Courts of Summary Jurisdiction
| Published date | 01 July 1941 |
| Date | 01 July 1941 |
| DOI | 10.1177/002201834100500301 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
The
J
ourll.al
of
Crinlinal
Law
VOL.
V.
NO.3.
JULy-SEPTEMBER,
1941
Courts
of
Summary Jurisdiction
HERRINGS OR BLOATERS ?
Wandnoortb Food Control Committee v. William James Reed
ON
the 5th June, 1941, before Mr. Paul Bennett at South
Western police court, three summonses were heard
against William James
Reed:
(I) for selling roused herrings
at a price in excess of the maximum price, contrary to
Article 2 (5) of the S.R. &
0.,
1939, No. 1426, as amended
by Article 1
(e)
of the S.R. &
0.,
1940, No.
278;
(2) for
making an unreasonable charge in connection with the sale
of roused herrings, and (3) for curing herrings without having
a licence granted by the Ministry of Food so to do, contrary
to Article 2of the S.R. &
0.,
1940, No. 1025.
The
Wandsworth Food Enforcement Officer in evidence
said
that
he went to the defendant's stall and asked an assist-
ant serving there the price of herrings. He replied:
"Eight-
pence a pound.
They
are bloaters."
The
witness purchased
1lb. for which he paid eightpence.
The
fish were wet, had
scales and a bloom on them, and there was blood in the gills.
In
his view they were herrings, the maximum price for which
should be sevenpence apound.
The
defendant appeared
and told the officer
that
the fish had been in brine for some
hours, had white pupils
and
were therefore bloaters. A few
days later the officer inspected some adjoining premises
where the defendant
had
asmoke-hole
and
where he said he
cured fish.
The
defendant could produce no licence for curing
herrings
and
had not got one.
N 193
194
THE
JOURNAL-OF
CRIMINAL
LAW
The
Food
and
Drugs Inspector who
had
been shown
the fish soon after purchase said that in his opinion they
were halfway in the process of being made into bloaters. He
described abloater as a herring which, after its scales had
been rubbed off, was placed in brine for several hours and
finally dried by smoking or by wind. Herrings lost weight
when made into bloaters,
and
these fish had certainly not
lost weight.
In
his opinion these fish had not been kept in
the brine long enough to complete the process
and
were still
herrings. He was unable to say what was a roused herring.
The
Herrings (Maximum Prices) Order, 1939, refers to
two categories of fish
:-
(a) Herrings, meaning herrings which are fresh, iced,
sprinkled or roused, not including any pickled or canned
herrings,
and
(b)
bloatered, smoked or red herrings.
The
maximum price of the former is sevenpence a pound
and
that
of the latter eightpence.
Evidence for the defence was given by the defendant,
who has been in the fish business all his life.
In
London
it is a custom of the fish trade to
put
herrings in brine for
several hours, take
them
out, hang
them
on spits
and
allow
them
to dry in the air.
They
then
become a wind-dried
bloater.
The
time of hanging varies from twenty minutes
to five or six hours, according to the atmosphere
and
the
requirements of the public.
In
Wandsworth customers like
to buy the fish soon after they are
hung
up.
The
defendant
said
that
these fish had been
hung
up about half an hour,
they
had
abrine bloom on them, their gills were brown
not
red,
and
their eyes were white. A roused herring is a herring
which
has
been immersed in dry salt
and
kept four or five
days.
It
was quite awell-known type of herring in the fish
trade.
It
was admitted
that
the higher price allowed to be
charged for bloaters was partly
due
to the loss of weight on
being dried,
but
was also
due
to labour used in the process
of bloatering. Aletter was produced by the defendant
addressed to
him
from the Ministry of Food, stating
that
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