THE Evening Star. PUBLISHED DAILY AT FOUR O'CLOCK P.M. Resurrexi. THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 1875.

Thames Star, Volume VII, Issue 2079, 2 September 1875, Page 2

THE Evening Star. PUBLISHED DAILY AT FOUR O'CLOCK P.M. Resurrexi. THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 1875.

Some members of the Opposition appear to hare made up their minds to give the Goyernment as much trouble as they can in other directions than attacking the abolition measure. Sir George Grey has assailed' them on Orders in Council with regard to the dealings with confiscated land. This has led to certain disclosures about transactions in which some members of the House hare been concerned, one being Mr W. T.BacHand. This has given the cue to Mr Kolleston to set in motion the machinery for discussing the clauses of the Disqualiacation Act. Sir Donald McLean in reply has plainly said that the Government hare nothing to fear from the enquiry, and will forward it as much as possible. It is endeut that the

motives which actuate- the moving spirits of the Opposition ate directed against the Government, but it is equally plain that if even the transactions alluded to should jbe found to come within the meaning, of the Disqualification Act, the Government will have nothing to fear more than the possible loss of a supporter. It will be the individual-member or memjbers involved who will suffer, and he or jthey would in the event of the seats {being declare^,.vacant, probably.be reelected. Delay is the policy of the Opposition. It would scarcely be prudent for them to sejt their faces dead against the" progress *of busine~ss by "directing their attacks ; > solely. r ; , against the Abolition Bill, so a - strategic movement is attempted,- which is no doubt intended to deceive'the country Eas much as to.dhjertrtbe attention of the Government from the important work of the session. All these dodges—they are nothing elsa—of the Opposition will recoil on their own heads. .If their professions of patriotism were sjncer.e.they wouldlend their aid to effect changes in the Government of the country to meet the expressed wish of the people; if they arc not sincere all these miserable subterfuges will ultimately be exposed, and they will have to rendei* an account of their illspent time.' Why not boldly tackle the Abolition Bill and amend it to their own fancy if they can, instead of trying by all sorts o^pretexts,to delay the business for ■which they have met. The country is getting tired of the tactics of the Opposition, and if they do not very soon enunciate some sort of scheme or policy, they will discover that the people to whom they have appealed have found them out, and that their opposition is too much like kicking against the pricks With reported dissensions amongst themselves, an overwhelming majority against them, and the constant pressure .of public opinion from without, they ought to con cede a point and concentrate, their efforts to make the best;of the circumstances.

It was telegraphed to us from Auckland yesterday that several persons were fined amounts varying from one ioMive pounds for selling adulterated milk • the telegram also stated that the amount of prater with which the milk was mixed varied from eight to forty-five percent. iW"e presume that those who mixed the least water with their milk were those fined in the smaller sum,while those-who. adopted the principle of nearly'half-and-half were they who suffered to the extent of £5/ A distinction in kind not altogether satisfactory. As far as actually cheating the public—for we can call it by no other word—those who used 45 per cent, of water were the greater, cheats; but on the other hand all were, equal transgressors of the spirit of the law, for the violation of which the fines were inflicted. The only difference, if any difference existed at all, being that those who used the, larger;quantity of water-perpetrated aj fraud on a greater scale, but were also more liable to detection, and punishment. For ourselves we should liked to have seen all punished pretty heavily, not only, with a view to mulct them of the ill gotten gains they had filched from their customers, but to act as a deterrent to others, and show them that they could not transgress the law even in the smallest matter without suffering—and that too pretty heavily—(or their transgression. As far as the swindling itself is concerned, a man is equally guilty whether he does the business on a large or small scale; whether he cheats wholesale or retail he is guilty of cheating; and as we are told that no one is bad all at once, so it is probable that those milkmen who used half water with their milk first began cheating their customers in smaU^ doses, and then, rendered bold by immunity from detection, conducted their swindling on a larger scale. We are glad that the adulteration of milk has been brought in these and other instances, under the notice of the powers which be, and we hope that the success which has followed the attempts made to expose these malpractices, and the benefit which must have resulted to tfie public, will induce those whose business it is to detect adulterated articles to prosecute their endeavors, and bring to justice others who offend in the matter of adulteration. For there are worse results attending some of these impostures than those. which follow from milk being mixed with water. In an exhaustive article on food and its adulterations^ contributed some time ago by Dr. Wynter to the Quarterly Magazine this subject^was ..taken up, and the number of articles shown to be adulterated even by the largest and most respected London firms almost exceeded belief. Of fifty samples of green tea analysed by Dr. Hassall all were found to be more or less adulterated, while of twenty-nine samples of coffee taken from different dealers only one, sold by Messrs Dakin, was pure. Nor in the matter of milk was it found to be water only that was used in adulteration, bat that it was common to bring the diluted mixture up to a delicate cream color by swinging round in the can a ball of annatto, while such things a3 flour and starch were also often found in it. Of course these things cannot but have an injurious effect, more especially upon children, who have been known to be frequently disordered by their morning or evening portion —an effect which would not come from the mere admixture of water. The following is an analysis made of a cup of milk sold as pure—" 25 per cent of water, annatto, treacle, flour,.oside of iron, and starch !" In this case we are not taking a single cup of milk, but the result of repeated experiments to show to what extent adulteration is carried, and how injuries, especially in the case of invalids, are its effects. Suppose a doctor prescribes, as is often the case, a milk diet for liis

patient, some deleterious compound like .the above is supplied instead of the pure tnilk ordered by the doctor ; and the patient is made .no whit better, but ' rather tbe worse by the supposed remedy. Milk, it must be remembered, is only one of the many things adulterated; surely in others this adulteration requires detection and punishment. Take the case of the adulterated intoxicating drinks supplied to such, a large extent to this country, what more easy than their detection by any willing to take up the matter. Colonial drinks; have become proverbial for being doctored, and yet no "oWliaii inbreTfiSfad or foot in the to have the evil remedied. We are far from'attributing to the publicans themselves all the pastiness that is sold under the pseudonym of brandy or gin. There are black sheep in every flock, and no doubt publicans add to the evil by adulterating still more the adulterated article supplied to them ill the first instance. But the great evil is that so much spirit mixed with injurious matter is scut to the Colony- without any attempt at its suppression. We know that there is good authority for stating that white vitriol or sulphate of zinc is used in large quantities, and' that Mi' Mitchell in his " Handbook of Commerce" tells us that a mixture is added compounded of " alum, carbonate of potash, almond oil, sulphuric acid and spirits of wine." This sort of stuff is snipped in large quantities and after (often) further doctoring by the publicans, is retailed with sometimes fatal effects. And yet the detection is easy, and the remedy by no means difficult. The publican selling the compound, if detected, would be fined. If the liquor sold were drugged by himself, he would be rightly punished, if not, and as is no doubt often the case it were supplied to him as he sold it, he could hare his remedy against the general dealer, or at least withdraw his custom from him. If this were done in many instances, and all the drugged liquor sent back to the general dealer to be sold at his risk, the dealers themselves would be rendered very careful what sort of stuff was supplied to them, and patronise none of the distillers at home save those whom they could trust to supply the right article. The impression which seems to pervade the minds of unprincipled producers, that anything is good enough for the Colon} 1-, they would find to their cost by loss of custom could no longer be acted on, and the indignant colonist, when refusing to have anything more to do with them, might well say to them, as said Siebald to the fiend :

What, sir, how dare you practise thus, Your hocus-pocus upon us.