INTOXICATING SWEETS.

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume XLVII, Issue 12272, 5 September 1904, Page 4

INTOXICATING SWEETS.

Accordikg to the London "Daily Telegrjaph," the Board of Inland Revenue has descended upon the confectioners' and sweet sellers of the Old Country with a* warning that some of them are offending daily against the licensing Caw. "Nonalcoholic" drinks used to cecitpy the. Board's attention • now intoxicating sweats are tha trouble, and retailers have been informed tthat: certain classes of confectionery which contain liqueur,ought. to be sold only by persons holding spdrit licenses. There is no idea, apparently, "of inducing publicans to vend tflietse goods over the counter alongside of whisky and soda, and perhaps under the pretence of safeguarding the license revenue the authorities are doing their best to preserve':.youtli. and. childhood from possible temptation.,.' Sweets containing Liqueur are happily rather expensive luxuries, go that there ■is.-little chance, of tsdhool girCts and bojs cultivating a taste 'far the dead!ly.~#cluetive- absinthe and meujthe through them. Some years ago a good deal of confectionery of this description was imported into Great Britain from Germany. There were no sugar duties then, and the Cusl ton>3 authori'tiels do not seem to have suspected that lurking within the tempt, ing coneo. lay rush, excisable) liqueur. But, the discovery once made. there ! opened an era. of great gt'rictn&ss.,-'-- Today, says the "Talegraph.,"" ewry liqueured sweet, whether outlined in svgar1 or in chocolate, ttias its spirituous, qualities taxed at tha port; of entry,'- and, what is imore, account is. taken of ■ the amount of (spirit which lias evaporated siaioa the confection was made. Many Idlliea manufactured both, at Home and abroad are flavoured with essences which contain -spirit, but the? spirit evaporates in the working and only the flavour re. ' mains. The .liqueured sweat i.3 no neiAv ! tilling. 'It has 'beeii in ,e.s.'stsno& for at least forty or fifty years, and has always been, a favourite-■■product- of French makers. But tiki dhocolate liqueur is the introduction of the.(Last six of eight yeai-s. It differs only from its predecessor in that the thin crystallised crust, which holds the liquid is afterwards dipped in chocolate. The minds of some tdmperance reiformeiis, however, have been exercised 'concerning an Austrian sample of Kqueured sweetmeat which has been introduced into London, and whidli contains a decidedlly phasing and potent liqueur. It--'is;said that, given a suitable subject,' tltase. confections might, .in a perseveriiig person, lead on to a. condition .of distinct hilarity, go thin is the covering shetil and so copious the. eneCcsedl draught. The Austrian awe-ot does.not seem to have reached New Zealand, but the French articles are tolerably well known.