MR. STAVELEY HILLasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department, If his attention has been called to a case before a stipendiary magistrate at Stoke upon Trent, of a charge against a publican of selling beer adulterated with salt, in which it seems to have been taken for granted that the allowance for the presence of salt in beer of any strength is limited to fifty grains per imperial gallon; and, whether there is any such limit at present in force, either by statute or otherwise?
MR. ASSHETON CROSS, in reply, said, there was a Schedule to the Act of 1872 which expressly stated that salt was an article of adulteration when used in beer. By the Act of 1874 that Schedule was abolished, and now the question of adulteration, even with salt, came under the general law with reference to the adulteration of drink and food. There was no statutory or judicial interpretation as to the quantity of salt which would necessarily adulterate beer. One of his predecessors in office was in communication some time ago with the Inland Revenue on the subject, and his decision seemed to have been this:—He wrote to the Inland Revenue stating that where the amount of salt in beer did not exceed a fixed quantity—say 50 grains per gallon—the Inland Revenue need not inquire whether such quantity had or had not been artificially added. In the case referred to, he was informed by the magistrates that the London analyst had found the quantity of salt used in the beer to have been 136 grains per gallon.