BIG WHISKY CARGO.

Auckland Star, Volume LXV, Issue 69, 22 March 1934, Page 7

BIG WHISKY CARGO.

AUSTRALIA TO AMERICA. (Received 1 p.m.) MELBOURNE, this day. A cargo of 20,000 gallons of Australian whisky will be shipped shortly to the United States. STILL IN BUSINESS. AMERICAN BOOTLEGGERS. NEW YORK, March 16. The average American is busy looking for the benefits of repeal, but up to the present ho is having a hard time finding any, apparently. He is drinking much liquor of poorer quality than prohibition "bootleg," and prices of good whiskies are still higher than for comparable drinks before repeal.

Efforts of officials to improve the quality of legal liquor and stamp out the illegal product seem to be bearing fruit, but slowly. Regulations about labels and exposure of inferior brands are helping to accomplish this. The situation was brought forcibly to the country's attention by Mr. Henry Morgenthau, jun., the Secretary of the Treasury, when announcing recently a new Government offensive against bootleggers. The bootleg ring, he said "still has the country by the throat. Most lega liquor contains only 1 to 10 per cent of 14-vear-old whisky, blended with raw alcohol or green whisky, he said. Booties he added, has been aged up to six months and is frequently cheaper. Tn New York the authorities have tried to weed out inferior liquor by requiring exact descriptions on labels. Good whisky is available, but at prices ranging from 11/ to 10/ a pint for bonded stock. Gin, however, is of better quality than the prohibition product, and sells at from 5/ to 8/ a bottle for domestic, and from 12/ to 18/ for the imported brands. Police raids on bootleggers continue in New York at the rate of about 25 arrests a day. Chicago also has its bootleggers, still, but conditions there are much different from the bad, old Capone days."