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New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 5316, 9 April 1878, Page 3

Some interesting revelations as to the manner in which butter is occasionally “doctored” (says, tb e Pall Mall Gazette) 1 , were made the other day, at the. Leith. Sheriff Small Debt Court, during a, trial,for the re; oovery of the'price ,of some groceries. A quantity of buttelhad, it: appeared, been supplied to an Edinburgh grocer by a prof vision merchant at Leith, who was the defendant in.tbe case. The butter, according to the pursuer’s statement, was found on examination to be mouldy and unfit for con-, sumption. On the suggestion of the pro-; vision merchant, it was forwarded to a firm at Leith, who “improved” it, aud the casks containing this improved ; butter were after; wards disposed of at a reduced rate to hawkers and to a “ grocer in the, Cowgate/’ .One of the witnesses stated that upwards of 40cwt; of butter had been sent .from one warehouse in Leith to the firm mentioned for the purl pose of being “cleaned.’’ The ’Scotch are evidently more’ fastidious with regard toj butter than the Irish. ■ Some few years ago in the streets of Dublin might be heard the cry of “Dirty butter for. .sarventa ;” and the hawkers of this article found many customers ready to purchase it at a reduced price.- - The plan had, at all-’events, the merit of honesty) and might be adopted with - advantage at Leith, where commercial morality seems to need “ improvement ’* almost as much as butter. ■’ ;