§ SIR MARK STEWART (Kirkcudbrightshire)I beg to ask the President of the Board of Agriculture if it is the intention of the Government next session to appoint a Departmental Committee to inquire and report as to what regulations, if any, may with advantage be made by the Board of Agriculture under Section 4 of the Sale of Food and Drugs Act, 1899, for determining what deficiency in any of the usual constituents of genuine butter or what addition of extraneous matter shall, for the purposes of the Sale of Food and Drugs Acts, 1875 to 1899, 712 raise a presumption, until the contrary is proved, that the butter is not genuine.
§ * THE PRESIDENT OF THE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE (Mr. HANBURY,) PrestonI will not lose sight of the matter to which my hon. friend refers, but neither my predecessor nor I have yet taken any steps with respect to the setting up of presumptive standards for butter, because it has been thought better to wait and see whether any action can in the first place be taken in the case of milk and cream. The Report of the Committee appointed to consider the course to be taken with regard to the last-named articles has not yet been received.