Secret Drugs, Cures, and Foods. Correspondence relating to the Appointment of Mr. O.C. Beale as a Royal Commissioner to inquire into the Legislation and Administration of Laws to check and prevent the Sale of Secret Drugs, etc
Melbourne, J. Kemp, Government Printer for the State of Victoria (for the Government of the Commonwealth of Australia), 1908.
Foolscap folio, 4 pages (a bifolium).
Drop-title; edges slightly creased, with a few tiny tears; an excellent copy.
Commonwealth of Australia Parliamentary Paper Number 183 of 1907-8; only 950 copies printed. 'In 1903 Beale [Octavius Charles Beale, 1850-1930] was a member of the New South Wales royal commission on the decline of the birth-rate and on the mortality of infants. Believing that the inquiry had failed to stem the social change that disturbed him, he continued to pester the Commonwealth government about "secret drugs" and abortifacients, the use of which was "ruining the moral fibre of the nation". Authorized by the prime minister Alfred Deakin, in 1905-06 he collected information in the United States of America, Britain and Europe and on his return was appointed to act at his own expense as a royal commissioner into secret drugs, cures and foods. In 1908 Beale presented his report, which was chiefly distinguished by its moralistic tone and reliance on opinions rather than evidence, and had to be purged of some of its wilder claims before publication. He was criticized by some members of parliament, and legislation had to be enacted to give him the protection of retrospective privilege' ('Australian Dictionary of Biography').
Item #18469
Price (AUD):
$55.00