THE ANALYST. 339 T E E GOVERNMENT LABORATORY AND MINERAL MATTER I N TEA. (From the ‘‘ Derby and Chester-eld Reporter,” April 28, 1899.) CHARGE OF SELLING ADULTERATED TEA. AT the Derby county Police Court on Friday morning, before Mr. S. Leeke (in the chair), Mr, W. Mallalieu, and Mr. E. S. Milnes, William Henry Woodward and Edgar Woodward, grocers, of Draycott, were summoned for. selling 4 ounces of caper tea which was adulterated with a t least 6 per cent. of ferruginous sand and small stones at Draycott on January 23. Mr. R. S. Clifford appeared to prosecute, and Mr. Bendle Moore conducted the case on behalf of the defendants.-Mr. Clifford said the formal portion of the evidence had been taken on February 24, and Mr. Moore then made an application that the third sample should be sent to Somerset House for analysis.The Somerset House analysis completely bore out the analysis of Mr. White, the County Analyst, viz., that there was 6 per cent. of mineral matter in the tea.- . . . Mr. E. Lewin, Superintendent Analyst at Somerset House, said . . , he did not agree with Dr. Bell’s statement in his book on the subject of adulteration. A point that could not be lost sight of in this case was the f m t that the tea had passed the Custom House Inspector. Mr. Lewin went on to explain the method of dealing with tea a t the Custom House, adding that such particular attention was paid to that article by the inspectors and tea-tasters that i t really was not worth the time of the Public Analyst to trouble about i t at all. The tea zuoulci have been deemed by the Custom House Inspectors to be commercial teu.He believed the inspectors c f t w analysis would have deliberately passed the tea assfit f o r home consunzption. So long as tea passed the Customs he did not think the Public Analyst had much to do with it.-Cross-examined by Mr. Moore : Mr. Lewin said that the amount of silica and sand in the tea was either natural to the tea itself, or became mixed in the course of prepsration. The analyst at the Custom House had passed tea containing more mineral matter than was present in this case.-After a legal argument as to the bearing of certain other cases upon this one the Bench retired. They returned after an absence of half an hour, and the Chairman said that the Bench were of opinion that the amount of extraneous matter which had been proved to have existed in the caper tea was, upon the evidence, unavoidably mixed in the process of collection, and therefore there would be no conviction.“ The following correspondence has passed between the Hon.Secretaries and the Principal of the Government Laboratory and the Secretary to the Customs : June 13. 1899. [COPY*I DEAR DR. THORPE, We are instructed by the Council of the Society of Public Analysts to call your attention to the statement made by Mr. Lewin in the course of his evidence in a case of alleged tea adulteration a t Derby, to the effect that the analyst at the Customs House would pass as genuine tea containing even more mineral matter than the sample in question, which, according * The fact that Mr. White found practically the same amount of total ash in the tea that Mr.Lewin did (13.6 per cent.) is not recorded in the above eXtraCt.-EDITOR.to Mr:Lewin; gave 13-6 per ce&. of to,hl ash; * As this allowance fo'r extraneous mattef is, as far'as our knowledge goes, larger an? more liberal than any hitherto Banctioned, we shall esteem it a .favour if you will inform ua what limit for total mineral matter, or for extraneous matter beyona the natural ash of tea, is authorized and adppted by the authorities of Her Majesty's Customs. We herewith enclose a copy of the certificate of Messrs. Lewin and Davis, and a newspaper report of the proceedings. We are, yours faithfully, Dr. T. E. THOKPE, F.R.S. GOVERNME~T LABORATORY, June 20,1899. DEAR SIRS, As you are doubtless aware, the chemical examination of the tea importe'd into the United Kingdom is, by direction of Clause 30 of the 36 and 39 Vict., undertaken by persons appointed by the Commissioners of Customs, subject to the approval of the Treasury.I. have not been called upon by the Commissioners to fix the limits for total mineral matter, or for extraneous mineral matter beyond the natural ash of tea, which determine when a sample of tea shall not be allowed to pass into consumption in this country. I must, therefore, refer your Council to the Comissioners of Customs for information as to the limits which are adopted and authorized presumably by the Treasury. I beg to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 13th inst. Yours very truly, (Signed) - T. E. TIIORPE.LONDON, June 28, 1899. SIR, We are instructed by the Council of the Society of Public Analysts to call your attention to a-statement made in a recent case of alleged tea adulteration a t Derby by Mr. Lewin of the Government Laboratory, to the effect that the Customs officials were in the habit of passing as genuine tea containing more than 13.6 per cent, of ash. We shall esteem i t a favour if you will kindly inform us if this statement is correct, and what is the limit adopted. The matter is oue of considerable importance to Public Analysts. We herewith enclose a newspaper report of the proceedings. We are, your obedient servants, CUSTOMS HOUSE, LONDON, June 30, 1899. GENTLEMEN, I have to acknowledge the receipt of your letter, dated the 28th inst., relative to the inspection of imported tea by officers of this Department, and to say that the subject shall have early attention, and a reply be sent to you in due course.I am, Gentlemen, your obedient servant, The HON. SECRETARIES, (Signed) R. T. PROWSE. Society of Public Analysts. CUsTOMS HOUSE, LONDON, July 5, 1899. GENTLEMEN , . I am directed by the Board of Customs to acquaint you, with further reference to yourTHE. ANALYST. )I 335 letter of the 28th ul-t., that’tbey are informed hy their official analpf Eor tea that the redordti for the past two and a half years have been carefully searched, with the resul$ tbat no in&a&ce c8n. be braced in whicb tea which has proved cm analysis to contain aa puch as 136 pel3 cent. of ash has been allowed. to pass into consumption.I am, Gentlemen, your obedient servant, The HON. SECRETARIES, . (Signed) R. T. PROWL Society of Public Analysts. ‘ J d j 19, 1899. . . . I .<h..” 1 SIR, We beg to thank you for your letter of the 5th inst. We should feel still further obliged if you would kindly let us know, for the information of the Society, the limits for ,total mineral matter in teas adopted in the laboratory of Her Majesty’s Customs, and if possible the time during which those limits have been in force. We are, your obedient servants, CUSTOMS HOUSE, LONDON, August 9, 1899. GENTLEMEN, I n reply to your further letter of the 19th ult., inquiring as to the limits applied in the laboratory here for total mineral matter in teas, and the time during which such limits have ruled, I am directed by the Board of Customs to acquaint you that, assuming your inquiry to relate to green teas and “ capers,” it i s their general practice to admit such teas for home use when they are found to contain not more than 2 per cent.of facing matter, but that caper teas vary so much in quality and other characteristics that i t has not been found practicable to fix a hard-and-fast line in respect of the ash or mineral matter they may be found to contnin,each importation being treated on its merits, and that this has been the practice observed from the time when the duty of inspecting and analyzing imported teas was first imposed on the Department. I am, Gentlemen, your obedient servant, The HON. SECRETARIES, (Signed) R.. T. PROTVSE. Society of Public Analysts.B e d ! / Tea Case. 4, NEW COURT, October 24, 1899. DEAR DR. TIIORPE, We have been instructed by the Council of the Society of Public Analysts to forward to you a copy of the correspondence we have had with the Customs authorities on the question of mineral matter in caper teas. You will see that as far as Mr. Prowse’s information carries us the statements made by Mr. Lewin are not supported. We are, yours faithfully, GOVERNMENT LABORATORY, October 27,1899. GENTLEMEN, I am directed by Dr. Thorpe to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 24th inst., and I am to state that he is much obliged to you for the information you are so good as to send him. Dr. Thorpe observes that the Board of Customs ate of opinion that i t has not been foundTHE ANALY.ST.practicable to fix a hard-and-fast line in respect of the ash or mineral matter that caper tea may be found to contain. He thinks, however, it would have been more pertinent to the point a t issue if you had elicited from the Board of Customs whether the particular caper tea in question was or was not adulterated. I am, Gentlemen, your obedient servant, Messrs. BEVAN AND CHAPMAN, (Signed) F. J. REED. Hon. Secretaries, Society of Public Analysts. 4, NEW COURT, November 8, 1899. DEAR DH. THORPE, We are much obliged for your favour of the 27th ult., which was laid before the Council on the 1st inst. We are instructed by the Council to say that so far as appears from the information given by the Customs authorities, Mr. Lewin’s statement to the effect that the Customs were in the habit of passing teas containing 13.6 per cent. of total miners1 matter is not warranted. In view of the importance of the matter to Public Analysts, the Council proposes to publish the correspondence. We are, yours faithfully, etc. Dr. T. E. THORPE, F.R.S. Mineral Matter in Tea. LONDON, November 8, 1899. SIR, The information which you have been good enough to furnish us with on this subject has been laid before the Council, and we are instructed to inform you that in view of the importance of the matter to Public Analysts, it is proposed to publish the correspondence. We are, yours obediently, (Signed) E* J. BEVAN, RICHARD T. PHOWSE, EsQ., C.B. A. C. CHAPMAN, CUSTOM HOUSE, LOXDON, Novenabey 18, 1899. GENTLEMEN, am directed by the Board of Customs to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 8th inst., and to state in reply that, so far as they are concerned, they do not offer any objection to the proposal to publish the correspondence referred to in that letter. I am, Gentlemen, your obedient servant, The HON. SECRETARIES: (Signed) R. T. PROWSE. Society of Public Analysts, 4, New Court, Lincoln’s Inn, W.C. - - . .