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Ashburton Guardian, Volume 1, Issue 139, 14 August 1880, Page 4

Me. A. Khause, of Wellington, says;— ‘ For the last two years New Zealand rabbit skins brought a return of something like LBO,OOO, but +hey were worth from 20 to 25 per cent more before they left the colony.” Simple Remedy For Coughs. —A correspondent of the Medical Times says that the popular prescription for spasmodic asthmain certain parts of thecountry is to eat heartily of watercresses, and it is said that the remedy is successful. One of the household remedies tried in Wellington for the cure of the troublesome coughs pervading at present in nearly every household is a decoction of ivatercress roots a handful or more boiled in a quart of water until reduced to a pint, and the liquor then mixed with a quarter of a pound of treacle. Poison. —The Sydney Evening JSfeivs has purchased, over the counter, for analysis, samples of liquor vended by the low drinking shops of Sydney, and gives the result as follows :—“ What is called pale brandy is not pale brandy at all. It is a locally manufactured article, and is composed entirely of potato spirit, burnt sugar, hydrated oxide of otthyl (fussel oil), spirits of nitre, and flavored with oil of cognac. Oil of cognac is a composition manufactured in Germany, and large quantities of it are imported into the Australian colonies. A small phial of it will impart the flavor of, it into a large hogshead full of liquor. It is easily procured in Sydney. Our readers can form some conception of the mental and physical state of a man after drinking several glasses of such a filthy mixture. The next samples tried were those of delightful whisky, which were proved to contain a large proportion of white spirit, creosote (oil of tar) and saccharine matter. A very nice beverage truly ! The rum of the purlieus, on being submitted to the analytical test, was found to contain a sulphate of copper (blue-stone), cayenne pepper, and was flavored with amytic ether. The only wonder is that men in the habit of drinking such loathsome compounds do not more frequently commit murder. There is a popular idea that it is utterly impossible to adulterate gin. That may be quite correct, but it is easy to manufacture it. This is the result of the analyst’s inspection of what was purchased as gin :—The sample was diluted with white spirit, and strongly flavored with oil of juniper and Strasburg turpentine, ”