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22 1935

MILK AND DAIRIES ACT, 1935

PART I.

Preliminary and General.

Short title.

1. —This Act may be cited as the Milk and Dairies Act, 1935.

Commencement of Act.

2. —This Act shall come into operation on such day or days as may be fixed therefor by any order or orders of the Minister for Local Government and Public Health, either generally or with reference to any particular purpose or provision, and different days may be so fixed for different purposes and different provisions of this Act.

Milk.

3. —(1) In this Act (except in Part IV thereof) the word “milk” means any article of food which is whole milk, skimmed or separated milk, cream or buttermilk.

(2) In Part IV of this Act the word “milk” means whole milk.

(3) In this section the expression “whole milk” means milk from which none of the constituents have been abstracted otherwise than as a result of any cleansing process (including pasteurisation or sterilisation) to which such milk has been subjected.

Presumption that milk sold, etc., is sold, etc., for human consumption in the form of milk.

4. —Where milk is sold, or exposed or kept for sale, it shall, unless and until the contrary is proved, be presumed, for the purposes of this Act, to be sold, exposed or kept for sale, for human consumption in the form of milk and in no other form.

Construction of references to sale of milk.

5. —References in the subsequent provisions of this Act to the sale of milk shall be construed as references to the sale of milk for human consumption in the form of milk and in no other form, and references in the said subsequent provisions to a seller of milk shall be construed accordingly.

Definitions.

6. —In this Act—

the expression “the Minister” means the Minister for Local Government and Public Health;

the expression “purveyor of milk” includes a person who is a seller of milk, whether wholesale or by retail;

the expression “dairy” includes (save where otherwise provided in this Act) any farm, farm house, cowshed, milk store, milk shop, or other place from which milk is supplied on or for sale, or in which milk is kept or used for purposes of sale, and, in the case of a purveyor of milk who does not occupy any premises for the sale of milk, includes the place where such purveyor keeps the vessels used by him for the sale of milk;

the expression “dairyman” includes (save where otherwise provided in this Act) a person who is the occupier of a dairy, or any purveyor of milk;

the expression “examination” includes chemical and bacteriological and protozoological examinations and tests and any other examination or test applied to milk for the purpose of detecting infection, contamination, impurity, or any other defects in the composition thereof;

the expression “sanitary district” means a sanitary district under the Public Health Acts, 1878 to 1931;

the expression “the sanitary authority” in relation to a sanitary district means the sanitary authority under the Public Health Acts, 1878 to 1931, for such sanitary district;

the expression “veterinary officer” in relation to a sanitary authority means a sanitary officer appointed by such sanitary, authority under section 11 of the Public Health (Ireland) Act, 1878, as amended by section 22 of the Local Government Act, 1925 (No. 5 of 1925);

the word “inspector” means any person authorised by the Minister in writing (either generally or for a special purpose) to exercise all or any of the powers and perform all or any of the duties conferred or imposed on an inspector under this Act; the word “animals” means cows or goats;

the word “prescribed” when used in relation to the District Court means prescribed by regulations made under this Act by the Minister for Justice and in every other case means prescribed by regulations made under this Act by the Minister.

Exclusion of certain dairies and dairymen.

7. —Where—

(a) surplus milk produced on a farm is occasionally sold to persons for consumption by such persons or their families, and

(b) the occupier of such farm does not in any one day sell more than one gallon of such milk, and

(c) the selling of milk does not form part of the ordinary business of such occupier,

then for the purposes of this Act, such farm shall be deemed not to be a dairy and such occupier shall be deemed not to be a dairyman and, for the purposes of the provisions of Part II of this Act relating to temporary exclusion of certain dairymen from Part II, and the provisions of Part III of this Act relating to temporary exclusion of certain dairies and dairymen from Part III, such milk shall be deemed not to have been sold to such persons.

“The medical officer.”

8. —(1) The expression “the medical officer” means—

(a) when used in relation to a sanitary district which is a county borough, the medical superintendent officer of health for such county borough or the person for the time being acting as such medical superintendent officer of health, and

(b) when used in relation to any other sanitary district, the county medical officer of health who acts for such district, or the person for the time being acting as such county medical officer of health.

(2) In the case of a dispensary district forming part of a sanitary district for which no medical officer within the meaning of the foregoing sub-section of this section is for the time being acting the following provisions shall have effect that is to say, so long as there is no such medical officer, the powers and duties which would be exercisable and performable under this Act by such medical officer, if there were in fact one, shall be exercised and performed within and in relation to such dispensary district by the medical officer of health of such dispensary district.

Presumption of sale of milk in certain cases.

9. —(1) Where milk is kept in a dairy, or in the custody or possession of any dairyman, it shall, unless and until the contrary is proved, be presumed for the purposes of this Act to be kept for the purposes of sale.

(2) Every person who offers or exposes milk for sale, or allows milk to be sold or offered or exposed for sale shall be deemed for the purposes of this Act to have sold such milk.

Miscellaneous matters of interpretation.

10. —(1) A dairyman shall be deemed for the purposes of this Act to carry on the business of a dairyman at every premises used by him for the purposes of his business as a dairyman.

(2) Where a person carrying on the business of a dairyman in a sanitary district does not occupy any premises in such sanitary district for the purposes of such business, every vehicle which such person uses for the purposes of such business shall be deemed for the purposes of this Act to be premises in such district.

(3) Where the terms of a contract of service provide that milk is to be supplied free by the employer to the employee, milk supplied by the employer to the employee under such contract shall be deemed for the purposes of this Act not to have been sold by the employer to the employee.

Enforcement of Act by sanitary authorities.

11. —(1) It shall be the duty of the sanitary authority to enforce the provisions of this Act and of every order and regulation made thereunder and to exercise the powers vested in them by this Act or such order or regulation.

(2) If a sanitary authority fail to perform any of their duties under this Act the Minister may make such order as he thinks necessary or proper for the purpose of compelling such authority to perform their duties and any such order may, without prejudice to the exercise of the powers conferred on the Minister by section 72 of the Local Government Act, 1925 (No. 5 of 1925), be enforced at the suit of the Minister by mandamus.

Appointment of officers by sanitary authorities.

12. —Any sanitary authority may, with the consent of the Minister, and subject to the provisions of any enactment relating to the appointment of officers by such authority, appoint such and so many officers as such authority shall consider requisite for the execution of the functions, powers and duties conferred or imposed by this Act, and every officer so appointed shall be paid such remuneration as the sanitary authority, with the consent of the Minister, shall determine.

Right of entry on premises.

13. —(1) Every officer of a sanitary authority and every inspector shall, for the purposes of enforcing the provisions of this Act and any orders and regulations made thereunder, be entitled to enter at all reasonable times any premises.

(2) If any person obstructs or impedes any officer of a sanitary authority or any inspector in exercise of the power conferred on such officer or inspector by this section, such person shall be guilty of an offence under this section and shall be liable on summary conviction thereof to a fine not exceeding fifty pounds.

(3) Nothing in this section shall authorise any person, except with the permission of the local authority under the Diseases of Animals (Ireland) Acts, 1894 to 1934, to enter any cow-shed or other place in which an animal affected with any disease to which those Acts apply is kept and which is situated in a place declared under those Acts to be infected with such disease.

Public inquiries.

14. —(1) Whenever power is conferred on the Minister by this Act to make any order or regulation or to take any other action, the Minister may before exercising such power hold a public inquiry into the matter which is the subject of such exercise of such power.

(2) Article 32 of the Schedule to the Local Government (Application of Enactments) Order, 1898, shall apply in respect of every public inquiry held under this section in like manner as the said Article applies in respect of the local inquiries mentioned therein.

General regulations.

15. —(1) The Minister for Justice may by order make regulations prescribing any matter or thing relating to the District Court which is in this Act referred to as prescribed.

(2) The Minister may by order make regulations for all or any of the following purposes, that is to say:—

(a) prescribing any matter or thing which is in this Act referred to as prescribed and is not authorised by this Act to be prescribed by regulations made by the Minister for Justice;

(b) prescribing anything which the Minister is by any section of this Act authorised to prescribe by regulations made under such section.

(3) Any regulation made by the Minister under this Act in regard to fees shall be subject to the approval of the Minister for Finance.

Laying of regulations before Houses of the Oireachtas.

16. —Every regulation made under this Act shall be laid before each House of the Oireachtas as soon as may be after such regulation is made, and if a resolution annulling such regulation is passed by either House of the Oireachtas within the next subsequent twenty-one days on which that House has sat after such regulation is so laid before it such regulation shall be annulled accordingly, but without prejudice to the validity of anything previously done under such regulation.

Finance.

17. —(1) All expenses incurred by a Minister of State under this Act shall, to such extent as may be sanctioned by the Minister for Finance, be paid out of moneys provided by the Oireachtas.

(2) The expenses of a sanitary authority incurred under this Act shall be raised and defrayed in the manner in which the expenses incurred by such sanitary authority under the Public Health Acts, 1878 to 1931, are raised and defrayed, and, in the case of the board of health of a county health district, shall be charged equally over the whole of such county health district.

(3) All expenses reasonably incurred by an officer of a sanitary authority in relation to any prosecution for an offence under this Act shall be refunded to him by the sanitary authority of the sanitary district in which such offence was committed.

Saving for other Acts relating to milk and dairies.

18. —Nothing in this Act shall prejudice or affect any other enactment for the time being in force relating to milk and dairies.

Repeals.

19. —The enactments mentioned in the Schedule to this Act are hereby repealed to the extent specified in the third column of the said Schedule.