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Oamaru Mail, Volume III, Issue 704, 19 June 1878, Page 2

Tur. casualties that have lately occurred through the impurity of kerosene in Wellington and elsewhere in the Oniony demonstrate the necessity for prompt and stringent measures by Parliament to prevent a recurrence of such shocking catastrophes. What is required is an inspector of weights and measures, whose duty it shall also be to s e that articles submitted tx.-nle for household purposes are what the owners state them to be. It must be singularly unpleasant when the cheery 'and usually inoffensive lamp becomes the object of grave suspicions—when one feels that, on the slightest provocation, i the villanous stuff therein contained may render it scarcely less dangerous than a tomb-shell, or some other infernal engine of warfare. A nice companion, indeed, for the tea-table, around which the family circle congregate, the whole of whom might be as near death as though at a cannon's mouth. Impure kerosene is the only necessity for generating explosive £->*, and it wnld scatter jagged glass projectiles, accompanied by liquid fire, to render more certain and terrible the work »f destruction. We should be grateful that we have been so fortunate as regards the quality of the keroiene that has been

supplied to us in Oamaru. So far as we know, it is free from those qualities which have earned for kerosene in Wellington a name aimost synonymous with nitroglycerine. But who can tell how long this happy state of things may last i We are not writing for the purpose of terrifying our readers, but we are just as liable as the people of Wellington to have smuggled into our mids" stuff similar to that which caused the painful death of the poor girl Barnes. None but an expert can distinguish between good and bad kerosene, and that only by a scientific process. It would be equally to the advantage of storekeepers and the public to have all doubt settled as to the quality of the oil they have for sale ; because it

is certain that the numerous accidents arising from impure oil will gradually lessen its consumption, thus diminishing the profits of the traders, and necessitating the resumption by the public of the misen'.lde and inconvenient substitute, caudles. Then, to ascertain the quality of kerosene sent to Oaniaru, would ue ii.utually beneficial to the trader and the public. It would infuse confidence that woidd increase its sale, ns it would remove all fear from the mi nebs of those who would like to bum it, and who would adopt it in preference to iii' • •-,re and more expensive substitutes. Seeing that such is the case, there would be no difficulty in getting tbs work performed. The police c.-»ul' : . send the samples to be tested by tr.e Government Analyst, and those that were found to be defective could probably be subjected to a process of rectification. Whi'.st no one here would suffer any hardship in adopting the course we suggest, positive benefit would result. Kerosene might slightly increase in price for a while, if it were found necessary to reject an appreciable amount of it ; but such au increase woidd not last long, aud the ultimate- effect of the testing, if adopted throughout the Colony, would be the shipment of pure kerosene to New Zealand.