The Evening Star. PUBLISHED DAILY AT FOUR P.M. Resurrexi. MONDAY, JUNE 4, 1883.

Thames Star, Volume XIV, Issue 4497, 4 June 1883, Page 2

The Evening Star. PUBLISHED DAILY AT FOUR P.M. Resurrexi. MONDAY, JUNE 4, 1883.

Ik the cases of the publicans charged with adulteration of spirits, in Auckland, we see that the Bench has dismissed them, as the reduced liquor only showed that it had been brought down to 21.9 below proof, and in the absence of any colonial enactment fixing the standard of strength of spirituous liquors, the Resident Magistrate took for his authority the English Statute, fixing the minimum at 25 per cent, under proof, for brandy, whiskey, and rum. The decision was somewhat peculiar, though, no doubt, the nearest one to be arrived in the absence'of a colonial law affecting it. This subject, interfering, as it does to such an extent, with the health of the community, is one requiring rery careful and grare consideration, and on the ere of a Parliamentary session, it is well to ventilate it with a view to something being done to remedy the defect we allude to. The mixing of deleterious ingredients with that which is consumed by the people, is an act which should be put down firmly with the strong hand of the law, and the least proof of an offence made in such a direction should cause those cjiught in fragrante delicti to be made W example of, so that the looseness of an Act of Parliament should not allow unprincipled persons to slowly poison their customers. Our Dunedin telegrams shew a dreadful state of things in existence in the City of the South. The analysis of Professor Black says that brandy sold was adulterated with sugar, and colored by vegetable coloring matter; that brandies were in reality not brandies, but chiefly cheap whiskies, sugared and rendered astringent by tannin and other foreign vegetable sub stances. This is very deplorable, and shows a state of things in existence as undesirable as it is unwarrantable. Of course, any one with the least knowledge of liquor traffic' admits that it would not be advisable to dispense spirits in a retail way at thje same strength that the hotelkeepers obtain it; this would mean madness, pure and simple to the rabid consumer, as well as causing trade, and other, inconveniences. Spirits are shipped in bulk at far too great a strength for immediate consumption. Reduction is therefore necessary, but that should take place in a proper manner, and. should be regu lated by law. The consumption of poisons in the shape of spirits doctored to answer

any name required by. its vendor has been very considerable- throughout the colony, and the manufacture of Various fluids under the names of whiskey, brandy, rum, gin, &c, has—as is well known—been lawlessly carried on in it for a number of years. There is every facility in both islands for the existence of illicit stills, and it would betray a somewhat weak idea of human nature were one to suppose that some of those facilities were not taken advantage of. Such ' being the case, a lot of raw material has to be disposed of, and it is by various processes converted into the various vendible beverages with which bibulants are supplied, and a regular consumption of which inevitably leads to their intellectual and physical ruin. The Auckland Magistrate must have had one. of two meanings in his words when he said that there was no fraudulent intent shewn on the part of a publican who reduced the spirits,^ as was then proved ; perhaps the loss of spirit to the man was counteracted by the retention of brainpower, which would have diminished had the strength of the liquor been greater. In the face of all the facts before us, it is absolutely necessary that some legislation on the subject should take place during the coming session. The absence of a standard of excellence to which the spirits should be kept up, is not only necessary ; but, the introduction of poisons to the liquids authorised to be sold, should be punishable with tbe utmost severity.