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THE SALE OF MEDICATED WINES. 287 
We are aware that some members have hinted an opinion that more relief 
might have been granted from this fund—not that larger sums might have been 
given to the applicants who have been assisted, or that any have applied in 
vain, but that the Council should have sought out necessitous members, and, ere 
this have established pensioners. Until the present time no person has ever 
asked for a pension. When the scheme for the administration of the Benevo¬ 
lent Fund was formed, it was understood that before carrying it out fully, a capital 
of £10,000 must be invested. This was establishing a true and sound foundation, 
for it must be obvious to all that to grant a pension from any other source than 
the interest of capital would be a delusion and a snare; to fix an annuitant on a 
fluctuating income, such as annual subscriptions, which accidental circumstances 
may lessen or even entirely destroy, would be to risk disappointment to the 
annuitant at that period of life when it would be most distressing. It may be true 
that with less than £10,000 some permanent relief might be settled, but we feel 
assured that until that sum is invested, the grants, whether annual or occa¬ 
sional, should never exceed—indeed, should scarcely equal—in amount the 
interest of capital; and we therefore hail it as satisfactory that the whole of the 
subscriptions and donations, as well as a considerable portion of the dividends, 
have hitherto been added to stock. 
It will be seen, that two of the recipients of relief from the Benevolent Fund, 
in 1863, were members, and two widows of members of our Society. Each of 
the former received £25 ; to one it was a second donation, he is a man greatly 
afflicted in health, and has a wife and seven children to support; the other is 
sixty-six years of age, also incapacitated by illness, and the father of four chil¬ 
dren, of whom the eldest is but fourteen. Of the widows, one is eighty years 
old, blind, and dependent on the care of an invalid daughter. 
From such cases as these there would seem to be little difficulty in selecting 
fitting annuitants. 
THE SALE OF MEDICATED WINES. 
A short time since we received a letter from Mr. Woolley, of Manchester, in¬ 
forming us that the Excise Officers of the district had inquired of him whether 
he sold Orange Quinine Wine; on being answered in the affirmative, they asked 
if he held a Sweet Wine Licence , or if not, if he affixed a medicine stamp to each 
bottle of the article sold. 
The facts seemed so startling that it was deemed advisable at once to apply to 
the Commissioners of Inland Revenue for specific information as to the liability 
of Chemists in these matters. The subjoined correspondence will put our read¬ 
ers in possession of the views of the Commissioners :—• 
17, Bloomsbury Stjiiare, Nov. 10, 18G3. 
To the Honourable 
The Commissioners of the Inland Revenue. 
Gentlemen,—I beg very respectfully to draw your attention to, and to solicit 
information on a subject of much importance to the public generally, but of 
especial consequence to Pharmaceutical Chemists, and other retailers of Medi¬ 
cine,—the sale of Medicated Wines. 
It may be convenient that I should state that this matter has recently been 
brought before your Honourable Board by Mr. George S. Woolley, of Manches¬ 
ter, and that a reply has been sent to him, signed “ Wm. Corbett, Secretary,” 
and marked in the margin 
Mr. Woolley is therein informed that it is, by law, necessary that he should 
take out a “ Sweets Licence” for the sale of his “ Orange Quinine Wine,” but 
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