‘‘Poisonous beer is reponsible for a terrible scare in the north of England. For more than three months Manchester and Salford have been experiencing an epidemic, not unlike beri-beri in some of the symptoms .. Over 50 deaths are attributed to this epidemic and nearly 1000 persons have passed through the hospitals.
‘‘It is undoubtedly the drinkers of cheap thin beer, in which malt and hops are not very largely used, who have mostly suffered and traces of arsenic has been found in some many samples of beer.’’

The North Queensland Register
January 21, 1901