Adulteration

Te Aroha News, Volume VII, Issue 420, 16 November 1889, Page 8

Adulteration

The diink fiond Ins many tonible sin* 3ind niiseiies to answer for, but its powei of wieeking human lives would not be 3i.il f so «:reaf; wcie it not for adulteration. The liquid poison which is so often sold 4ts good, wholesome liquor, would bro.de •down a constitution of cast iron. The fact that adulteration is very gene- a* •seems to be universally known, and yet, \% ith that strange perversity uhich *haiacteri>es legislators ami adtninisIrators, no effectual means are tthen anywhere to stop the fiendish practice. The following extract from a Home paper shows to what lengths the adulterato's ■sviYl go : — •' \V. >S. T)aino, M.P., a? a guardian -of the poor in one of the large London unions, said he had found doctors gi\ ing rrdeis upon a pnblic-honse for port wine ns medkino. He pent his secretary to I uy a bottle of that port wine, for which l.c paid 5s ; then had it nnntysed, and found it was not wine at all, but mainly Hatidiurg spirit and water, with which the poor people weie being physicked." Imagine the infamy of the man who ■*vould s<sll sm-h stuff as this, under the guise of good port-wine, at five shillings per bottle, fo be administered modichiHl'y to helpless paupers ! The fellow ought to have been sent to gaol for thetenn of his natural life, and yet we do not read of >ny sleps having been taken to punish him. The statement of Mr Dame wi'l go the rounds of ih? pope's as a samp'e of the iniquities of hotel Kccpeis, but no action will result. Such apathy is a scandal to humanity, an utter disfvaee to a coininvmily professing tojbe Christians. New Zealand is no hette in this respect than England ; indeed, we "believe it is worse. We have laws on our Statute Book for punishine the vendors of adulterated liquor, but thej T are viitujilly deod letters. No one ever hears of a conviction for this kind of offence, though everybody knows that such offences are committed many times every (day in the year, Sundays included.