Vol. ii., No. 4. 
00 
THE CHEMIST AND DEUGGIST OF AUSTKALASIA. 
and two sureties in £10 each. I suppose we shall learn fur- 
ther particulars of these cases from the Launceston papers. 
Laudanum is sold daily to regular customers without the addi- 
tion of an antidote label, and I have yet to learn that it is 
compulsory to do so under the new Poisons Act. 
The Distillation Act. — Below is a copy of a part of a cir- 
cular issued to all the chemists on the register from the Hon. 
W. H. Burgess, Colonial Treasurer, and it is intended toiiut a 
stop to the sale of spirit® of wine, which some of the Hobart 
chemists have had the privilege of selling for many years past, 
although contrary to the Act of Parliament. But it will not 
prevent the continuance of stills with the chemists them- 
selves, as the Governments are pleased to interpret the clause 
“ For medicinal use only,” as allowing individual chemists to 
manufacture spirit for making tinctures, Ac., but will not allow 
them to sell it to another for the same purpose. 
THE DISTILLATION PROHIBITION ACT. 
Treasury, Hobart, 
February, 25, 1887. 
Whereas it appears that the provisions of The Distillation Prohibition 
Act, 29 Viet., No. 12, are not generally known : Notice is hereby given 
that, by the said Act (with certain especial exceptions), Distillation of 
all Spirits is prohibited, under heavy penalties ; and further, that where 
under the special authority contained in the Act Licences are granted 
to Apothecaries, Chemists, or Druggists to keep and use Stills, the said 
Act specially iirohibits the use of any Still of a greater capacity than 
Five gallons, or for any other iiurpose than for medicinal purposes only, 
under heavy penalties, and under pain of forfeiture of the Still. Notice 
IS ALSO HEREBY GIVEN that pei’sons purchasing, or receiving, or having 
in their possession, or keeping, or selling, or sending out Spirits distilled 
’W'ithin this Colony, are also rendered liable by the said Act to heavy 
l)enaltie,s for so doing, 
Then follow sections 7 and 10 of the Distillation Act on 
which the above is based. 
I forgot to mention there is a Distillation Act in Tasmania, 
passed in October 1869, (I only learnt this to-day), the annual 
licence is £200, with two sureties in a recognizance of £500. 
It is a very comprehensive act, and numbers up to 117 sec- 
tions ; section 58 provides for a levy of iOs. per gallon duty upon 
every gallon of spirits distilled in Tasmania, reckoned from 
proof and so on in proportion to a greater or lesser strength. 
I don’t wonder at no one having ever aiiplied for a licence 
under this act, as it refers to Distillation from Tasmanian 
produce only. 
The Hobart Chemists’ Association.— There has been no 
meeting of Ihe Hobart Association lately, in fact the summer 
season being the busiest time of tlie year it is a difficult 
matter to get a meeting together, and just at present as 
Typhoid is seeking an unusually large number of victims, 
dispensing chemists find their time fully occupied. I think 
they may very wisely adopt the suggestion of yours, and style 
themselves the “ Pharmaceutical Society of Southern Tas- 
mania,” and get the few chemists in the outlying townships 
of the south to join them, but of course in the event of a 
Pharmacy Bill being passed here, there could not be two 
societies here, north and south, whether the head-quarters 
were at Launceston or Hobart there could be but one “ Phar- 
maceutical Society of Tasmania,” and why should this not 
be? 
The^ Eucalyptus Oil Company have not yet commenced 
operations in consequence of the impending changes in the 
Government, the promoting of the company has been some- 
what hampered, and I am inclined to believe that the company 
will resolve itself into a syndicate of a smaller proprietary, 
principally chemists. 
(prom our own correspondent.) 
„ ^ Launceston, March 21. 
He.vlth Conference. — A Conference of representatives of the 
Municipalities throughout the Island, was held in the Town 
Hall on March 17, to consider the provisions of the Public 
Health Act. There were fourteen municipalities represented. 
Some valuable expressions of opinion were heard ">n the 
working of the Act. The unanimous opinion of the Country 
Delegates was that it was unworkable and quite unsuited for 
the country \yith its scattered population. The Act, like our 
Poisons Bill, is a copy from the Victorian one, the opinion in 
both cases being that Victorian Legislators are not good ones 
to imitate, at any rate in medical laws. The good objection 
to the Act is that it entails expense in having a Health Officer 
for each district, and as they can only pay an average of £20 
a year, it follows that the office is simply worse than useless. 
The sanitary officer of Launceston is not a inedical man, so 
they passed a clause allowing him to continue as such, but on 
investigation by the law officers, the clause was of no effect ; 
consequently he was instructed to resign. But the Council 
stuck to him, and in order to comply with the letter of the 
Law, a medical man was appointed “ Health ” Officer, at a 
nominal salary, while the “ Sanitary” Officer still continues. 
This will give an idea of how to get round an Act 
of Parliament, Sanitary and Health not being the same. 
The conference decided to let the Act apply to the cities, 
and that for the country the Police Act would be found ample. 
In Launceston, notwithstanding its improved sanitary arrange- 
ments and cleanliness generally, typhoid fever is worse than 
ever it has been before, and also earlier in the year ; and 
Hobart is as bad with this dread disease as Melbourne. 
There are also several cases of Diphtheria, and these two com- 
plaints are the ones Health Acts are specially levelled against 
all the world over. Disinfectants are being freely sold, and 
there is a great run on Camphor to be carried as a charm. 
Poisons Act.— If this Act is carried out it will iirobably lead 
to friction between the chemists and the wholesale store- 
keepers, as the latter strongly object to the proviso that each 
package shall bear the name of a registered Tasmanian 
chemist. One of them who was spoken to upon the subject, 
considered it a “ hole and corner ” piece of work, and vowed 
ms intention of getting a druggist’s name — not a Tasmanian 
though — upon his goods. A punishable offence under the 
Act came under my notice a few days ago, in which carbolic 
powder had been put for dusting in a Berwick baking powder 
tin without change of label. The Act provides a penalty not 
exceeding £20 for such carlesssness, but the question is— How 
are people to know this, and who would proceed against 
them ? If one or two nominal fines were indicted in such 
instances, it might act as a warning, for most of the 
poisoning cases are due to substituting bottles and packages. 
PHAEMACY IN TASMANIA. 
{To the Tditor of The Chemist and Druggist of Australasia.) 
Sir, — I was pleased to read in your issue for March that 
you have become the official organ of the Chemists Asso- 
ciations in Launceston and Hobart and I trust that the out- 
come of it will be a steady advancement in the progress of 
Pharmacy and the establishment of a school of study for the 
purpose of thoroughly educating the advancing generations 
of apprentices into a more enlightened view of what a 
chemist’s profession should be. I ask, where in Tasmania is 
a student to get tuition or practise in the study of chemistry, 
botany, or practical analysis? I sincerely trust that you will 
advocate a Pharmaceutical Society on the same footing as the 
other colonies, so that a Tasmanian pharmaceutical education 
shall compare favourably with that of any other. As a prelimi- 
nary step I would suggest the adoption of the change of name 
from Launceston and Hobart associations to Pharmaceutical 
Society of Tasmania. Let one or two rooms be taken, one 
fitted out as a laboratory and the other as a reading room and 
supplied with standard reference books, &c., and a scheme 
can soon be worked out for the success of such an institution 
emanating from the present members of the associations. 
We have a Government Laboratory and a Museum but they are 
of very little use to a pharmaceutical student unless an arrange- 
ment could be made between the Government and ourselves 
for special assistance in this direction and I see no reason why 
they should not help us. At any rate I think I am justified 
in saying that it is high time that the chemists in Tas- 
mania should take more interest in the advancement of 
pharmaceutical education and devote some portion of their 
time to something else than the mere business routine of 
trade. — Yours, &c., 
Hobart, March 23rd, 1887. 
[We throw out as a suggestion for further consideration, 
that the simplest plan for the organisation of Tasmanian 
pharmacy would be to retain the present organisations as re- 
spectively Northern and Southern branches of the Society to 
be. independent, but federated, each branch with power to 
initiate movements, bound to consult with, but not bound to 
agree with, or adopt the proposals of the other. The 
pobability is that differences of opinion between the two 
branches would be rare, while this system would give each 
branch as much influence as if it were truly national. We 
trust this matter will not now be allowed to sleep. — Editor.] 
