APPENDIX TO CHRONICLE. 273 



rica. Here is a quantity of sale- 

 able goods, and you may call 

 them dunnage if you please, but 

 the presumption must be, that 

 they were to be converted into 

 profit on their arrival, which is a 

 direct contravention of the navi- 

 gation laws of Great Britain. On 

 these considerations I shall affirm 

 the sentence of the Court below. 



BOARD OF EXCISE. JUDICIAL 



ROOM, MAY 28. 



Bex V. Fox. — Mr. Edward 

 Fox, grocer and dealer in tea 

 and coffee, Gray's-inn-lane, was 

 charged with having a large 

 quantitj' of sham coffee in his 

 possession, and with selling the 

 same for genuine coffee. 



Commissioner. — Do you plead 

 guilty or not guilty ? 



Defendant. — I plead guilty, 

 my Lord. 



Another Commissioner. — This 

 is a case in which the defendant 

 chooses to plead guilty, for the 

 purpose of inducing us to miti- 

 gate the penalty ; but I think 

 proper to have the case heard, as 

 it is one of the worst description 

 that has come before us. 



Henry Spencer, an officer of 

 Excise, stated, that on the 21st of 

 February, he and Lord, another 

 officer, went to the defendant's 

 shop, and purchased an ounce of 

 coffee, for which he paid three 

 half-pence. They examined it, 

 and he was satisfied it was not 

 genuine coffee ; they purchased 

 another ounce (which he pro- 

 duced to the Commissioners, 

 who examined it), and were con- 

 vinced it consisted part of coffee, 

 and beans and peas. He (Spencer) 

 asked the defendant if he had 



Vol. LX. 



any vegetable powder in his pos- 

 session, and he declared that he 

 had not. 



Defendant. — I deny that I 

 ever said so. 



Witness. — He looked into a 

 mill, and found it contained a 

 small quantity ofvegetable powder 

 and coffee. The defendant came 

 up to the mill and ground it all 

 out upon the floor before he 

 could prevent him. The defend- 

 ant asked his shopman if they 

 had found any vegetable powder 

 in the mill ? The shopman 

 replied in the negative, and de- 

 fendant said, " Then I do not 

 care for them." Upon searching 

 the shop, he found 64 pounds of 

 coffee mixed with vegetable pow- 

 der, which he then produced. 



The Commissioners and the 

 examining officer viewed the 

 sham coffee seized, and it was 

 declared to be part genuine cof- 

 fee, and part beans and peas 

 burnt and ground. 



The defendant in his defence 

 said, that poor people wanted a 

 low-priced article, and by mix- 

 ing the vegetable powder and 

 coffee together, he was able to 

 sell it at three halfpence an 

 ounce ; he had sold it for years, 

 but never had so large a quantity 

 as 64 lb. in his premises before, at 

 one time ; he did not think he 

 was committing a fraud ; he did 

 it as a matter of accommodation 

 to the poor, who could not give 

 a higher price ; he did not sell it 

 for genuine coffee. 



Commissioner. — Then you 

 have been defrauding the public 

 for many years, and injuring the 

 revenue by your illicit practices : 

 the poor have an equal right to 

 be supplied with a genuine article 



T a» 



