The Manawatu Herald. TUESDAY, SEPT 24, 1906. CONDONED DISHONESTY.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXVIII, Issue 3716, 25 September 1906, Page 2

The Manawatu Herald. TUESDAY, SEPT 24, 1906. CONDONED DISHONESTY.

Whisky has got many a man into trouble. Whisky that was not the whisky it purported to be got a hotelkeeper in Wellington fined £lO and considerable costs the other day. Seems to have been a case of 1 putting new wine into old bottles ’as the Scripture says. K a man asks for Talker’s whisky at a hotel, he expects to get it, but the average man, although he may swear by Talker’s brand doesn’t know Talker’s from Stalker’s or any other persons. Only one publican here and there rings the changes—puts draught spirits into the bottles of a certain firm. Few are any the wiser. There is an old story that if an ordinary man is blindfolded and a glass of beer and a glass of stout is placed before him, he cannot tell the difference by the taste. It is, we suppose, because of his inability to detect the real from the bogus that an occasional publican makes a little extra profit. Of course it is the customer’s fault. He ought to know better. In fact he ought to have found out years ago that he himself is responsible for the tricks of trade not in the least confined to hotels. * * *

It may be even possible for the draper, the baker, the grocer or any other tradesman to deceive the public, mainly because the public itself does not seem to mind. It is the authorities who find out the swindles. However prejudiced one might be against the liquor traffic, one must still regard it as a means of livlihood to a large number of people in every land, who are just as fairly entitled to engage in the business as in the business of pork-selling or flaxbuying. It is, too, frequently believed that every publican is a man of low moral character who is always lying in wait for the unwary, but it should be remembered that the holiest of tradesmen in other branches of selling, lie in wait too. The public has long ago given proof of its credulity. It will buy an ‘ all wool ’ garment from a draper who is known to attend the church regularly. The garment is three parts cotton and the other things, chiefly mineral. It is the fault of the public, for the public whether it buys beer, spirits,

groceries or garments need not believe a label, a shop-assistant or even a proprietor.

* * * The publican who deceived the public by selling him draught whisky from a ‘ case ’ bottle did not make the glasses that nearly all publicans use. It used to be the custom to measure hotel liquors. Then the customer thought this was mean. The publican met the difficulty by handing the customer the bottle, the customer was meaner still because he used to take as much as he possibly could. The publican then cross-countered by a little trade deception that is used throughout the Empire. He used glasses with an inch solid bottom, that looks like liquor when filled, and he pours out from a bottle that has a false bottom. The public knows that it is being deceived but it says nothing. Why should the publican worry ? Why saould anybody worry for that matter ? Very few things are what they seem to be and the public has become so used to being deceived that it really doesn’t mind in the least.

If the man who sells you wrongly described whiskey is deserving of fine —and he most emphatically is —the man who sells you kerosene with a little bluestone in and calls it ‘ best sperm oil ’ should be fined or sent to gaol. If the publican is fined, the colonial firm that sells you ‘ pure honey ’ made entirely from the sugar cane is morally liable to fine. If the publican is to be fined, about two dozen New Zealand firms that are notorious for the adulteration of most of the articles wholesaled to grocers should be proceeded against. These are the days of imitation. We have imitation marble mantlepieces made of wood, “solid” brass bedsteads warranted covered with the most trumpery ‘ paper-brass,’ finest electro-plated cutlery ’ that turns green in a mouth, ‘ leather ’ goods that are made of old rags and paper, ‘ purest Virginian leaf ’ tobacco that is really the sweepings of the street, ‘ fruit essences ’ that are mainly recruited from mineral —often coal —‘ fruit ’ jam that is mostly pumpkin, carrot, mineral essence and anything else that occurs to the manufacturer.

People; do not question—-they merely buy. The people’s passion for cheap luxuries is of course the main reason for the swindles that nd one seems to imagine are swindles. These are the days of veneer and superficial polish. Also these are the days when one class Of person who morally errs against the law of adulteration or fair weight, or fair description is punished, while a worse offender escapes. These are the days when it is possible to make any kind of fraud possible by judicious advertising when the feeblest precautions are taken by the public to prevent such fraud. It is a sad reflection that colonial firms are worse sinners than oversea firms—we always bar America. Many firms who sell articles, purporting to be honestly described, do not desire a reputation. They desire large profits and a quick return, wealth without too much honesty or work. 't* 'fc Many of the edible manufactures of New Zealand are unfit for food, wrongly described and as dear as it is possible to make them. While the authorities of this country are worrying about whiskey, they might also worry about articles of diet and beverages that are of more importance. Even the gaseous horrors sold under the title of ‘ lemonade,’ 1 raspberry ’ — cost threepence a gallon, retail twopence a half-pint—and other cordials—are a good deal more or less than they seem. The difference between them and whiskey is that the gas maniac does not go home and beat his wife under the influence of lemonade. He feels too full for any violent exercise.

There is absolutely no limit to the possibility opened by that prosecution for selling whiskey that is not true to name. It is a matter of some difficulty to find that the trade description of almost any article is absolutely honest. Someday—but not soon —it will be illegal to sell any article that is not correctly described. A bill in this connection will not pass the New Zealand Parliament this session, because no legislation is so important as the Christchurch Exhibition, to which, of course, all the members of Parliament must necessarily go.