F.—Bk>. 1-

WEIGHTS AND MEASURES, ETC.

9

The following is the scale of charges for analyses in London: — Complete organic analysis, £15 15s. to £21. Partial organic analysis, £3 3s. to £5 ss. Complete inorganic analysis, £5 ss. Determination of a single element which is indicated, 10s. 6d. Qualatative analysis, £1 Is. The difference of cost is partially due to the extra time and delicacy of the operation in the higher analyses, but chiefly the greater expense of the re-agents. The expense of these would, of course, be much increased in this country. Analyses for the detection of adulterations in food belong to the class of " partial organic analyses." I have, &c, James Hectoe.

No. 4. [Telegeam.] Hokitika, July, 1870. Potje informations laid against coal merchants here for selling by measure contrary to law, and defrauding their customers at the rate of four hundredweight per ton. Cases proved, and merchants fined 10s. each in two cases, and two dismissed on the ground of its being illegal to lay more than one case of fraud per diem. Gross frauds committed in the coal trade here. The highest penalty has been 10s. Pull particulars of working of department next mail. Davis, Inspector.

No. 5. The Mantjfactuee of Deinks (To the Editor of the " Otago Daily Times.") Sic, — London is the place, in particular, where men can satisfy their wants, reasonable or unreasonable, good or bad, if they have money at their command. Their consumption of crack drinks is so enormous that it is said they consume more than are made. Where does tho rest come from ? Prom the chemical works and stores in the chief centres of population in Spain, Prance, England, &c. These draw towards them the surplus produce of the drinks in the world for redistribution and consumption. By mixing and compounding them, the quality of most is improved, and the character of many is changed — e.g., black current wine into sweet port; fine old silent spirit into cognac brandy, Hollands gin, &c. Superior wines of one class are changed into crack wines of another class ; superior to extra, fine to superior, middling to fine ; but middling to middling and so on; while inferior sorts and cider, perry, &c, are made to be, or appear to be, full-bodied, palatable wines, of sorts. Sugar, fine silent spirit, perfumes, and other harmless items, are the needful only for these transmutations. Some may be dubious of this who daily use beet sugar, which they could not use if it had not undergone the process of being deodorized. Wines so treated and so compounded are palatable, and less or more nutritious, and harmless as the beet sugar. Prom this source arises the abundance of palatable wines, and some other drinks. The supplies of other flavoured and coloured drinks are extensive from these great centres of population to which Bussia, the Indies, and other countries, send their millions of gallons of arrack, &c, sto 10 0.p., at Is. to Is. 3d. per gal. Ceylon's annual supply to Britain is from 40,000 to 80,000 gallons. Prance distils millions of gallons of a like spirit it calls brandy, from mangold wurzell, beet, potatoes, and some grapes. These spirits are not poison if taken in small quantities, though generally unpalatable and unsalable entire. In the hands of the chemist some of their supposed noxious qualities may be removed or hid. Imitations of any kind of drink-—ale and whiskey excepted —are made. Some of these imitations are so perfect as to pass with experts as the real Simon Pure, if the brand on the cask affirm their judgment; but the quality of the spirit, like turpentine or naptha, remains. «Second-hand casks with known brands sell at a premium in large cities. This work is performed 3

Pard glass beakers (special quality) Dlatinum dishes (2) Platinum crucible Copper water cupboard (for drying at 212°) Vater bath Berlin evaporating dishes ") 3erlin crucibles ) Chermometers 3arometer Bulb tubes J Tubes 3-lass dishes I cells Bunsen's or Grove's Battery Special quality corks Swedish filter paper Jlass tubing ... £ a. d. ...10 0 ...4 0 0 ...2 0 0 ... 2 10 0 ... 2 10 0 ...3 0 0 ...0 0 0 ... 0 0 0 ... 10 0 ...100 ...10 0 ...0 0 0 ... 0 10 0 ... 0 10 0 ...10 0 £67 5 0