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purpose is fictitiously to increase the ester-content of essential oils. The 

 letter in which the offer was made was sent to us; the name of the pre- 

 parations we suppress in the interest of honourable trading. We hope that 

 the repeated discovery by us of such regrettable incidents will at length 

 bring about a change in this state of things, for in the alternative we 

 shall certainly take an early opportunity of publicly pillorying the firms 

 concerned, whose original offers are in our possession. 



A word, also, on the subject of the deplorable cases of methyl alcohol 

 poisoning. We have always advocated the view that the employment for 

 purposes of human consumption of this substitute for ethyl alcohol is 

 unjustifiable, but we have also repeatedly pointed out that there are grave 

 objections to its use in the manufacture of perfumes and cosmetics, not- 

 withstanding the fact that these articles are for external use only. We 

 know that important methyl alcohol manufacturers are in the habit of 

 recommending their preparation for the last-named purposes, and in order 

 to guard our business-friends against unpleasant experiences we expressly 

 warn them not to entertain such suggestions. 



Our Branch-Office at Bodenbach has obtained its well-deserved share 

 of last year's business-successes, our sales in the Austro-Hungarian 

 Monarchy showing a considerable increase. In the spirits-department, 

 however, the conditions were far from favourable, for to the burdens and 

 obstructions which have beset this branch of trade in the past few years 

 there is now to be added the Spirit-Trust, while the threatened Spirit 

 Taxation Bill contributes to render the situation far from rosy. Operations 

 have been started in the meantime in the extension of our Bodenbach 

 works, to which we have already referred on a previous occasion, and 

 among other processes of manufacture we have commenced the preparation 

 on a large scale of sugar-colour from refined sugar. We take this oppor- 

 tunity of again calling the attention of our Austrian and Hungarian friends 

 to this article. 



Our relations with our customers in France have developed in a highly 

 satisfactory manner, in spite of the increased Customs Duties imposed in 

 1910, which so seriously hamper the importation of our products. German 

 exports to France in the year 1911 showed an increase in value of over 

 88 million Marks, and* although it need scarcely be said that the share 

 of our branch of industry in this increase is a very modest one, we are 

 pleased to be able again to place upon record the steady and wholesome 

 ^expansion of our relations with our Western neighbour. The political 

 tension, which last autumn might easily have led to a catastrophe, has 

 again given place to a more amicable disposition, except as regards a 

 persistently Chauvinistic section of the French press, and there is no 

 cause for believing that the prospects of a return of restful conditions 

 and mutual confidence, even in a political sense, are unfavourable. The 

 demand from France last year was not limited chiefly to those costly 



