§ Viscount WOLMERasked the Food Controller whether he is aware that Mr. S. J. Chilcott, a butcher, of 4, Fore Street, Tiverton, Devon, who refused to take cancerous meat allotted to him under the food control, and whose shop was closed by the local food committee in consequence, has lost the action at law brought against the food committee and has been ordered to pay damages, which he is totally unable to afford; and whether, in view of these facts, the Ministry of Food intends to intervene on his behalf or to allow him to go to prison for having refused to serve cancerous meat to the public?
§ Mr. McCURDYA bullock was allocated to Mr. S. J. Chilcott, a butcher, of Fore Street, Tiverton, Devon, by the allocating officer of the Tiverton Market. When the beast had been slaughtered, a cancerous growth was discovered in the kidney. Mr. Chilcott subsequently received compensation. An action was brought by Mr. Chilcott against the Tiverton Food Committee, in which he alleged that his shop had been closed on their instructions. The case was tried before Mr. Justice Darling, who found as a fact the shop had been closed by Mr. Chilcott and not by the food committee, and gave judgment for the defendants with costs. Mr. Chilcott has not been ordered to pay damages, and there is no ground for suggesting that he should go to prison for having refused to serve cancerous meat to the public. The Food Controller, therefore, sees no ground for intervention in the case.