Star. — London, England, 1818-07-15 00:00:00

, • I ( 1 Ps. A ) ; LICENSING SYSTEM. Yesterday a Meeting was held at the Crown and Anchor Tavern to take into consideration the best ; means of providing against the injurious effects of the present mode of licensing public-houses. It had ' been announced in this Paper that the Chair would be taken at one o'clock, and that Sir Fawects BUR . DETT would be present. It was nearly two o'clock, however, before there was any appearance of busi ness, and then Mr. BARBER BEAUMONT stated to the company, that as the Honourable Baronet had pro mised in the most unequivocal manner, either to take the Chair or to do any thing else that might be thought necessary to promote the object ef the Meet ing, it might be advisable to delay the consideration of the matter for a few minutes. The company ac quiesced. A considerable time then elapsed, and still Sir FRANCIS BURDETT did not appear. Mr. BARBER BEAUMONT then rose and said, that as the Honourable Baronet had not arrived, he thought it would be proper to read a letter which he had received from him, in order to confirm the statement which he had previously made. He then read a letter from Sir Francis Burdett, which stated, that he should be glad to do every thing in his • power for getting rid of the arbitrary licensing sys tem, and that if Mr. Beaumont would have the good ness to inform him what he wished to be done, he would attend. Mr. Beaumont then said, that, in consequence of this letter, he waited on Sir Francis Burdett, and informed him that a Meeting was to be holden on Monday last; but the Honourable Baronet having heard that the Electors ofNestaninster wished to chair him on that day, he requested that the Meet ing might be deferred till Tuesday, lilies be would attend. The Honourable Baronet, howeier, had not arrived, and, therefore, he (Mr. Beaumont) would re commend to the company, that the Honourable Washington Shirley should take the Chair. Mr. SuraLEy expressed his assent, observing, that he considered the object for which they were assem bled perfectly unconnected with any party, that he would do the best in his power, and trust to the in dulgence of the company if he committed any error. Ile then read the advertisement calling the Meet- ing, when IVIr. BARBER BEAUMONT rose, and said, that in consequence of the determination of the Committee of the House of Commons, to whom a Petition on the subject of the Licensing System had been refer red, not to print the important evidence which they received in support of their allegation, he deemed it a duty which he owed to the Petitioners to give them some further information of the proceedings than appeared in the Report. This printing of the Report without the evidence, was a, most extraordinary course. The Report recognised, that he had pros ed those allegations. It found a verdict of guilty agair.st the licensing system, and the combinations of the Brewers—it called on the Magistracy "to lend their aid to break down a confederacy which is so injurious to the poor and middling classes of the community" —and recommended a prospective law, which, by the way, would just amouut to nothing ; but the evidence upon which the whole was founded had been suppressed. Those who were to legislate were rot to see the evidence itself, but the hints of such parts of it as were given in the Report, and nothing more. Of this suppression of the evidence, which was.collected and produced with so much trouble, he certainly did complain. Had this been printed, as was usual, the folly and immense injury to the Public, of the English Licensing System, would have appeared so glaring to the world, as to put to shame its interested and corrupt advocates —and, he should hope, to have induced the Legislature to restore tol the People of England the right which the Petition Frayed fur—the right of a Free Trade in Victuals —a right enjoyed by the People- of every other country. He was aware that the publication of the evidence might prove disastrous to certain great capitalists ; but this was no reason why the stream of knowledge, of justice, :laid of public good, should be stopped. The rnisdoings of petty rogues are displayed without mercy. Tile publican who, following . the example of his superiors, adulterates his beer, is held up to odium, and is consigned to ruin. The grocer who mixes beans or leaves of English growth with those of foreign, although equally wholesome, is exposed to public indignation for his little cheat. Why is a friendly mantle to cover the sins of cheats by wholesale:' Is the mag nitude of an offence a reason for remitting.punish meat ? All persons concerned in adulterating hu man food, when detected, ought to he made known (applause). He hoped he should not be accused of attacking Brewers and Magistrates improperly.— He desired to do neither. His object of attack was the arbitrary Licensing System, the inconsiderate Act of Parliament which prohibits all persons from retailing beer, except those whom a few privileged men on one day of the year empower to do so. The modern Law, which deprived the British Public of their natural and chartered right, a free trade in vic tuals, corrupted the Magistrates, made monopolists of the brewers, and did more injury to the moral character and substantial rights of Englishmen, than any law that ever was passed. The Brewers in Par liament denied this monopoly ; but it was obvious from the Relort of the Committee, a document which certainly had not been prepared in any dispo- sition of hostility to the Brewers. The Report had also observed, that the meetings of the biewers to fix their prices " probably will be used as the means of demanding such an unfair price from the public as they may be compelled to submit to." But had not things arrived at this pitch already? A rise in Porter never takes place until after all the London Brewers have met together, and pledged themselves to adhere to one price, and from one day. One' brewery, it is true, acts independently, and offers beer at a reduced price ; but the public cannot get at it, because almost all. the houses licensed for re tailing are under the influence of the combined Brewers. The lengths to which these Gentlemen will go to keep up their price is noticed in the Re -port, which says, " a pecuniary oonsideration was offered by an agent of a brewer to a victualler, to induce him to abandon a practice which he had adopted, of selling beer at a reduced price." The fact is, this victualler , Mr. Allchin, of King- street, Seven Dials, has a free house—he deals with the in dependent brewery, and sells genuine beer at a half penny and penny per pot under the regular price-- his trade has, in consequence, increased extensively, and taken away, of course, from that of the sur rounding houses. A very great brewery offered this bribe if he would raise his price to their standard.— So much for the professions of the combined Brewers acting for the benefit of the Public—( applause ). The Report proceeds—" The abuse of the licensing system is in progress in this country, and is produc ing still more injurious effects than any of which evidence has been adduced as affecting the metro polis." In the country the construction of these mo nopolies, under the licensing system, is easy, and is becoming general. The consequence •is, that the Public, in some parts, are robbed without mercy ; the beer is the most vapid, nauseous stuff, that can be conceived—the price is a penny per quart higher than in London, and the measure not more than two-thirds of the legal quantity. The Report de clares a very just opinion—" That a brewery, sup ported by purchased public-houses, would deteriorate the quality of their beer." It proceeds to state, that " The liquor then becomes inferior—private families supply themselves from their own breweries, smaller societies brew from molasses,-in tea-kettles; but the poor, whohave none of these resources, must be content with such liquor as is retailed at the licensed houses, whatever may be the quality, the price,or the measure." —This was most true, and a fearful truth it was. The labouring poor of England must be content with such liquor as is retailed at the licensed houses, whop ever may be the quality, the price, or the measure. And yet the House of Commons countenances the con tinuance of a system which reduces them to this condition. With the conviction thus expressed-of the injury to the poor of this licensing system,•nsi recommendation is made for restoring to them the benefit of the competition afforded by a free trade.' But the Report concludes with the hollow echo of a piece of advice given in the Police Report, which earnestly calls on the Magistracy to lend their aid to break down a confederacy which is so injurious to the interests of the poor and middling classes of so ciety: Upon the detection of the use of unlawful in- • gredients, the report observes, they find, both from the Excise returns, and from the seizing officers, that drugs of a very nauseous, and some of a very per nicious quality,- are • still ended by persons as a trade, and bought by the lesser brewers and by the publicans. This, with other observations, might lead the public to suppose that the lesser brewers and publicans were the only persons who used un lawful ingredients, and to acquiesce in the-plan for crushing the smaller breweries, so as to complete the monopoly system. The public must not be misled on this point. It ought to be known that evidence of conviction of the great brewers was tendered, as well as of the lesser ones, an 1 refused. It was ob jected, that the petition was in the present tense, and that the convictions were in the vast, the greater part of the convictions of the great houses being up wards of six years old—(Gre it applause.) But, (said Mr. Beaumont) while ; state this, I think it right to add, that I know of no informations or convictions which have been in any instances produced against the houses of Whitbread, Coombe, Goodwin, the Golden-lane, or Elliott. But it is not only by the useof drugs that the beer is rendered inferior. The Report notices a conviction of one of the great brewers for using alkaline salt to neutralize acidity in young beer. 'To neutralize the acidity, alkali is added. The liquor thus formed has none of the heartening and strengthening qualities of old beer:— Labouring men, who drink beer not for amusement,l as their superiors do, but to enable them to bear up under their great toil, are miserably deceived by these saline mixtures. Such beer rather weakens than strengthens. Where men already labour under disease, their complaint will be aggravated, not healed, by such drink. This is the most general adulteration of modern beer, and perhaps the most injurious. That the price of porter is materially in creased in consequence of the licensing system, 'does not admit of a doubt : but I would fain hope that the great men of the nation are not aware of the extent of this enormous price, and of its effect on the la bouring poor. I am thoroughly convinced, from a patient examination of this subject, that in the price of porter and ale, at least a penny per quart in the metropolis, and two or three pence per quart in many parts of the country, are sacrificed to the li censing system. Mr. Beaumont then entered into some other details respecting the arbitrary and interested conduct of the brewers, and concluded with saying, " The object of this emancipation I will never aban don in despair. It cannot be that under a corrupt use of an indiscreet law, a set of privileged men shall be empoweled to wage war against the civil rights, the property, and health of every British subject fur ever. Be it remembered the emancipation of the Blacks was long and stoutly resisted, but in the end it was accomplished. We may hope that the eman cipation of the Whites will be ultimately not less successful. The proceedings in the late House of Commons were certainly most discouraging. In the youth of the new one we will hope to find enough of public feeling to produce a restoration of the right of a free trade in beer."—(Loud chcersfollowed the conclusion of this speech.) Mr. JONES 111:RDETT, who had but a few moments before entered the room, now came forward, md expressed on the part of his brother, Sir Francis, his great regret at not being able to attend the proceed ings. He was, he observed, extremely fatigued by the business of the preceding day, and be hoped the Meeting would accept that as an excuse—(hear, hoar.) At the same time he was authorized to state, that the object of the Meeting was one which he was anxious to support, inasmuch as he conceived it was condu cive to the public interests. He was also authorized to state, that if his brother had been present, he could say but little on the subject, for it was one which he had not turned in his mind. He would, however, be very glad to receive any information from Mr. Beaumont, or any other Gentleman upon' the subject. This was all he was autherized to state from his brother. For himself, he should say, that no man was more anxious for the success of any mea sure which had for its object the procuring of a free trade, than he was. He heartily wished success to the undertaking, for he thought that nothing could be a greater absurdity than that a free people should be debarred from carrying on a free trade (hear,haar). Mr. BEAUMONT then proposed the following Reso lution, which was put, and carried unanimously : " Tl:at, from what hu occurred to the late House of Cam ,tacos, respecting the uhitrary mum of Limning Pubtio. houses, this Meeting feel themselves justified in persevering in their exertions to obtain a permanent runtedy. to ‘uunteract the numerous grievances which result from such system." The next Resolution was, - " That it is the opiniod of this Meeting, that a due regard for the health and property of his Majesty's subjects requires that a full dlsctotare be made of all convictions of Brewers, who have been detected in having in their possession deleterious or unlaw• ful ingredients, fur the making of Beer; and that the Represen tatives in Parliament for Westminster be respectfully requested to more for the printing of the same, together with the evidence lately taken by the Committee on the Public Breweries." On this Resolution being put, Mr. BARRY, the Barrister, addressed the Meeting. The resolution they had heard read, was one to which he did not anticipate any objection, yet he wished to iay a few words upon it. The question which the exertions of the Meeting had to decide was, whether the people of the Metropolis should have a whole some beverage prepared from malt and hops. as their forefathers had once been accustomed to enjoy, or a pernicious substitute, in which were mixed up the most deleterious drugs ? That a liquor of the latter description was now impudently forced upon the Public, no one who had any experience of recent transactions would attempt to deny, and that this was lowing to the present arbitrary licensing system, was equally obvious—(hear, hear).—Upon this subject it would be unnecessary to declaim. The arguments against the arbitrary system of licensing rested upon plain facts, and a statement of a few of these would be sufficient to support them. He had for the last five and twenty years been unfortunately in the habit of seeing the very worst of society, and he could say with truth, that he had never witnessed actions more degrading to the human character than that which he had found among some of the great Brewers. .11* had recently to attend at the Board of Excise in his professional capacity. And here he conceived it his duty to state, that this body had, by their upright and vigilant exertions to put an end to a most vil lainous system of imposition upon the public, de served the cordial thanks of every man in the tont munity—(Load anduase.) He had attended, as he said, at the Board of Excise, where he saw a large table covered with samples of deleterious drugs, which had been seized in the houses of brewers. In the house of one brewer alone not less than thirteen different kintls of pernicious drugs had been detected. For this the individual had been fined I.:500, as had also several others, but what satisfaction was that to a public whose health was hourly exposed to danger by the consumption of a liquor composed of such poisonous materials ?—(hear, hear.) The persons who had been so fined were resident in different parts of the country, and from all he had an oppor tunity of knowing he might almost say, " Ex uno discs omnes." Formerly, if beer wanted a little more colour or strength, a proportion of malt or hops was added to give it ; but at present that good old practice was dispensed with, and some of the most pernicious of vegetable and mineral poisons were added. In some instances which he had seen, a sort of mixture was used to give the porter a head—and what was this chiefly composed of ? The Meeting would, no doubt, be indignant at hearing that green and white copperas has been used for this purpose—(kear, licar.) The Learned Gentleman then went on to describe se veral other instances at adulteration which had been proved against certaiinrewers, and from thence he called the attention of the :Meeting to the abuses of the licensing system. The fatal effects of that sys tem v oild be perceived by any person who attended a Court where he was in the habit of practising (the Iniol‘Fat Debtors Court.) There numbers of poor publicans who were brought up to take the benefit of th: t merciful Act were the strongest proof of the opprcs,ive system under which they endeavoured to live. The evil arose from the practice of the brewers of setting•up poor men in their houses. To these they gave a certain sum of money to begin with, getting first his bond and warrant of attorney, and when they found that the business of the house was improving, they either wished to exact a rent which it was not in the power of the then occupant to pay, or to let the house to another tenant. If the tenant refused to comply with their exorbitant demand, judgment was immediately entered up upon the war rant, and the unfortunate man was deprived of every thing he possessed in the world. The Learned Gen tleman then cited several instances of the species of oppression which he had mentioned, and concluded by a strong exhortation to the Meeting to use their utmost exertions to put an end to a system so com pletely destructive of every principle of free trade. The second Resolution was then put and carried. Mr. BE.tumorcr then proposed the 3d Resolution: " That it appears that better beer than is now sold from, some of the principal Brewers in the Metropolis at sixpence per quart, would be generally sold at sd. It the trade of retailing beer were free, and that in some parts of the country the sacri fic., is considerably greater." The Resolution being put from the Chair, • Mr. Drturry begged leave to make a few remarks upon this proposition. He had no hesitation in de claring himself the advocate of a free trade in porter, and the enemy of the present arbitrary system of licensing. He was also as anxious as any man to have the price of porter reduced, if it could be done. under present circumstances. In the meeting which took place upon this subject in January last, many incorrect statements had been made by Mr. Beau mont. This incorrectness he was willing, if called upon, to prove upon oath. The statements, however, were contained in a Pamphlet published by that Gentleman, to which he (Mr. Drury) had written an answer, and he would now beg leave to read extracts from both to the Meeting. Mr. BEAUAIONT rose to order. He did not think that the pampblets mentioned, or the statements they centained, had any reference to the Resolution. He might have been mistaken in some of his data, but they were collected from the most authentic docu ment to which he could have recourte. Mr. DRURY was then proceeding to a refutation of the propositions contained in the Pamphlet, but being called to order, said he should confine himself to one or two observations. He did not think that under present circumstances porter could be sold for' less than 6d. per pot. The Golden-lane Brewety had some time back made a reduction of one halfpenny in the price, but they were forced to raise it again, even with all the patronage they received from the Reduction Committee. It was not in the power of Brewers to sell their porter at present for less than they did, as would appear from the price thoy paid for the materials. The CHAIRMAN did not think that the calculai; o . l of the prices of materials had any thing to do ss the Res /lotion, which referred only to the increase of pric: arising front the present system of licensinr. Mr. HOLMES did nut think that the Ueetingsb on ad commit itself by agreeing to such a Resolution wit; ; . out luring some facts laid before them to pr ove , with some degree of exactness, the effect produced upon the price of Porter by the Licensing Syr7rn-- £1 . ;600 was not at all the average price Flid ni.4 l entering into a public-house. It would be rants ti r to state it at ESOO. This was not.paid by the brewe r , but by the publican, for the good-will of the hoe * , as was the custom in every other line of Inton e " It should be considered that the publican's profits d.,1 not arise merely from selling beer. He wa s a l, a dealer in spirits, and in the purchase of a looked to that as a source of emolument, s tvel porter. It was the publican and the brewer, ht.,: , the public who suffered by the present nr. ) ,i e ui ing licenses. The brewer had no interest in I. licences arbitrarily taken away. Quite the co:.t,. , he was often a considerable loser by it. Th e ing attack made upon the t brewe rs t quite fair. The Report of traCcimmiree w as proved, that for six years only ore of them had been ce:.- victed of using iniptoper ingredier.ts, and they ny: deleterious. it also proved that there was a in o: „ . . active competition between them, and that quality of the article was not in the least 41:grt.: deteriorated in consNuence of the great iternanc.— Barclay and Co. sold more than any other htewe l , the Metropolis, though:they wertithe owners of kav r public-houses. It was a mis-statement, to say brewers calculated their profits upon their W hole c.. pital, and expected an exorbitant return from . part of it which was voted in public-houses. ". were liable to great risk in tra.le, an.l to tne:t risk it was but fair that they should calculao a profit of more than €3 per cent. estimated the expense of a barrel of beer to the brevs-r at £2. 7s. 6d. but he did not take into accotrt was paid for horses, casks, wear and tear, 1a50 , ..;-, and other things. Taking these items at tis. Lie profit to the brewer, upon Mr. Bcturnont's ova show. ing, would be only Is. a barrel, exclusiveof li cences . He did not deny that the Magistrates 1C(72 often guilty of abuses in granting licences, and F.e was glad that t►te conduct of one individual of that body had already met with exempla: v punishment. The brewers were not to be blamed for such abu , e , ,: alt.! if he was rightly informed, Mr. Be, utnont Li n admitted, that the brewer':, before a Committee the House of Commons, nta;:e a defence which *ze did not expect. Mr. 13s.At;:aoxr denied having made any such al. . . mission. Mr. liotatts said, he understood that this :Wm's. sion had been made to the lion. Mr. Brand. satit was the case, it was not right now to attempt to :le ceive the public by declamation. He wished to s& the licensing system revised ; it was :he vi s Oso of the brewers themselves ; he was r.ot less desirous t':!.w: the practice of purchasing public houses should le re' rained ; the number, however, in the hinds cf brewers could not have the effect of increasio!,z price of porter one penny in each pot. The total . ;ur:- ber of public houses throughout the countrt v 44,4 , 89, out of which 12,862 belonged to brewr - s.— In London, the number was 4247, of which 1:•:•S were not free, or, in other words, were the prop:rty of brewers. If the further practice of this was re strained, the evil would remedy itself in a few years. ?he licensing system certainly required correction, for the sate of the publicans, who had no less than £40,000,000 of capital embus ked in their trade. Mr. PITT said that the publicans and all other per sons ought to be made independent of the arbitrary power of the Magistrates. He begged to say that he was a Burdettite, and be had hoped that this business would have been taken into consideration at the din ner yesterday—(hear, )rear.)—He was not a publican, but he held the lease of a public house; and, bovatse be was a Burdettite, what had been raid to him ? Why, truly, a lawyer, (he would mention his name) Mr. Manning, of the Adelphi, had interfered between him and his tenant, and told him that he must not expect to have his licence renewed—(Clies of shame.) Yes, he was told so ' • and the reason assigned VAS, because he was a ran k Burdettite !—((T ies of gams repeated.)—The public ought to know, that on a late occasion the Magistrates had gone round, arm in arm, with the tar-gatherers, in order to influence the pub licans in giving their votes. Mr. JAGO begged leave to make a few remarks upon what had fallen from Mr. Drury. It was tree that the Golden-lane Brewery had been obliged to raise their prices, and if he was rightly infotrne , !, that concern was merged in one of the other great breweries. This arose from the opposition they met with from the extensive brewers of the metropolis, who threatened never again to supply any publian that should deal with them. This, added to their inability of procuring licences, was the reason why they were obliged to go with the tide, and raise the price of porter. Mr. Holmes was mistaken whom he said that £lOOO or £5OO was paid only for :he goodwill of a house. This was true with respect to tree houses. In such the goodwill was purchased, but the observation could not apply to those pur chased from brewer., who, upon such ticcasious,.al ways insisted upon a Power of Attorney, by winch all freedom was taken away from the poor publican. The brewer, by this means, retained the power of throwing out the present occupier, and it was his in terest to do so as often as he could, for the purpose of getting a new premium. The Resolution was then agreed to. Mr. BEAUMONT proposed the fourth Resolution— " That the extra price paid in cos: yuence of the Ecerar: system, in its effects on the expenditure of a labouring man, is equal to a Property Tax of ten per cent. on his wages, ri oda cient for the support of a child independently, or to pay fur the entire clothing or lodging of his family, and in the avinfate amounts to an annual levy of £130,000 upon the iodisation classes of the Metropolis, and of upwards of four millions n+{' ling upon the inhabitants of the country generally." The following Resolution was then put and carried: ▪ That it be recommended to the committee to introduce, is any legislative proceeding they may adopt, a clause, 'eclair( te the Publican the full, constitutional, and wholesome 104 1 trial by their Veers in all eases, in lieu of the present upprentl practice of depending upon the capricious will of the dfagintacl . The sixth Resolution was • That a deputation of the Committee do wait on the New ben for Westminster, the Borough, and the Sit/ of banaors Sir Francis Burdett and Sir Samuel Romilly, Sir Robert Wilier: and Mr. Waithrnau, to request them to favour the CO PY with their powerful exertiosui to obtain fbr the POL. free t 1 1 1 be b 4 for t] T 4 brew bro'•l WCO tient was sitio bit c ing Men Sort Spa; of ex to fa sot, cr Cent ebci vnse Afl vans tram IA tude corm tom num; aPPe i for it out I bit t 1818 tau IC M Cmt I Vies n•y nudy ea erl crap Trea aka a we 1 Gate Beau Li* tec Eletl tan 1 irtvl the 3 of it. the el fie r , 6. 1 "earl ral hies was 4ixd Urn 1:r ; tra the Va l Te m Lt. 6:t i, ; ,~