The Sun.
London, England, 1861-09-02 00:00:00

WOOL.

The public sales of colonial wool have been brought to a
close. In the private contract market the transactions in
English wool have further increased, and the market may
be considered steady, at quoted previous currencies. For
colonial and foreign parcels there is no inquiry. Last week's
imports were unimportant.

The following prices were realised at the public sales of
colonial wool just concluded :

Scoured and
Fleeces. Lambs. handwashed
sd sd sd sd sd s d
Australian. lGto 2 6....1 6to 2 2....1 6to 2 9
15to 2 4....1 sto 2 3....1 6to 2 8
Van Diemen's Land 3to 2 4....1 4to 2 2....1 4to 2 1
South Australian 1 5 to 2 1....1 4 to t 11....1 5 to 2 0
New Zsaland 1 3to 2 0 ... .1 2to 1 10....1 2tol 10
Swan River 13to 2 0.-1 2to 1 9....1 4to 1 9
Cape

Locks and Slip and
Unwashed. Pieces. Skin.
Australlnn P 9 to 1 3....1 2 to 1 9....1 4 to 1 9
Port-Philip.
Van Diemen's Land 0 8 to 1 1....1 2 to 1 8....1 2 to 1 8
South Aus'ralian 0 6 to 1 1....1 3 to 1 6....1 0 to 1 9
New Zealand 0 7 to 1 1....1 0 to 1 6....1 0 to 1 6
Swan River 08t0011....1 2tol 6—.1 Otol 5
Cape 0 6 to 0 1C....0 10 to 1 5.-0 lt to 1 4

1857. i 1858. 1859. 1860. 1861.
Stock this day.... 11,266 i 10,287 19,979 39,553 45,817
r 63s Od to 51s 6d to 5606 d to 52s Odto 47s 6d to
Price of Y.C. .. t —s Od —s Od 57s Bd —s Od —s Od
Delivery last week 1,775 2,311 1,647 2,077 5,301
Ditto from June 1 21,455 22,275 16,322 23,762 28,737
Arrivals last week 1,342 1,081 1,731 2,775 2,248
Ditto from June 1 19,597 20,995 21,229 36,221 17,871
Price of Town .... 64s Od 53s 6d 58s Od 54s 3d 49s 3d

SIR ROBERT PEEL AND THE IRISH
CONSTAR ULAR Y.

On Thursday Sir Robert Peel, Bart., M.P
accompanied by Lady Emily Peel, proceeded to the.
Constabulary Barracks, Phoenix-park, Dublin, and
were present at an inspection of the force by Sir
Henry J. Browmigg, C. 8., inspector-general. The
constabulary present numbered nearly 700 men,
and were drawn up in line under Lieut.-Colonel
Hillier, the commandant. After presenting arms
the men marched past, in slow and quick time, and
were put through several evolutions in battalion
drill. After a minute inspection of the establish•
ment, over which Sir Robert Peel was conducted
by the major-general, the men were formed into
square, when

The right hon. baronet made the following
speech :

Officers and men of the constabulary, with the
permission of the Inspector-General, I am desirous
of addressing a few words to you. It has been a
source of great gratification to me on this occasion
to have witnessed the general bearing of the men,
and to have observed the admirable internal econo-
my of this central establishment. You who are
now present well represent the force which is ad-
mitted by everyone to be one of the most excellent
institutions of the Government in this country. I
can call to recollection the circumstances which led
to the formation of your body, and you must all
have read of the troublesome times in which the
elder members of the force had to exert their
influence, and to incur great hardship in sup-
pressing disturbance and vindicating the laws.
I can now, in altered times, truly congratulate
the members of the force present on the peace
and prosperity of the country, and on the beneficial
influence which your admirable body have exer-
cised on the state of society throughout the land.
I am happy, indeed, to hear of the general good
conduct and discipline which prevails within your
ranks ' • but there is one feature which I must par-
ticularly notice and commend. It is this, that in
a country where considerable diversity of religious
opinion exists, I am informed that in your large
force there is a complete absence of sectarian feel-
ing; and what is this but another link in the chain
of evidence which proves that the present happy
circumstances of the country cannot be compared
with the animosities of the past. It proves also the
good results of the system established some years
ago, which is so ably carried out by the Inspector-
General now present, and in the depot by the colonel
commandant, and that the system in this,'as in all
other respects for which it was intended, iks ren-
dered good service to the state. With pleasure,
indeed, I bear my official testimony to the success-
ful administration of the regulations ; and I can
congratulate the officers, non-commissioned officers
and men present on all I have seen. I trust the
recruits in this noble and excellent corps who now
hear me will endeavour to emulate the success of
those who have gone before them, and continue, by
their conduct and exertions, to deserve the good
opinion of the public of this country."
At the conclusion of the speech the right hon.
baronet was loudly cheered by the men of the force,
and shortlibafterwards took his departure.

ADULTERATION OF A RTICLES LIABLE

TO DUTY.

The report of Mr. Phillips, the head of the labo-
ratory department of the Inland Revenue, has just
been published for the year ending the 31st of
March. He states that the analyses made during
the 12 months amounted to nearly 11,000, and that
the officers have become so efficient that although
some of these analyses had to be sustained in courts
of justice, not an instance has occurred of any one
of them having been shown to be wrong. The
articles on which Mr. Phillips specially reports are
tobacco, snuff, pepper, coffee, beer and hops, and
malt.

With regard to tobacco, it is stated, that although
it would be absurd to suppose that the smuggling
and adulteration of an article subject to a duty of
about 700 per cent. upon its cost can be entirely
prevented, there is reason to believe that frauds are
rare, and that the revenue from this article is com-
paratively well secured. An inspection of most of
the tobacco manufactories in Ireland, and of many
of those in England, during the year, has taken
place without the discovery of a single practice
that could be deemed illicit. Of five adulterated
samples purchased, it is to be presumed, of retail
dealers, the illicit materials consisted of burdock,
coltsfoot, and cabbage leaves, sugar, common salt,
and oil.

Of snuff it is stated that owing to the great
diminution which has taken place during the last
four or five years in the adulteration of this article,
it has been found necessary to examine only ten
samples. Of these, three, which all came from
Ireland, prove to have been sophisticated with
peat-moss and ground pine-wood.
Pepper, it is believed, is still extensively sold in
an adulterated state, and Mr. Phillips considers
that the prevalence of the fraud is mainly due to
the practices cf some wholesale dealers in and
grinders of the commodity. " The skilful and
almost scientific manner in which pepper was so
adulterated," he says, "and the care which is taken
to render detection difficult and conviction doubt-
ful, are alone sufficient to point out the source, as
it is always easy on analysis to distinguish
between the highly-finished article of the whole-
sale delinquent and the bungled production of
the unscrupulous retailer." The illicit materials
detected in the samples examined during the past
year were rice, husks of red and white mustard,
sago starch, and the starch of cereals,
_ _

Coffee also continues to be extensively adulterated,
and it is to this that the fact of the consumption not
having increased during the last 14 years, in face
of a reduction of duty, is supposed to be attribut-
able. Chicory is the material almost universally
employed, and within the past 12 months numerous
samples which had been• purchased as pure coffee
have been analysed in the laboratory, and found to
contain from 30 to 86 per cent. of this nearly worth-
less ingredient. From Glasgow and some other
towns in Scotland many samples which were bought
at the rate of ls. Bd. per lb. have been found to con-
tain from 50 to 70 per cent., and in one instance 84
per cent. of chicory. In samples sold at ls. 4d.
avowedly as mixtures of coffee and chicory, there
is really, it is said, no limit to the proportion of the
latter, and instances occur in localities chiefly inha-
bited by the very poor, where the samples prove to
be composed of it entirely. Out of many thousand
analyses, it has been found that, on an average,
more than 29 yer cent, of samples sold as pure cof-
fee were adulterated with chicory, while of those
sold as " mixtures of coffee and chicory," the pro-
portion of chicory was more than 39 per cent. This
is greater than in previous years, and Mr. Phillips
remarks that it " at once gives the Blue to the causes
which are in operation in keeping down the impor-
tation of coffee."