THOSE XMAS PUDDINGS.

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXVI, Issue 17397, 7 October 1918, Page 4

THOSE XMAS PUDDINGS.

(To the Editor.) Sir, —Mr Dustin appears to have quite misinterpreted the meaning and purpose of my little letter. I neither wittingly nor unwittingly reflected on any firm, unless it was thie one of which Mr Dustin is the principal. I referred to the admittedly unsatisfactoxy pu Idings supplied by Mr Dustin's firm, and my allusion to the rumour that these puddings were old stock —made at .least twelve months ago—was mad© with hi object. I know, perhaps as» well as Mr Dustin does, that tinned puddings, if properly sealed, will not deteriorate r'or a long time. I also know that a piuli ding made twelve months ago, and properly tinned, may be correctly described as "old stock," without in any way impugning its goodness. My object, Mr DusUu, was to secure your public ndmissiou that the puddings you supplied for our boys at the front were actually twelve months' old when you ordered them. I thank you for so promptly obliging me with the admission. Will you now bo good enough to toll the public by what miracle you proposed to add, "for an extra 2d per pudding.' raisins and sultanas and spices and' other ingredients to puddings which you now admit were twelve months old when you ordered them ? You have admitted publicly that the promised ingredients were not in the puddings which" you supplied, and you, not '» have led the public to believe that 4-he Dunedin firm was responsible for th?;r omission. In drawing you intp print it seems to me that 1 iiave really done this southern firm a good turn, for the publication of the extract from the:r letter to you makes it appear that they were quite straight about the matter: they stated plainly that they conli supply from stock made twelve months ago, and, on your order, they supplied accordingly. Jn your explanation to the Patriotic Association you stated that you yourself wired to the southern firm. In their letter to you they speak of having received the inquiry througn their agent. The point is perhaps of no consequence, for it i.s reasonable to suppose .that a live agent, anxious to iio business, would hasten to inform you of the information he had received from his principals, especially as. "age being \ the best flavour," the information j would be calculated to facilitate the i deal. 1 have just one question to ask in conclusion. Mr Dustin : Were trie. ladies still under the impression, due to anything .V()" nisiy have said or written to them, that you, or your firm, were ; making the puddings in Warignmii -it I the time when you sent them the i sample cooked in v cloth, the sample J containing all the specified ingredients? j —I am, etc., j

DUFF, NOT BLUFF.