The Sun.
London, England, 1851-06-06 00:00:00

parts of the country. every one of which deprecated its

withdrawal.

The Hon. Gentleman said his motion was

simply to withdraw that minute—nothing more. But
what would be the result of that proceeding? Excise
officers would visit every grocer's shop which they
suspected—seize all the chicory they found on the pre-
mises, lay informations before a magistrate, and endea-
vour to obtain a conviction, as a matter of course. Ho
(the Chancellor of the Exchequer) believed it would be
extremely difficult to obtain proofs that coffee was mixed;
and, therefore, these proceedings would produce no
good; but, on the contrary, would cause an extraordi-
nary degree of vexation and trouble. Indeed he was sa-
tisfied that before three months were over there would
be a mass of petitions against the withdrawal of the
order. He had had a memorial signed by 1,076 grocers
in London, against all interference in the matter, and
the aggregate from the towns of England amounted
to 3,680. It was well known by the parties purchas-
ing the article, in nine cases out of ten, that it was
not pure; and unless he doubted the evidence before
him, the working classes liked the mixture better
than anything else. The Hon. Gentleman had admitted
that there were no complaints on the part of the con-
sumers; but he (the Chancellor of the Exchequer) re-
ceived representations stating, not only that no voice
was raised against the mixture, bet that it was more
generally liked than pure coffee. A grocer i❑ South
Shields stated that even those parties purchasing ground
coffee, which contained a very respectabls portion of
chicory—(Laughter)—actually bought at the same time
packets of chicory to mix with it still further. This
grocer said, " In one instance, when my stock was ex-
hausted, I was necessitated to sell pure coffee, and the
complaints and returning of which were so great, that
they lasted for more than a week." The Right Hon.
Gentleman read similar letters received from Liverpool,
Leeds, Norwich, Cork, Sac. From Cork the letter stated
that they would prefer all chicory to pure Ceylon
Coffee.—(Laughter.) It should be recollected that the
consumers bad the power, if they pleased, of protecting
themselves from adulteration in coffee if they purchased
the bean and ground it themselves. This was not the
case with tea, sugar, and other articles. There was not
a respectable grocer that would not grind the coffee be-
fore the eyes of his customer if he were required to do
so. He therefore did not think that it was a case for the
interference of the Government. He believed it would
be very vexatious if they interfered. Even if they did
interfere, he doubted whether they would succeed in
their object. He was not prepared to undertake so
vexatious an alteration in their laws as to interfere by

their army of excise officers in all cases in which they
thought that this mixture of chicory with coffee took
place, and to lay an information with a view of enforc-
ing the penalties against all parties who were suspected

of theso practices.
Mr. E. STANLEY said that the Right Hon. Gentle-
man had told them that he was not prepared to carry on
a crusade against the adulteration of coffee, because if
he did he would have to extend the same principle to
many other articles in which there were similar adulte-
rations. Well, if the Right Hon. Gentleman objected to
interfere in any case of adulteration whatever, what did
he intend to do in the case of tea, tobacco, pepper, and
other spices, in all which cases it was well known he in-
terfered to prevent adulteration at present?—(Hear,
hear.) All that was asked at present was not that the
Right Hon. Gentleman should introduce a new principle,
but that he should merely carry out the principle which
he applied to other ca,es.—(Hear, hear.) The Right
Hon. Gentleman said that the same abuses existed at the
time of the late Government, and they did not think it
desirable to interfere; but their abstinence from action
ho (Mr. Stanley) believed resulted from the simple cause
that the revenue from coffee had not then diminished.
The Right Hon. Gentleman said fraud might easily be
prevented by the purchase of whole instead of ground
coffee; but if there really were not practical difficulties
in the way of applying that remedy it would have been
applied before, and the present general feeling of discon-
tent would not have been excited. (Hear, hear.)
With regard to the diminution of the consumption of
any article, he believed that there could be but three
reasons explanatory of it. The first was diminished
power of consumption. Now, he did not think that any
Gentleman would contend that that existed at present,
(" Hear, hear," from the Free-traders.) Whatever might
be the result for the future of the present commercial
policy, there was no question that the labouring classes
were consuming more largely than they had done for some
years past.—(Renewed cheers from the same quarter.)
By that cheer they acknowledged that diminished power
of consumption was not the cause of the falling off in the
consumption of coffee. The Right Hon. Gentleman had
urged another cause for the diminished consumption of
coffee—viz , the substitution of tea and cocoa, which had
largely increased. But there had been a movement in
favour of temperance, and a consequent diminution
in
the consumption of spirituous liquors, so that that dimi-
nution might be set against an increase in the consump-
tion of tea and cocoa. There was only another cause to
account for the diminished consumption of coffee, and
that would be an increase in the price of the article; but
it was perfectly well known that a very great reduction
in price had taken place. While none of these causes,
therefore, operated, the consumption of reel coffee had
greatly fallen. In 1847 the quantity sold for home con •
sumption was more than 37,000,0001 b., but from that
time it had regularly decreased, and last year (1850) it
had fallen to 30,000,0001 b. He had not heard tiny cause
voted for this very large reduction, except adulteration.
He believed it was calculated that of the quantity of ar-
ticles sold under the name of coffee two-thirds were not
real coffee, but chicory. The result was a loss not only
to the revenue, but also to the public. Ho would not
dwell on the case of the colonial producer, for that was
not likely, perhaps, to meet with a favourable hearing;
but it was not consistent even with the principles of free
trade to subject a colonial produce paying a tax to com-
petition with an article paying none. There was, how-
ever, a fourth class which suffered, and that was the
honest retailer, who desired to sell as coffee that which
was coffee only.—(Hear, hear.) It was very well to say
that it was not compulsory on any one to sell chicory,
but the consumer would leave one tradesman's shop if
at another's an article were sold to him as coffee at a
cheaper rate.—(Hear, hear.) Be had, as yet, only dealt
with the pecuniary question; but there were statements
resting on medical authority to the effect that the mix-
ture of chicory was not perfectly harmless in a sanitary
point; but, whether harmless or not, there was no reason
why a man should pay for chicory three times the price
he would pay if he knew he were buying chicory.—
But under the cover of the chicory adulteration there
were other articles mixed with coffee which were unfit
for human consumption. Among these were burnt peas,
dog biscuits, powdered earth, damaged beans, and tan.
The Right Hon. Gentleman talked of the attempt to
apply a remedy leading to vexation and the employment
of an army of excisemen. But the Hon. Gentleman
(Mr. Baring) di . d.
.not ask for an excise duty on chicory,
nor for a prohibition against its growth, but only that
chicory should be sold as chicory, and coffee as coffee—
(Hear, hear)—and to say that any law to that effect
would be evaded to some extent was no argument against
its enactment, as the same thing might be said of almost
any other law. As he thought the disadvantages of the
proposition of the Hon. Gentleman (Mr. Baring) were
more than counterbalanced by the advantages, ho should
vote for it; believing that it would prevent fraud and de-
moralization, and prove a protection to the poor man,
who from the circumstances of his position was almost
incapable of protecting himself in this matter.—(Hear.)
Colonel THOMPSON said that a grocer in the West
Riding, with whom ho was acquainted, maintained that
there was nothing like deceit en the mixture of chicory
with coffee—(oh!)—and that all his customers had a
ready way of knowing whether they were buying a
mixture of chicory by comparing it with the price of
his coffee unground.--((lries of "Oh !" and laughter.)
Really the facilities with which Hun. Gentlemen broke
out into raptures of mirth was most extreordinary. If
they w, uld listen they would see whether he ought to
be laughed at or somebody else. His informant sold
ground coffee at is. 2d., and coffee in the berry at 2e.
per 10. Now, his customers in tho West Riding must
he idiots if they fancied they were buying real coffee at
Ic. 2d. per lb. His informant also explained the falling
off in the consumption of coffee when he said, that when
the working classes found their condition good, they
bought less coffee,
and more meat and beer, but when
trade was bad they "clammed" upon coffee.
Sir J. TYRELL differed with pain from his Hon.
Friends near him upon this " mixed question."—(A
laugh.) It; was a
positive fact that the best coffee
compoeed of the mixture of a portion of chicory with
the genuine was
article.—(Laughter.) The Hon. Member
(Mr. Baring) did not come into court with clean
hands, for he admitted he was interested in the growth
of coffee in the island of Ceylon, while he (Sir J.
Tyrell) admitted ti At he was grower of chicory in