Wairarapa Daily Times. [Established 1874.] TUESDAY, APRIL 2, 1895. BUTTER AND BRIBES.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume XVI, Issue 4991, 2 April 1895, Page 2

Wairarapa Daily Times. [Established 1874.] TUESDAY, APRIL 2, 1895. BUTTER AND BRIBES.

According to a representative of the firm of Hudson Bros., it is a common practice .for Inspectors to accept bribes from retailers who sold margarine for genuine butter. This was given in evidence boforo tho Pood Products Adulteration Committee, and thcro is not the slightest doubt as to tho accuracy of tho statement. A case of butter adulteration cropped up at Gospork, on January 22nd, when a grocer was prosecuted for selling buttor adulterated with 17 parts of foreign fat. The butter was sold as '" The 'World's Tea Conir pany's delicious butter;guaranteed absolutely pure,'!;.. According to the public analyst s certificate, the butter was adulterated,; being 83 parts butter, a-ncl \f .pat'tsi of foreign fat. The' defence set w, Ms "to'the effect that.the butter'was part of .101 "half-; hundredweight fees' which came ■from Melbourne, .through the Fresh Food and '.Fruit. Storage .Company, each box.being; ; stamped by the Victorian Departmcntof Agriculture. Two of the boxes were. sent untouched and ? unopened, to Go'sport, and it was declared that the butter was offered for sale in the shop, in an absolutely untampered condition, yet two analysts, after exhaustive tests, agreed as to the existence of foreign fat. The information against the grocer was dismissed, but the impurity of the butter remained, and the reputation of Colonial butter in the Gosport district was in consequence considerably affected. Dr Muter, of London, one of the analysts, expressed the opinion that the excess of foreign fat, was tho effect of cold storage, Tho -Melbourne shippers are quite positive that the butter'was pure'.and wholesome when it left the Colony, and in this they are sup. ported by the Government dairy expert. The important question involved here, is this. Is it possible for butter to undergo a physical change through cold storage, as alleged by Dr Muter'?' Can butter be converted into foreign, fat, by any process short of- the criminal one of adulteration ? It .is a serious matter for the Colonial producers, and adds one more to the many burdens they already ha-ye to bear;' In the case under review, the Agricultural De-

partment of Victoria is in possession of absolute proof of the purity'of the buttoi' when it left Australia, and unless cold storage has the power to convert pure butter into impure butter, a fraud has been perpetrated, and the evidence so far available, tends in the direction that the butter l was tampered with after its arrival in London. The evidence of Hudson Bros.' representative, throws a ray of light, that shines fiercely on fraud,

Tlio microscope, in the hands of a lean gaunt professor of science, is a dangerous plaything. The professor, with childish glee, looks for bacillus and other 'disease-producing varmints, but if he confined hiiuself to certain lines, the professor would be harmless. This is just what he seems unable to do, but seeks to rob us of our gastronomic pleasures, with callous indifference. Now, we are told that the luscious oyster is nothing more than " a death trap of enteric fever." The stupid thing lays itself out to absorb sewage, and thereby accumulates a vengeful swarm of microbes. Who would eat oysters after this ? If we whipped ourselves into obeying fcho tyrant science, we should find a resting place under the sod, in a very short time. Can modern science tell us of something edible, that does not harbour bacilli and microbes ?