A “NATURAL MINERAL WATER."

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1612, 21 January 1903, Page 50

A “NATURAL MINERAL WATER."

. A case in which a great deal of interest has been aroused has been tried before Mr Cecil Chapman, the Magistrate, at the Southwark Police Court, London, when the Apollinaris Company, Limited, was charged with a breach of the Merchandise Marks Act in using on its “Apollinaris” labels the words “Natural Mineral Water.” The prosecution was instituted by Mr W. Davenport, secretary of the Mineral Water Bottle Exchange and Trade Protection Society. The complainants were represented by Mr Avory,- K.C., and Mr Biron, the defendants by Mr Lawson Walton, K.C., M.P., and Mr Llewellyn Davies. The proceedings lasted several days, the Coiurt being crowded on each occasion.

The evidence for the prosecution having been taken, Mr Julius Prince, the managing director of the company, was called for the defence. He described in detail the process of b Out Ling the water, which was pumped intc tanks, of which fifty-six in all were in use. in these tanks there ivas a slight precipitation of iron, hut in infinitesimal quantities only. The character of the water was not, he said in the least altered thereby. The carbonic acid gas with which the bottles were then recharged w T as drawn from the ground at and , around the spring. ! It had been decided in the United States that Apollinaris was a “natural” mineral w ater, and it was consequently admitted free from duty. Professor W. Odling, vice-president of the Chemical Society, and Professor of Chemistry at the University of Oxford, confirmed the above opinion, and held that the very slight addition of salt, shown to he for preservative purposes, was good to jjrevent possible decomposition. The sulphate of soda in the water acting upon the corks would

otherwise tend to bring this about. He considered it a very advisable precaution to adopt. By allowing the water to stand in tanks the iron was reduced to nil. It was not detectable by analysis.

Mr Otto Hehner past president of the Society of Public Analj’sts, agreed with the last witness. Not one of the mineral properties of Apollinaris was affected by the process followed. Mr Chapman, at the conclusion of tne third day. reserved his decision for a week. He gave judgment on 18th November against tho complainants, who, he said, had failed to make out their case. The words “natural mineral water” did not constitute a false description, and had not been used by the company with any intention to deceive. The added salt was proved to be in the proportion of one to one thousand parts only, and the precipitation of iron was quite inappreciable. The summons was therefore dismissed. with twenty guineas costs to be paid by the prosecutors to the defendants.