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Dr. STEDMAN. It is under the legal limit of strength ?—Yes, inost of the cheap whiskies are.
The CHAIRMAN.—Is this whiskey very intoxicating?—No; there are less impuri- ties here than in genuine whiskey. Perhaps you would like to smell or taste this whiskey [handing round the bottle]. I have tasted the whiskey myself, and it lacks flavour, body, and aroma.
Dr. STEDMAN. It smells like spirit and water.
Mr. BROWNE.—It is practically only spirit and water. The CHAIRMAN.-There is no trace of aldehydes ?—No. Rev. R. F. COBBOLD.-You say it is watered ?—Yes.
Do you think it is watered here or before it is sent here ?-Here, I think. Whiskey is usually sent out from England a few degrees over proof.
Dr. STEDMAN.-Would it be sent out in barrels ?-Yes, usually, and water to break it down should be added at a certain temperature; but here I understand some merchants pay very little attention to temperature, consequently much whiskey is below strength.
The CHAIRMAN.-What is your opinion us to the results ? That this whiskey is not deleterious.
What does it cost?—This bottle was 60 cents.
Is it Scotch ?--Yes.
Rev. R. F. COBBOLD.-If any whiskey here is adulterated is it done in the process of bottling ?-It is probable that a large quantity of whiskey would be broken
down and then bottled.
The bottling is done here, is it ?—I think so.
Is there any adulteration of the liquor which is sent out from England in bottles?— I do not think they would send it out adulterated from England.
Is there any means of adulterating it here after it has been sent out in bottles ?— No.
Have you heard of any process of boring a hole in a bottle, extracting some of the liquor and adding water, and filling the hole up again with wax ?—I have never heard of that being done.
It would be possible, would it not ?I do not think it would be possible for such a practice to escape detection.
The CHAIRMAN.—Do you think liquor is mixed with inferior samshu ?--No, because from my investigations concerning samshu I find there is no inferior samsbu.
Have you enquired whether samshu is drunk in brothels ?Yes; I sent a China- man and also a European to inake enquiries, and I found that samshu was not drunk in brothels at all-not in European brothels—that is, Chinese brothels for Europeans.
Dr. STEDMAN.—Is there anything so very distinctive about samshu which would enable you to state for certain that it had not been added to any other spirit ?-I could detect the substitution of samshu from the smell of samshu, and I could verify my suspicions by analysis, the compound ethers are very high in samshu-much higher than in whiskey--and if I found them high in a whiskey in which the odour of samshu was present I should feel disposed to conclude that samshu was present.
Then there is no specific body in samshu by which you can identify it; it is only that it contains a higher percentage of compound ethers than European spirits ?—Yes.
So that it is a matter of quantity only ?--Yes.