MINERAL WATER TRADE.

Tuapeka Times, Volume VII, Issue 391, 16 September 1874, Page 6

MINERAL WATER TRADE.

la the yforfolk News ' of the 16th May. is a repoQßtf proceed iir./s ,ih in in.tugurai dinner of a newly formal TVruk Protection Association of i\J nci-dl VValer vianufactures, held at Yarmouth, at which members of tLo trade from jL ondon and the provinces were present. Mr D. drake presided, who, after proposing the usual loyal toasts, introduced the business of the meeting, which consisted

their agreement to aceitaiu number of riile3 which wou'd be introduced to them by lha committee appointed to frame them. Mr Adams at some length dilated on the advantages of trade cotnbmaciou. Much opposition had been offered in various parts of the country to bimilar associations by licensed victuallers, who at first imagined that some pecuniary hardships were to be imposed upon them in the shape of higher prices being charged for goods served to them. All such fears were groundless, apd ultimately the action taken by such associations was justified and approved of at least by the more intelligent portion of the public trade. The primary object of their meeting together that day was to assist each other in preventing the ruthless traffic in their property by persons who sent out juvenile agents sneaking round to the back doors of hotels and ians, taking bottles from any place in which they might be stored. The marine-store keepers were carefully looked after by the police, r.n [ v/ere prevented buying many things only under great restrictions ; bub soda-water bottles, to which many of the authorities attached no value, were allowed to form one of the most profitable sources of income to them. la Liverpool, recently, ie had been 1 discovered that a marine store dealer had entered into a contract to supply an unscrupulous firm with 120 dozen secondhand bottles weekly, to supply shipping orders. The contract was being carried out, and the makers of Manchester, Oldham, Bolton, Ashton, and adjacent towns were being robbed to supply thia infamous demand. He (the speaker) knew of no trade that sustained more losses, or which was robbed impudently than was the soda- wafer trade, nor could he rightly understand the indifference frequently dsplayecl by persons in judicial authority to the demands made on them for justice. Their trade had degene rated through the want of association, which resolved into bitter and reckless oppoi-ifion that produced public dislike and {judicial indifference, but from that day forward he hoped that the "good time coming" had really arrived, and from the numbers present, aad the interest apparently ( vmced by them iv the business of the day, thtsre cwu^d be no doubt that they wcild be considerable gainers at the year's end, without causing any annoyance to their customers. The ruFes were, after a little disc ission, unanimously carried The Chairman proposed " Success to the Licensed Victuallers Associations of the Eastern Counties," aad remarked that to a very g'eat extent the trade in which they wore engaged was dependent on the faci ities offered by the public trade for the Bale of their drinks, aad he thought that every effort shonld be made to work in mutual harmoay with each other, (ffear, hear.) He had no doubt that the objects for which they had combined would, when known to tho licensed victuallers of the d s trict, be fully appreciated, and any existing obstacle to the carrying out of their desires gladly and courteously removed.