§ MR. GREGSONsaid, he begged to move for a return, up to the present time, of the number of seizures or prosecutions made or authorised by the Commissioners of Excise, for the adulteration of tea, tobacco, pepper, and coffee; distinguishing the seizures or prosecutions for adulteration of coffee under the Treasury order of the 3rd day of August, 1852; and, any seizures or prosecutions under the Treasury order of the 25th day of February, 1853, for sales of mixtures of chicory and coffee without the required labels, in continuation of Parliamentary paper, No. 647, of Session 1851; and to call the attention of the I House to the subject of the last-mentioned 135 Treasury order. The operation of the Treasury order of the 25th of February last had again exposed the poor man to the frauds of the unprincipled dealer. It was in vain to hold that caveat emptor was a sufficient protection, because the poor man had no opportunity of detecting adulterations. He hoped the right hon. Chancellor of the Exchequer would reconsider the order of the 25th of February, as the question was one which affected the colonies, the revenue, and the home consumer. The present system was nothing more than a licence to commit fraud—a licence which, it appeared, he was sorry to say, the trade had not been slow to avail themselves of.
MR. HUMEsaid, he would not oppose the Motion, as all returns of this kind could only tend to perfect freedom in all commercial transactions. He regretted, however, to see that the hon. Gentleman, who was himself a merchant of the City of London, should come forward and endeavour to put any shackles upon commerce. He thought the Order in Council, of the 25th of February last, was a wise order. If a tradesman committed a fraud, the law of the land was able to punish him; and, if people wanted to use pure coffee, they could buy a mill and grind it themselves. Every attempt of that kind was in contravention of the great principles which should govern the proceedings of this country.
§ MR. J. WILSONsaid, he did not rise to oppose, but would suggest a modification of, the terms of the Motion, in order to render it more effectual for its purpose. When the question was under the consideration of the Government, it bestowed every care for the interests of trade; and had arrived at the conclusion that it felt it necessary to carry out the regulations it had laid down, and insist upon the law being no longer a dead letter, as had been the case. It was suspected that the Government did not intend to prosecute, but he had a paper which would show the contrary. It was now two months since the Treasury order came into operation, and in that time there had been 1,864 inspections of dealers' stocks, and no fewer than ninety-four convictions, besides 135 punishments of a minor character; and, only yesterday, no less than thirty-three convictions were obtained against dealers for mixing up the words chicory and coffee with other matter upon the covers of their packages. He thought he had said enough to show that the Government were in earnest; and 136 he would say, for the information of dealers, that although, hitherto, the Excise had refrained from pressing for fines exceeding 5l. or 6l., yet, if the practices were not discontinued, the full penalties of 100l. each would be enforced. It had been stated that the Treasury order had reduced the consumption of coffee. He would answer that statement by referring to a document in his hand, which showed that the quantity of coffee on which duty had been paid in the last two months was 6,221,000 lbs., against 5,940,000lbs. in the corresponding months of 1852, and 3,850,000 lbs. in the same period of 1851.
§ MR. GREGSON, in reply, said, that all he asked was, that coffee might be sold as coffee, and chicory as chicory, and he hoped to induce the Government to adopt the very proper arrangement of the late Government upon this matter.
§ Return ordered.