§ MR. OCTAVIUS V. MORGAN (Battersea)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, relative to the Return of cases under the Sale of Food and Drugs and Margarine Acts, which have been brought before the magistrates sitting at the Wandsworth Police Court during the past year, and to the small fines inflicted in the various cases, whether the Local Government Board have in several of their Annual Reports drawn attention to the varying and insufficient penalties imposed upon offenders under these Acts; and whether, having regard to the importance to the public of the efficient administration of the Sale of Food and Drugs and Margarine Acts, he will take such steps as he may deem advisable, with a view to uniformity of practice of the Police Magistrates in the Metropolis in dealing with offenders against the Acts in question?
§ MR. MATTHEWSYes, Sir; my attention has been called to those passages in the Annual Reports of the Local Government Board which comment upon the smallness of the fines frequently imposed in cases under the Sale of Food and Drugs Acts. I propose to draw the attention of the Chief Magistrate to this subject and to the complaints of the hon. Member, and to request him, in conference with his brother magistrates, to arrive, if possible, at some common understanding with a view to secure uniformity of practice in the administration of these Acts.