conversant ^ ith the general law s to the public health in England and Wales ?—Yes. 3. Are the same statutes as regards public health ' i force in London as in the rest of England ?—No, a the administrative county of London the Public lealth (London) Act, i891, is the statute which regu- ates matters relating to public health, and in the rest of the country the general statutory provisions are contained in the Public Health Act, 1875, the Public Health Acts (Amendment) Act, 1890, and the Infectious Disease (Prevention) Act, 1890, so far as matters with which the Commissioners are dealing are concerned. Then, perhaps, I should say that the Public Health Act, 1875, is in force throughout the whole of England and Wales outside London, whereas the Public Health Acts (Amendment) Act, 1890, is not so in force. It has to be adopted before it comes into force. It may be adopted wholly or partly by any sanitary authority, and as a matter of fact it has been largely adopted. The same is the case with the Infectious Disease (Prevention) Act, 1890, whereas with regard to the Public Health (London) Act, that is in force through the whole of London without the necessity for any adoption. 4. What regular statutory provisions are in force outside of Loudon regarding unsound meat ?—The sections of the Public Health Act, 1875, which relate to unsound meat are sections 116, 117, 118 and 119, and they empower a medical officer of health or inspector of nuisances to inspect and examine meat which is exposed for sale or deposited in any place for the purpose of sale or of preparation for sale and intended for the food of man, the proof tliat it was not exposed or deposited for any such purpose, or was not intended for the food of man, resting with the party charged, and if the meat appears to the medical officer of health or inspector of nuisances to be diseased or unsound, he is empowered to carry it I 94260. J.B., called and examined. ^r away for the purpose of its being dealt with by a * B^Provis, justice. Then if the justice iinds that it is diseased, _,* or unsound, or unwholesome, or unfit for the food of ]8 Nov. 1896. man, he is to condemn it and order it to be destroyed, —— or so disposed of as to prevent it from being exposed for sale or used for the food of man, and the person to whom it belonged at the time of exposure for sale, or in whose possession, or on whose premises it is found, is liable to a penalty not exceeding 20/., or, at the discretion of the justices, he may be imprisoned for a period not exceeding three months. There are penalties on persons for obstructing the medical officer or inspector of nuisances in tiie discharge of his duty, and a search warrant may be granted by a justice on a complaint made by a medical officer of health or inspector of nuisances, or any other officer of the local authority, to the effect that he has reason to believe that there is kept or concealed any animal, carcase, or meat intended for sale for the food or* man, authorising him to enter any building, and to search for, seize, and carry away any such animal in order to have the same dealt with by a justice under the provisions of the Act. This is the effect of the provisions in the Act of 1875. 5. And that Act is compulsory in London and not in the country ?—It is not compulsory in London ; it is in force outside. I am speaking of the provisions in force outside London. 6. (Mr. Cooke-Trench.) Throughout the whole of the United Kingdom ?—No, only in England and Wales. The Act is not in force in either Scotland or Ireland. Some provisions are made in section 28 of the Public Health Acts (Amendment) Act, 1890, with regard to unsound meat. That section amends the sections which I have read, and extends them so as to deal not only with the articles which are mentioned in those sections, but also to all article* intended for the food of man. Section 28 applies to all articles intended for the food of man, sold or exposed for sale, or deposited in any place for the purpose of sale, or A