65o 
THE TROPtCAL AGRICULTURIST. f April i, 1895. 
upon the justices to show cause why a case should 
not be stated in a prosecution under the Food and 
Drugs Act. Mr. Chitty appeared in support of the 
rule, and Admiral Field, M.P., appeared for the 
justices in poison. It was stated that a Gosport 
grocer named Moore was summoned for the adultera- 
tion of cocoa, and Admiral Field and other justices 
heard the summons. Moore pleaded guilty, hut the 
Bench being anxious not to see the man suffer 
from ignorance of procedure, suggested he 
should plead not guilty. The defendant withdrew 
his plea and said he was not guilty. In the end the 
justices dismissed the summons. Admiral Field, in 
arguing against making the rule absolute, contended 
that theie was really no point of law for the Bench, 
and the court ought not to have bad the cast 
brought before them. A new chief constable was 
appointed some years ago, but through lack of ex- 
perience this course was taken. A case of this kind 
could not come before a more competent tribunal 
than one composed of naval officers, who had great 
experience in judging of the quality of co^oa. In 
the Navy some 60,000 or 70,000 men had cocoa 
every day. Admiral Field here produced sonic of 
the cocoa served out, which he said contained 25 
per cent of sugar, 25 per cent of sago and flour, and only 
60 per cent of cocoa. If this grocer was to be punished 
he did not think the Lords of the Admiralty ought 
to remain unimpeached. The policeman, in his evi- 
dence, said he bought the co^oa as pure cocoa, but 
he could not have known that pure cocoa contained 
60 per cent of fat. No doubt 50 per cent of sugar 
or starch was a great deal to mix with cocoa, but 
as only sixpence per pound was charged the price 
Was consistent with the quality. Mr. Chitty submitted 
that their lordships could not go behind the analyst's 
certificate. The Court discharged the order, the justices 
having found there was no intention to defraud. — 
21. and C. J/cu7, Feb. 22. 
TEA SWEEPINGS; ADULTERATION 
OF COCOA. 
TEA SWEEPINGS. 
The question of how the sweepings of tea from 
warehouses should be dealt with still occupies 
much attention. We are indebted to Mr. Thomas 
Christy for bringing this matter prominently for- 
ward. It had been left in the hands of Mr, Peek, 
of the Indian Tea Traders' Association, but that 
gentleman seems not to have done much with res- 
pect to it, and the whole affair was lagging sadly 
when Mr. Christy came to the front. That 
gentleman has just addressed a very long letter 
on the subject to the Ceylon Association in which 
lie passes in review all the salient points of the 
question and the past action taken upon them, 
His letter suggests that endeavour should be made 
to ventilate the subject in the House of Com- 
mons, and a meeting of the Committee is to be 
called to take his suggestion into consideration. 
Mr. Christy also raises the point as to whether 
these sweepings are not the actual property of the 
teaimporters. They are spillingsof the tea belonging 
to them, and as such must, it would seem, 
be equally their property. Upon this basis Mr. 
Christie asks if the tea importers might not lay 
claim to them and control their disposal. The 
letter further suggests that the method formerly 
agreed to by Mr. Coschen on Mr. Christy's 
recommendation of mixing asafcetida with those 
sweepings should not be again strictly enforced. 
It appears that such mixing, while preventing 
the rubbish being sold for food purposes, does 
not spoil it for the extraction from it of Caffeine. 
For this purpose it was largely bought by Messrs. 
Howard and other genuine manufacturers at home. 
For a simihiv purpose a lar.gr 1 quantity was sent to 
Cerman.y : but sundry firms, at ' Hamburg w ho 
ostensibly bought for this purpose found it to pay 
them better to reyamp it for re-exportation to 
the English market. Mr. Christy writes that 
by lifting the stuff for Caffeine the profit may 
average about two pence the pound. If revamp- 
ed aa above disenbed, it obtains a price here 
which lie estimates to yield tluee to three 
and a half pence prolit. Tne buying price 
of the raw material he state* in his 
letter to be about one fartiiing |>er jKjiind. 
I It appears that it is not all the bond 
j ers by any means who have lent them- 
selves to the objectionable practice of cx- 
I porting these sweepings without mixing them 
I with asafcetida. There are only some four or 
: live warehouses that are delinquents in this res 
pect. 1 have endeavoured to give you a brief 
< sketch of the chief points raised by Mr. Christy 
; in his letter to the Association. How far the 
Committee of the latter may adopt his sugges- 
tion it is, of course, impossible to forecast. The 
evil is, howev er, so serious that we must Strongly 
hope some remedy maybe found for it. It seems 
to me that the most likely method for accom- 
plishing this would be to adopt Mr. Christy's first 
suggestion that the attention of the House of 
Commons should be directed to the evil and 
legislative enactment to quash it asked for of it. 
This would be the most thorough and far-reaching 
wjay to put an end to the present most objec- 
tionable practice. 
ADULTERATION OF COCOA. 
It seems likely that the producers of cocoa 
in Ceylon will feel an interest in reading the 
following report of a case tried this week at the 
I 'Westminster Police Court. A short time back we 
noticed a declaration made during the hearing of 
a somewhat similar case that cocoa was near 
by any chance sold pure and without some ad- 
mixture. But you will see that in the case below- 
reported on a dealer admitted that there is " such 
a thing as pure cocoa." 
i At Westminster, before Mr. de Rutzen, a shop- 
keeper named David Jones, Dorset-street, West- 
minster, was summoned by the Westminster Vestry 
for selling adulterated c-ocoa. Mr. Warrington Rogers 
appeared for the parish : and Mr. J. D. Laugton 
defended. The inspector's agent asked for a quarter 
of a pound of cocoa at Is a pound, and was served 
with a compound containing nearly 50 per cent of 
| starch and sugar. Mr. Laugton elicited — though &t- 
tention was not called to the fact at the time of 
I purchase — that the box from which the sample was 
labelled " chocolate powder '' Mr. Langton asked the 
witness whether he wanted cocoa as an article of food. 
Witness said he did. Mr. Langton. — Are you aware 
that cocoa in its original state contains 50 percent of 
fat, and that it is impossible to use it with water? 
Witness said he knew that manufactured cocoa had 
a proportion of its fat removed. Mr. Langton said it 
was decided the other day in the Court of Queen s 
Bench that a cocoa preparation might be sold as 
cocoa. If they accepted 80 per cent of starch and 
sugar in the Navy he did not see why a small trader 
should be fined. John Chapman, manager to Messrs. 
Collier the manufacturers supplying the defendant, 
said that cocoa in its natural state was not sold us 
an article of food. Sugar and sago were usually 
added. Mr. de Rutzen. — There is such a thing as 
pure cocoa ? Witness. — Yes. Mr. de Rutzen. — 
Although yours is a good deal better — in your opi- 
nion ? (Laughter.) Witness. — Yes. Mr. de Rutzen. 
— There will only be a fine of 10s and 14s 6d costs. 
— London Cor. 
♦ 
Coffee. — We see by our American exchanges that 
Mr. B. G Arnold, the oldest coffee merchant in New 
York, died in that city on the 10th ult. Mr. Arnold 
was 82 years of age and retired from active busi- 
ness only five years ago. He was one of the fouuders 
of the New York Coffee Exchange and was its second, 
president, — Rio Keios, 
