§ 32. Mr. GUINEYasked whether the attention of the Department of Agriculture in Ireland has been called to the sale of a quantity of English manufactured meal to a man named Patrick O'Connor, Is-landar, Boherbee, county Cork; whether this man's suspicions having been aroused, he got a sample of the meal analysed, and that the analysis of which showed the meal to be adulterated with a large percentage 751 of sawdust; whether the Department of Agriculture has since taken a sample for analysis; if so, what is the result of the Department's analysis; and, if the result is as first stated, what steps the Department of Agriculture propose taking in order to prevent tins imposition on purchasers?
§ Mr. RUSSELLThe Department were informed by Mr. O'Connor that he had purchased from a cross-Channel firm a quantity of pig meal, that he had had a sample of this meal privately analysed and that the analyst had reported the presence of sawdust to the extent of about 20 per cent. On the application of Mr. O'Connor the Department sent, one of their official samplers to his premises for the purpose of taking a sample of the meal in question. Mr. O'Connor produced to this officer three bags From which he stated he had taken the sample which he had had privately analysed. The Department's sampler took a sample from these bags, and as the result of a careful examination the Department's analyst reported that he was unable to verify the presence of any sawdust in the meal. In the circumstances no further action by the Department appears to be called for in this case.