[To TUE EDITOR OF THE 'SPECTATOR.']
SIE,-It is hardly possible to discuss effectively the points raised by Mr. Jukes in your last issue without getting on more technical ground, and writing at greater length, than your readers would care for. I may repeat, however, that in the opinion of the most competent judges the marking of foreign eggs, by identifying for the public a class of foreign produce, many grades of which are excellent, would do more harni than good to the egg industry of Great Britain. The fact that French and Danish authorities are in favour of this marking surely speaks for itself. Mr. Jukes's report that " the greatest trouble" of an English Co-operative egg-collecting, society is the receipt of foreign eggs from dishonest members, who buy them to mix with their produce, surprises me. The means of testing the age of eggs brought into a collecting society are so easy and speedy that one cannot con- ceive of a bad egg being accepted. Apart from this, the fine for unscrupulous action on the part of a member is enough to make continued attempts at substitution un- profitable. Mr. Jukes's plea for the markng of foreign eggs is principally based on the assumption that the housewife would have no anxiety whatever in her egg-buying if she were only protected against inferior foreign produce. The truth is that English eggs are marketed every week which, to put it mildly, are not so good as French and Danish. Briefly, the proposal to mark foreign eggs is an insidious plea for Pro- tection, which has its origin to a certain extent in national prejudice, but chiefly in an honest ignorance of the technics of one of our most technical trades. As Mr. Jukes's letter may gain authority, among readers outside the poultry world, from the fact that he appends to his signature the names of three poultry clubs in which he holds an official position, it is worth while to point out that all the organisations named are devoted to the interests of show poultry, and that the two utility poultry organisations, the large Utility Poultry Club and the National Poultry Organisation Society (the president of which is Lady Salisbury), have refused to identify them- selves with the plea for foreign-egg marking.—I am, Sir, &c., THE WRITER OF YOUR ARTICLE.
We cannot continue this correspondence.—En. Spectator.]
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