The Akaroa Mail. FRIDAY, AUGUST 3, 1877.

Akaroa Mail and Banks Peninsula Advertiser, Volume 2, Issue 109, 3 August 1877, Page 2

The Akaroa Mail. FRIDAY, AUGUST 3, 1877.

The adulteration of food and drink has for a long time been- a fruitful theme for discussion with public writers aud speakers, who have been wont to dilate upon the fearful consequences . whim have ensued from the use of adulterated articles, and to insist on the most stringent legislation being adopted, in order to put a stop to the nefarious practice of selling adulterated goods. We well recollect a discussion of this kind which took place in the Provincial Council of Canterbury some time previous to its abolition. The great wickedness of hotelkeepers who sold adulterated drink was painted in the most sombre lines, and the terrible consequences which had arisen even from taking a single glass of the poisonous compound they vended, were described with touching pathos, the end aimed at amidst all the talk, being the appointment of a public analyst, who, by his skill, would at once detect the fraud which was constantly being practised upon the public, who were not only being robbed of their money, but had their health destroyed, or, at all events, much injured. Since then, a public analyst has been appointed, and the result of his investigations has been to show that, amongst the articles of food and drink made in the colony, there was no need for this outcry, as they did not contain ingredients, of such a poisonous character as would produce the evil effects attributed to them ; and, also, that the same may be said of a great number of imported articles. Since his appointment as public analyst, Professor Bickerton has been engaged in analysing a number of articles of food and drink obtained by the police at haphazard from various tradesmen, and the result is most creditable to them, showing that they have not for the sake of gain, been playing with the health of their fellow-creatures. Commencing with the articles against which there has been the greatest outcry as being tlje most poisonous—we

mean those sold by publicans—what do we find ? Anumber of samples, of spirits were examined and tested by the Professor, and he discovered that they had indeed been adulterated, but that the principal adulterant used was water.' A few contained a small per centage of methylated spirit, but not in sufficient quantity to be productive of injury. The colonial beers were pronounced to be strong, of good quality, and free from all admixture of deleterious ingredients. What then becomes of the cry of the poisonous nature of these drinks ?. It is not the.single glass that does the mischief, but a succession of several series of single glasses ■; or, in-other words,-it. is in the excess, and not in the use ; in the quantity, and not in the quality, where the evil lies. The testimony of science respecting the bakers was equally favourable ; their bread was found to be of excellent quality, and free from adulteration. A'few convictions' were obtained against vendors of milk, and one was found to .have adulterated the milk he sold with no less than 20 per cent, of a foreign liquid, but then the adulterant was the product of the " cow with the iron ■ tail"-it was water, and, although doubtless a fraud was committed on the public, it was not of a nature calculated to injure health. Coming to the grocer, it was found that the teas vended'by them were good, aud, singularly, free from admixture of leaves of a foreign character ; one or two samples of sugar shewed a very small per centage of grape sugar, but probably that resulted in the course of manufacture. Coffee was found to be mixed with chicory, which, when used in proper quantity, rather improved the flavour of the groundberry than otherwise. Where convictions have taken place, the offence has been for selling a mixture of chicory and coffee as pure coffee, a fraud, but not prejudicial to the public health ; i and so also with regard to mustard.

We have only noticed. the main ai'ticles of food and drink, not deeming it necessary to go into those which may be looked upon as the luxuries rather than the necessaries of life. In England, owing to the keen competition in trade, it is probable that adulteration is practised to a great extent, but we do not believe that it is in New Zealand, certainly nor in Canterbury. And, moreover, if we mistake not, similar results followed the analyses of Mr. Skey, in Wellington. It is gratifying to find that our manufacturers and tradesmen are not, when tested by the unerring light of science, those unprincipled persons they have been represented to be, men, who, for the sake of greed, would not hesitate to sport with the health, and it may be the lives of their fellow-men.