Description:Amongst the papers relating to England’s food supply in time of war are pamphlets refering to a Parliamentary Bill ‘to amend the law with regard to the sale of adulterated butter’.
The Bill appears to have centred upon restricting the amount of water in butter. A copy of the Bill is included in the collection, stating:
‘It shall be unlawful to manufacture, sell, expose for sale or import any butter or butter mixture containing more than twenty per cent. Of water, and every person who manufactures, sells, exposes for sale, or imports any butter or butter mixture which contains more than that percentage shall be liable on summary conviction to the penalties imposed by section four of the Margarine Act, 1887.’
However, an anonymous manuscript also in the Collection accompanying the Bill expresses criticism of the strategy suggesting ‘that the Act in its present form would be impracticable.’ The writer suggests ‘assuming that an up-to-date retailer was offering in his shops the three kinds of butter…a good deal of confusion would be created on busy nights such as Saturday nights, and while the retailer might honestly try to act in accordance with the law, he would to our mind find himself in considerable difficulties.’