CURRENT TOPICS.

Pelorus Guardian and Miners' Advocate., Volume 23, Issue 6, 23 January 1912, Page 4

CURRENT TOPICS.

During the year 1910 the South African Rand produced 7,228,5680 z of ,gold, valued at £30,705,093. The death rate of one section of the men who mine this gold, the machine men or rock-drillers, is over 230 per 1000 from one disease —miners’ phthisis—alone. “ Such a death rate from a single occupational disease must be unparalleled in the whole industrial world. It can only be compared with King Leopold’s Congo Free State.” This astounding statement is con" tained in a letter from Dr G. L. Aymard, M.R.C.S. L.R.C.P., Lond, writing from Johannesburg to the “ Lancet.” Speaking before a representative meeting of mining engineers in Johannesburg in September last, Mr Koelze, the Government mining engineer, said :—“ Sooner or later every worker underground on these mines will contract miners' phthisis.” The practical results of commissions of inquiry have been recommendations that water be used to keep down the dust which causes the disease. These recommendations have been urged upon the mine owners, in each case with the same result - utter callousness and neglect. Dr Aymard’s figures regarding the death rate are bleed upon statistics supplied by a well known -consulting engineer, Mr B. J. Moynihan. “ To»day,” says Dr Aymard, “we are, faced with such a truly appalling statje of affairs that it is a very pertinent question whether the whole gold industry of the Raad sha'l not be closed down until the mine owners are prepared, to put their mines in order, and give guarantees for the future. In spite of all the protestations of the mine owners to the contrary, those of us who are in a position to know can truly say that, with one or two exceptions, the water supply to the mines is a sham and a farce not worthy of the name.” In concluding this serious charge against the Rand mine owners, a charge backed by such terrific figures. Dr Aymard says, “ I regret to say that only one argument appeals to the mine magnate in dealing with life preservation, and that argument is to make him pay.”

Does the man in the street realise that his pocket is being picked, that his health is being undermined every day of his life ? He doesn’t, but it is a fact, nevertheless, and the culprit is the food-faker. In an article “ Frauds in Food,” in the current “ Pearson’s Magazine,” this scandalous state of things is fully exposed. “ The actual details of adulteration, as revealed by the Government reports,” says the author, “ are an amazing record of commercial dishonesty and Government apathy. To take the' staple articles of food which appear on our tables every day, and almost every meal, we find that 10 per cent, of the milk, 7 per cent, of the butter, 10 per cent, of cocoa, 8 per cent, of sugar examined during 1910 were condemned as unfit for human consumption. Cheese, lard, bread, coffee, mustard, confectionery, and jam, wine and beer, and even margarine were all adulterated in a lesser proportion. When we pass to preserved, tinned, and bottled foods the figures are even more alarming. We find that 27 per cent, of the samples of potted fish examined were condemned ; of fruits and syrup, 40 par cent.; of potted meats 16 per cent.; 20 per cent, of sausages were adulterated, 10 per cent, of vinegar, 10 per cent, of all kinds of spirits, and of cider 40 per cent.” Cheap coffee “essences” which have come under the analyst’s hands have proved in many cases to be entirely devoid of coffee, and to be faked up out of chicory, roast rye, acorns, and burnt sugar. In one sample of cocoa reported upon the Govenment analyst found only 32 per cent; of cocoamatter, and of this nine-tenths was cocoa-shell! To-day modern technique and the public demand for brown bread enables the baker to use up any kind of flour whatsoever. Milk is the food which is more at the mercy of the food-faker than any other. London alone pays its milkmen £IOO,OOO annually for water fraudulently added to its milk supply.

The store of the milkman never goes bad; borax, salicylic acid, and carbonate of soda enable him to keep it fresh, at any rate until the milk has been delivered. The law as it at present stands is quite inadequate to deal with the evil, and the writer has some excellent suggestions’ to make about the reforms necessary for coping with this monstrous national scandal.