BEER MATERIALS COMMITTEE 



277 



EXTRACTS FROM MAJORITY 

 REPORT. 



noxious or detrimental ma- 

 terials." 



" The Treasury are em- 

 powered to prohibit the use in 

 the manufacture of beer of any 

 substance or liquor of a noxious 

 or detrimental character. It is 

 the duty of the chemists in the 

 Government Laboratory to keep a 

 vigilant watch over all beer 

 brewed and sold, and they have 

 ample opportunities for so 

 doing. ' ' 



EXTRACTS FROM MINORITY 

 REPORT (MR. READ'S). 



And he stated further that the 

 results of experiments upon cats 

 made by Dr. Tunnicliffe had 

 been sufficiently striking to 

 suggest that certain glucoses 

 may have deleterious effects, and 

 that further investigation is cer- 

 tainly desirable in the public 

 interest. Although a glass or 

 bottle of beer may contain but 

 a small quantity of an injurious 

 substance, if these small quan- 

 tities are constantly taken, very 

 harmful results are likely to 

 follow. 



A list of over one hundred 

 substances, which have been 

 advertised for years in brewing 

 papers, was handed to the Com- 

 mittee, and it is reasonable to 

 conclude that a number of these 

 contain deleterious matter, for 

 even the authorities of Somer- 

 set House failed to furnish in- 

 formation of what many of 

 these substances were com- 

 posed. 



I do not gather that there is 

 any body or official at Somerset 

 House competent to decide 

 what is, and what is not, " dele- 

 terious " to health. The Treasury 

 may be " empowered " to pro- 

 hibit the use of anything " noxious 

 or detrimental, 11 but I am not 

 aware that they have ever done so, 

 save in the case of saccharin, 

 which was to prevent a fraud upon 

 the revenue. 



" No materials used in the 

 manufacture of beer are deleteri- 

 ous, at all events in the quan- 

 tities in which they are actually 

 employed. We believe that the 

 exceptions to this rule, if any, 

 are so infrequent and unim- 



My opinion, based upon a 

 careful consideration of the 

 evidence, is that legislation or 

 other provision is necessary to 

 prevent the use of deleterious sub- 

 stances. 



There is undoubtedly a large 



