HC Deb 20 March 1871 vol 205 cc268-9
LORD EUSTACE CECIL

asked the President of the Poor Law Board, If his attention has been drawn to exposures in the Milk Journal of the 1st of March, regarding the supplies of milk to Shoreditch, Holborn, and other Unions, and the system under which contracts for such supplies are granted by the guardians; and, whether he will institute an inquiry into the correctness of such statements, with the view of applying a remedy?

MR. STANSFELD

said, in reply, that his attention had been drawn to the statement on seeing the Question of the noble Lord. He could hardly admit that the statements amounted to what the paper itself called "an exposure," because the result, as he read, it, was this—that among the samples of milk which had been analyzed many were supposed to have been lowered by admixture of water, but none were found to have been adulterated. Under these circumstances, he did not think that a case had been made out for inquiry into the correctness of the statements in question. He was free to confess, however, that it might be useful that some inquiry should be made into the methods by which contracts were granted, and he would take the subject into early consideration.