§ MR. FREDERICK FRYE (Kensington, N.)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what he proposes to do with the large sum recovered for penalties which the Pharmaceutical Society state they have obtained 1832 from unregistered persons whom they prosecuted for selling medicines containing poisons, such having been hitherto known by the name of "Patent Medicines," which, according to the Pharmacy Act of 1868, are exempt from the penal clauses of that Act; whether it is proposed, in view of the new interpretation which has been put upon the term "Patent Medicine" by the recent decision of the Judges in the Divisional Court, on the appeal of the "Pharmaceutical Society v. Piper and Company," he will take any steps to prevent the Pharmaceutical Society from recovering penalties for a period of six months to enable traders to clear out their stocks of such goods, the sale of which is prevented by this new rendering of the law; and whether the Government are prepared to bring in a Bill to amend the Pharmacy Act of 1868, so as to include stamped proprietary medicines, and to make the penalty of £5 for an offence against the Act (as provided in Section 15 of the Pharmacy Act of 1868) similar to the provisions in Section 17 of the Pharmacy Act of 1890, in which the penalty is not exceeding £5?
§ THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE HOME DEPARTMENT (Mr. ASQUITH, Fife, E.)As regards the first part of the question, Section 14 of the Pharmacy Act, 1852, provides that the penalties shall be paid as the Treasury directs. "Patent medicines" containing scheduled poisons are not exempt from the provisions of Section 17 of the Pharmacy Act, 1868, or the penalties there-under. As regards the second part of the question, the Pharmacy Acts, 1852 and 1868, provide that penalties shall be recovered by the Registrar of the Pharmaceutical Society, in the name and by the authority of that Society, and I have no power to interfere. With regard to the third part of the question, it would appear from communications which have been received by the Privy Council Office from Coroners that it would be undesirable to give further facilities for the sale of proprietary medicines containing scheduled poisons. The Act of 1890, to which my hon. Friend refers, applies solely to Ireland, and as at present advised I am not prepared to propose legislation on the subject.