The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser. — London, England, 1818-01-27 00:00:00

PP" t y 1, which they could have no cooing ; and ha should not have stow. or trot that d f ir limo %indica (Wl. If be was , t prepared to make out sods *Wee relents in proof of hip asarrtMus, as should *hew the brewers were um deseevitor the blame this precipitately cast ma therm He would, th re. froe, state, that although the brewer's price of porter. tei...slat--cousuraer ri emplace per pot, the whole price the brewer remitted was brit four-pence. beillpentiv. There will • ditty of 10.. per barrel prod ors the beer. which amounted to 124. per pot. then the malt duty amounted to 7- Wilts of a penny per put. There was Aso a Itritty duty . on foreign hops, a inch oireisunted to* farthing ou each pot of lwer, all whieli deducted from the price received by the brewer from the publican. lift him bat three pence per pus. Hut beside the taxes on malt amt the brewer hisd a variety of other taxes to pay, which greatly diminished his profit.--as the Wehrle for Iris Ines trio-pan, and various other tharges tine der the head of luxe' ; and although the iwolit ale lowed by the brewer to the victualler was 515 per ern,. On hits retail pricer, yet, -great as that might item. *o. was convinced that victUallers, who were a most industrious body of mess. could acirrcely stake a livelihood from this peril!. when dl their other heavy espenses were deducted. He hod thus shewis, he hoped. that the high price of beerdid not arise from what was called a monopoly of the brewers,l brit from the high price of their materials, and the wet hat of taxes under which they laboured. lit the erode of foreign hops, to which they were obliged to resort from the grids scarcity, Mid extreme high prior of the home commodity, there was an addi riorad.duty of Is. 6.1. per pound, which added a fare thing per pot to the price of beer; so that the brewer was rooter the necessity of charging his pre seat price tor the commodity he sold, or of alien dotting a business which otherwise would yield no itectir. Ile wished also toset right sume ittaccuracies a huh had fallen• from the Chair respecting the re iltre.ion iu the prices of malt. Previous to the fir* rise on porter the malt was raised front 34e. tad. to 6.35. the quark r ; trwl now the average price is from ors. as ell-. the quarter : so that so far from a redac tion there was an evident increase on the price.. tt was observed, also, that Government had taken the war ditty off the malt. merely to put the amount iritothe pockets of the brewers; whereas the fact war, that though the reduction of the wit duty 'brought the 'Mee of malt dowse to 635. the quar ter on the 1(1.1, January, when it ended, yet the malt had since risen to 5!. per quarter ; so that the h'gh 'triers Or material, sod heavy taxes, were the true visor of the rise on beer, and not any fault • f the lnewer.. It was also stated, that the great fort ones vested by the brewers was another means of It: ; hut experience bas proved that the business .5,11141 lint he carried on by small capitirls. The great capitalist. by working cheaper, and tak. jog a 'inhaler profit in proportion, benefited, in strait of ',jilting the public. The CHAIRMAN said there was one point the worthy G •roleinan had not rept:Mired, and that eels. how it happened that potter should be at a mooch higher peter. when malt and frops . trete lower than last year. a herr titey were notch diastet.. - Mr. BEAUMONT said, that as the Gentlerisan who just oath' !e.t.a the areiernbly had crmcluded ottliont a mutton, he should bring forward one for their whop . Ile had acquainted hinted f a ith the history of !newer* and their prices fur twenty years, but par!icularly for the last few years; and he could prove, that the business, as slow carried on. cps a complete poly. to the exclusion of that fair competo ton which took place for the public isi every other article of consumption. Ile contended, that from a fair comp orison of the priers of the prewitt period compared with this trine twelvemonth, there a fah of Is. 2d. per barrel tit the expense of materials, and the come. qui rice was, the brew er, i iist rod of lowering, increated • . v.•11 iniatity hie shillings' iser barrel. With respect to the question of monopoly. no. shine iambi be more clear than that the brewers enjoys 11 trite, at least in the general *crew of the a ord. At preset there was plenty of capital in the market, MIA if donned men had any room fur the tinployineut of it, they would be glad to do .0. They would very a contribute their capital if they could he allowed to share the pro 4ii• of the breorts, or they would be disposed to troll it to minor brewers, but there could he no ad. vantage its doing so. Sopposing that men wee, stow so lay out their capital in a brewery, bow wets the 'nitrite to get their beer ? Retailers of the a$ side were accessary, 'tool where were they to . f I ? All the shops for retailing beer were 1 tire hands of the present brewers—(Hear) --q they were at least under their influence. Could any new speculators in Such a business open new S hop.?—No, the law was spinet it. They must obtain licenses, and that could be done only upon one certain day of the year. If the Magistrates were organist it, anti thought proper to krill the brewers*. they could effectually tie up the hands of all other speculators in the butanes*. Bat ereo wit tang that petiole; commencing the business could oletainiug licenses, they would not be able to procure people to sena tire article. About 14 years back. 'then the brewers of the metropolis Ili.covercil a greater spirit of rapacity than at pre.. sera. their conduct drew down upon them the rit to execrator's. They raised the price of the or tick from 5.1. per pot to 6.1. The circumstance merle much unite at the time. and an attempt was made, in consequence, to establish several new l.r.ssrflr 3,, es ti:e test am. the Golden-Lite Brewery. The effect to reduce the price from 6.1. to sd. The holden-lour Brewery then went on fur some tone, lA. Ille osiv..ologr of the public; but the great dm iien..y the proprietors found war, as route of theta tnuts,to procure persons to sell their beer. I het rippled ter liceitsee, but in vain. Though they had he n the cause of reducing the price of the article to the I,o,l'e—though they hail c pelted the brewers to snake it tit a much better quality, soil th.y icier were permitted to open a huuse.— le :roe, ilvit they tonight three houses; but in . 16 se.y shunt time they lost the licesista or two.-- hr hasoryartegeil by the publicans fur not drapi n g with the.Golirreolasie establishment. was, that the proprieties reithl out protect tlwm, and therefore stet moos ite..ll , sly with incSirtll who had the power oh.erfesillg •hem, whet. their leense was us (linger. fir kr ea cow reritoti woo iwinaied to deal with the L i wet , .1 In; but Ile was told by our who ni a: would' not be lit to lame, that If lie %cut to deal • pryer _ prepared,, this subject.—Mr. Beaumont then read the follow. ibg statement : • 4 I hove et various period* heard the brewers say That their teethe was nut worth following. Now. I atu doomed to *neck every reasonable credit to the eleclaratiosis of gentleineri of such eteinence in so. ciety. I will therefore admit what they ray to be trot.. thus far, that at certifin time., when the market has run high. they (in their humane consideration tor the condition of the poor) forbore to raise the price of beer, as they might justifiably have done; they ramie no profit; they . even suffered loss; and that their trade at those times was not worth fol. lowing; but when they slid determine ou the step, at all bones so reluctantly taken by them, of rais ing the price. they would not themselves fix a losing price—for • loss of a shilling or tao per barrel, continued for years upon their great returns, *oeld be ruinous—would be too great a sacrifice to expect frau the public spirit of soy men. I re quest my hearers to consoler well the fairness, or of this conclusion, because much of the silbsequent reasoning is built npou it. Referring back, therefore, to the prices per b art!, just quoted, sod which are seen to be, in one case. a little under the market price, of the nominal quan tity of the 'minimh material, and, in other cases, a little above it, we 'nay come to an inference, that the market price of the nominal ittiotitier, and of the dirty, is sufficient for the selling price of 'the inanufactnretl articles, as it has been made of late years. I think this is fair reasoning upon their town data ; but let one, two, or three shillings be added to the market price of the professed mate rials, as a necessary surplus of charge per barrel.— I have °outlier:burr to it. Let them have 3s. and they will then have more than they had in several yews, vie. in 1799, in 1800, in 1810, in 1812, and 1818. It will then follow that the surplus dif ference beyond such 3*. will be an extra profit to the brewer, artless indeed he has proportionably added to the strength of this bee; but the surplus difference of the selling price of • the beer over that of the material has been in smile years imnieuse, 18s. and 200. and upwards. If the atrengthesiing of the quality hod followed such au increase, we should have had an extract of malt so strung that it would have glued our hpos together—in which case mine would now be sealed. But there has been nothing of the kind : beer, gehtrally speak iag, for the last Mires. or twenty years, has run on in a limpid arid vapid abeam. without any material variation. The excess of purples then has been au excess of profit to the brewer ; and when we corisi. der the immense returns in this trade, that 100,000 barrels its a year io by no 'swami equal to the quasi. City brewed by the pi incited pauses—that in such a thole an advance of only ss. a barrel is equal to 25.000/. and that the advisory.. in some years has been as much to yowl what. according tot& ir own etwwisig and prices of their owes tieing, is a sufficient prafit, we may readily account for the princely for. turns which have been made in this trade i.e a s ho rt time. aced the justice of the complaints of the la. INMetog chases, at whose extrema ! such fortunes are made. Let us now examine the alterat iiiii s in the price i.e a successive order, with a view of discover ing the occult causes of torn changes. Fur a year reir.ottli _o Cyr _ mode by the brewers ir Ofi educe. to 1799, 4w till. irer bored was the nominal surplus above the material. Upon its milisequelit advance ice 1804. the surplus appeared Punk to 2s. lii an other. in 1802, the difference was 7.1. minus, that is, the professed materials cost Inure by 7.1. per barrel, than the beer when made was sold for. The materials then because cheaper 25 per cent. upon which the brewers, his 1802, lowered their price 11 per cent. and made their surplus 74.91 : this was taken ass kindly by the peblic, that is lets than four month* (she material all this while lower. log from 27 to 23). upon the reduction of ei. in the material., 11w brewers vaned their prices 5 4 . Tlw materials sunk from 27a. to 235. Nod the beer was raised from 25..10 40..: but a climax as yet want ing. lo July. 1903. there was a rive of Is. in the niatetials, they still being 3s. under the last price, when the barrel was at 355. and under the price in 1799, when the barrel was 30s. Under these cir. cumstances of cheapness in materials, the price to the public was raised to 45ii. pet barrel—in other worth, beer was raised 341. per pat, while the malt. hops, and duty. collectively, were less than they were in 1799. when beer was sold for 31. d. per pot. as excess of three-halfpence tier pot over former profits ; mid be it always bore in mutt!. thin au ad vance of a sinule halfpenny gives 50,000% to the brewers of 200,000 barrel*. At this period the brewers were fur snore insatiable than now. Tlwy found by experience that they had o n ly to lix a price, and the public must pay it. Upon a small advance in the materials, therefore. tiny raised their price two steps at mice—from sd. to 6d. per pot. the beer at the same tone bring most wretch. ed ; upon this the Golden.laiw brewery was pro. jetted. when the brewers drew in their horns, cud went back instantly from eal. to 5 1 1. This competi tion did the public greet service ; it caused the qua lity of the beer to be mended. and the prices to be kept down while the material roar ; nor did the brew ers then venture to raise their prices for eight years. This eateblisliment throve fur smut time ; but, as um told, owing to sinsinanageme.d, to many di.. advantages miring from the humility and newer of the brewers, to their regimers in low neighbour. hooch leaving them for other breweries where they might expect a better protection in their licenses, and. above all, to their being obliged, from the public nature of their accouirts, to adhere to malt and bops only, they have not been prosperous. The next increase was made its 1813. It only left a surplus difference of 1/. so. 00. between the price of the materiels and of beer when made. The value of the inaleisols incremstil still higher. and the brewers f I it necessary to make a still far ther increase in January. 1814. The price was now raised to its highest pitch, TM. to the price we ate now called up to pay, brut the increased !nice only left the brewers a surplus of two shillings anal stxp.euce abuse the mai Let ;ice of the tosterial. Soon, however, the material' dropped in price ;lust na the price or beer. The brands were net now desirolis of disturbing the settled order of things. Their surplus rose to near ly 20r. per barrel. Mr. Tsushima (I think it was hereupon complained in the House of Commons of the unreloiiiiable pricer of the brewers, when Mr. Whitbread replied that they (the brewers) had cots ferret!, and bail determined not to lower the price, but to increase the quality. Before the next sit ting of Parliament. however, they thought proper to take off a halfpenny per loot, reducing their sur plus, which had been tee. lid. to the yet large fire plug of 14a, sJtl . The next year they took off on. other halfpenny. la the succeeding year, 106, the price of the materials rose, and atom this, ,strange to say, they reduced their beer another id. The reason that could induce these gentlemen, after eolith 11l i l their price at 4l'. fora year and g half, upon the rise of their materials, to lower their price to 404. is quite inexplicable ; tiniest, indeed, the investigations of the Police Committee. then be. coming public , hastened the decision. Since then there has been two steps of increase of prices, both in materials and in beer; but, since the rise in Jan. last year, the price of materials has lessened ; the amount of malt, holm, and duty is Is. 2d. per bar rel less than it was last year. Now what it done upon this decrease of expense? The barrel of beer is raised 54., the quart is raised from 51d. to dd. The materials now amount to no sitore than 45-.51d. per barrel, and the price to the consumer is raised equal to the highest price charged during the war, when the war malt tax was on, and the price of the materials was 5/11. 6d. seven shillings more than at present. But let us view the effect of this rise in the aggregate ; not that the profit now exacted is half so excessive as others in former years, to 1803, 1813. and 1814, for instance. First, I think we may fairly assume, that the brewers last year did nut fix a price to carry on a losing trade. and the expenses have since been less ening. 1 know that large sums were given by tlit btewers during that year for terms in licensed houses. that is. tor the privilege of selling beer -8001. fur tine station, 1.0004 fur soother, 1,5001. for a third, sod so un-.-pretty strong symptoms that brewing then cotnitinuded • profit worth having.—. The 6.. 2d. per barrel surplus above last year's prices of materials given by the last rise, may there fore be considered its an extra profit. We will first examine the effect of this on the trade of a single house. One house, deservedly popillsr. brewed 330,201 barrels its 1816. The extra profits to that house upon one year's trade, therefore, will give a blita 4101.8141. 194. but the whole amount brew. ed by the eleven breweries, in the same year, was 1,446,038 barrels, upon which the extra profit gives 445,5611. IP. 4d. by far the greater part of which is extracted from the pocket* of the tabooi n; pour of the metropolis. A fine harvest truly Without coy penicilliar exertion of intellect, with out any risk, a few 'gentlemen. the heads of the eleven breweries, meet together, combine, and give the word for nearly half a million sterling to be Transferred front the pockets or the poor!"—(Laud applause.) Mr. IteACMONT the,. proceeded to address the company. It appeared, most clearly, from what he had stated, that fur over .20 years the psi bite bend heel' subjected to a continued series of wrongs fruits the brewers ; who. at Mote times when the public voice was raised against theM. lowered their pric. a ; and afterwards, when their fears were dispelled, yeti lured to raise their prices to a magnitude unknown in former times--a conduct which no anal WOW contemplate in any other light except that of coin piety monopoly. Ile wished it to Ike understood, that he did not make oily charge against the brewers personally—wary of them were st re spectable men. end so was the Kennesaw' then at the head of the table (Mr. Drury. who leieljust addressed the company). It was the system he complsined he meant the system of arbitrary licensing, which gave a set of Magistrates ismilege to say who should,aod who should not, have licensee to sell freer. Nor did he meets to say any thing against tne Ma gistrates; but against the system a Inch gave them the unjust power which they possessed ; and he hoped to see the time soots arrive when that s, stens woutd be completely corrected.—(4pp/anses.).- Mr, B. then ',unveiled to read abstracts from •the ilitlitent Acts of Parliament, which had been pawed tin different periods of our history, on the subject of Wetting; and it would lie writ shut all these Acts were first in favour or air liberty of die p e ople, but that the Acts punted its iamb-rig times were di reedy of a contrary tendency. An Act of Henry fixed the price of beer recording to the price of barley. An Act sr the 9.3.1 of Edward 111. fixed the assiwt of beer. In the reign of ['Award iVt an Act was passed fur granting letters patent in favour of brewers, who them squired a monopoly so offensive to the subjects, am! by which the extortions of brewers because so great. that it was found necessary to abolish the patents that gotined these monopolies. In the reign of Henry VIII. anti Edward Vi. Acts were passed egiiiiist brewers f oun d conspiring to raise the price of beer ; and for such offences they were to be punished by standing in the pillory, having one ear cut off, and to be subject to perpetual infamy. In the reign of Ell. ward VI. an Act was passed to empower Miegns trates to gent licenses to publicans; but that was done only for the purpose of preventing the bad and disorderly behaviour alkali prevailed en public. Junes I. afterwards granted letters patent rite brewers. His son Charles did the same ; and .made them pay large sums of money for the ; but his object in doing this was only to put the money into his own exchequer. In those letters it was stated, us one of the reasons for issuing them, that the beer was too strong and heady, and rause.' intoxication.—(Latighter.)—lt seemed that this King, its his paternal solicitude for the betide of his sithiects—a solicitude. which they did not "her. wards *Hew f.r his head-.-( Laughter awl applutese)-.. thought proper to ussios this as the reason for MM. mg his patents. A lier this, io 1664. thy Inuit lir cattle completely bee and nitres ; because the op.. pressions of former tinier 01111111 no longer be en dured ; and it was out until ihr reign of George 11. that the present sysleill of liceissiog was adapted. The intention and a towed object was, to ',heck the disorderly prof:tiers that prevailed in imbibe-houses, mud it was enmeted that licenses shoilld Its 14r.ssitel) only for one ) rar, at the expilation of winch time the licenses site to be renewed. It wan ibis Act *lnch laid ilie foundation of that monopoly which now existed, and rendered the fabric of it complete. It gave Justices the power of deciding without ap peal, what persous should obtain brewers' houses; and Constituted little parcels of Justices in every district the absolute masters of the licensing trade. It was not, hoWever, until many years after that the injury of this monopoly was frit by the public, and its value felt by the brewers. A free trade existed at that Issue ; the brewers were very numerous ; vest capitals were slot accumulated by individuals, owl the growing evils of mouopoly were not perceived. But during the last thirty years, there being a vast increase of new houses in the metropolis, the brewers were able to get possession of almost all the public-houses, and then the present monopoly begets to be completed : so that, at the preseut went, the whole trade of brewing NOS concentrated ise the hands of eleven great brewers. It was not his object now to go into a detail of all the oppressions which had arisen of late years out of the present sys tem ; because these were to be found in the Pulice Reports, and in reports of proceedings in Courts of Justice, all which were already before the politic. It appeared by one proceeding in a Court of Law, that a license had been taken away f a publi eau, because he had voted fur a particular candidate at an electron, in opposition to the will of the li ceturiug Magistrate ; and it would appear that others had lost their houses only for changiug their brewers, and others for selling beer at au under price. Such circumstances were detailed in the Police Reports ; and at this moment persoos might be found, in prisons and in workhouses, who were ruined, and obliged to take shelter there, in conaettoence of having been unjustly deprived of their licenses. He had himself been in foreign coon. tries, and conversed with several Magistrates and vic tuallers ies those countries, where lie found that no such arbitrary power as was now exercised in Fag land existed. Any man who had a sufficient capital and a good character, might brew and cell beer.— Such was the potence at this moment in France, Holland, and Germany. He had conversed with several Members of Parliament as to the mode of getting rid of this system of licensing ; but the whole appeared to be so bad, that it could not be mended, fur it would be necessary to change the whole system in principle. Licenses in deed were granted fur many iatiocent purposes— such as a license to flour one's hair, a license to be married, &c.—and all these were easily obtained : hut the licenses for *elfin beer were not to be had, except at the arbitrary will of • set of Magistrates. Alive as they all roust be to the injuriousness of this system, they insist not pa tiently sit down under it ; particularly so, when if they knew what he had stele, that hers of men had been ruined, and driven to workhouses in con sequence of it. WAS it to be endured, that a power should exist at this day which had been for bidden in the %elopes of Edward, of James, and Charles ? But lee would *ether submit to the ty lamey of one King, theft to the arbitrary despotism of some hundreds of petty tyrants. . The only use he had ever known in the present system of liCetts ing was, that it exhibited a disgusting, picture of arbitrary power. On a proposition fur taking awry the discr.tionary power, they were called oleo' to cuissider the !no perty which was at stake ; with this property, he submitted, they had nothing to do. Every farthing of the capital which was laid out, was so expcialcd solely with a view to commanding trade, right or wrong.--(i-kar.) 7 -11 the brewer laid nut a laths dyed thousand 'minds in houses, and another hien dred thousand in trade, his object was to gain profit by both; and thus the 'eolith: paid, not alone lA. a decoction of malt mid hops, but for an infusion of licenses.—(Cheers.)— I t was naturally asked, how redress of these abuses was to be obtained ? lie admitted that the task would be an arduous one ; but at the saute time lie was satisfied it was not a hopeless one. It was true, that there was a great phalanx of power and interest against them, hut the power of the public was great also. They had also a free press in their favour; and it oas but .jost to remark, dust all the 'newspapers, of whatever political principles, advocated zealously and ably the cause of the public on this subject ; and joined its deprecating the system or the brewers. Their system had hero attacked by the toast re els* aable Papers, by The British Press, The Woke, The Morning Post, The Afar, mot he believed he might add The Tunes.—(Load and repeated cheers.)—Under all the tire stances, he reewated, that he thought their case far I hope less, awl trusted that by one common zeal, and by determined perseverance. they would have old beer and old prices.—/Cheery.) In condos . ' tttt the Hon. Gentlemen declared his intention to moire the string of Resolutions winch Ise hail already published w some of the public papers, in order that it might nut be supposrd leis intention was of an underhand or unfair description. lie then moved the first Resolution : " That high least authorities have declared all monopo lies to he against the ancient and fundamental laws of the resist, mad injurious tic the publm—first Icy liaising tie price of commodities—second, by diminishing their quality— third, by impoverishing pour maisufncturers." Mr. TILLOCII rose to second this Resolini , It was a truism upon which no difference of opiailua could arise. He had listened with attention to all that had fallen, as well from the gentlemais who had last spoken, as front the gentleman sit the other end of the table (Mr. Drury). Oslo or two obvious facts naturally presented themselves to his lulled. They had been told that the brewers were a re spectable and honourable vet of men ; he believed they were; but those who knew huanau nature would agree with him in thinkiiig, that sill men who acted in a body would oppress their fellow-num.-- lie would not say that brewers were more liable to this deposit than others ; but such was the nes tine of human society. It was the evident object of all capitalists, acting collectively or individually, to make us much profit as they could. 'r.vo objec tions hail been urged, isi his opinion very justly, by ha H 0,,. Friend (Mr. Ile on this occasion. First to the mouutioly which existed—end secondly to the licensing system—which. conjointly. had the effect of 'traducing a t eisjursous robbery on the public., He hull tio snore Intrieelltni to confide in the honour and integrtty of brewers than to the honour and integrity of any other set of men ; but upon a basis constituted as their monopoly was, there was no security whatever.—(Hear,)—Tire only security for the public was a fair, open, nod manly competition in the Market. Front hot he \`k`\ ball heard, be collected that the p?t,fits to we pub. Item' was 25 per cent. and to the brewers 30 per cent. Mr. Dimly here beggvil to explain. The CHAIRMAN isisi•tetl that the Gentleman on his legs should out be interrupted.--( Hear.) Mr. Tit.t.ocK begged that he might not be miss underituod. The proposition which he had to sub mit did nut rest UpIIII the accuracy or fallacy of cal- Matrons. But supposing these calculations to be cotrect, the brewer paid 455. for that which cost the public 100 s. The 'malt, therefore, was 554. or which the publican took ins. and the brewer 30.. (Ilear.)—The general principle for which he coo. trialed was, that there ought to he nu monopoly ( Heor)—he meant that sort of monopoly which capital commanded. What were the go-ovoids of defence urged in favour of the brewers? First, that they had rtniankril great capitals. Every malt who emliarked to t aple did the same thing, and, therefore they were as little entitled to exclusive prisileges as any ether subjects.--( Hear, /oar./ — But besides beatig capitalists, they assumed the right of dictating who should have licenses, and who 'druid nut ; thus becoming the Censure instead of the Magistrates. —( I lear.)—The effect of get tiog poowasion of pliblic.houses was to enable the brewers to get rid of beverage which would not otherwise he drank. Would ally man pretend, that, if the trade was free and open, they should he obliged to drink the saute poisonous stuff which was vow vended in what were called brewers' houses (f.'heers,atul cries if" No !")—With respect to the abase. {practised to licensing, he read an extract from Clement's Police Jetports, in which the Cum. matter of the Ilouse of Commons dstinctly stated, toi the authority of evidence, that the power ed by the Magistrates of refusing licenses wa• not authorised iu express words by any statute whatever; earl yet those who referred to the Reports in fine, — lion, would see the numberless instances in whielt that power had been exercised. If a good case could he made out and brought before Parliament, he had no doubt hut the public would there meet with plenty of friends. The high price of beer was injurious not only to the public, but it diminished even the duties arising from it. The higher the price was to the consumer, the less lie used of the article, and a consequent decrease took place in the receipt of duties. Mr. Tilluch concluded amidst loud applause. The question being called for, it was recom tneuded that the Resolutions might be read al together, that a distinct view might be given of their object. The CHAIRMAN wished to know whether there was any other person disposed to addrees the Nleet ing, previous to the reading of the Resolution.. Mr. BEAUMONT then rn:w. and read the Resolu tions, wind) ore as follow : 4. That the Legislature has passed numerous Statutes to punish 'nth as are guilty of creating numupolies--pai lady monopolies of the u . les of life: and so eat ly as the C..d and fid of Edward IV. very heavy penalties were imposed on victuallers who combined together to r• cc the mice of witinals,extrodinz upon a second repent' of offence to the pilloryolw luus of an ear, and perin•tust to fasny. 3 That, notaillislanding the illegality of such conduer and its ii , jus y to thy public, a ttttt Maj oilly 1 0 th e Fupply o f beer has of hue )ears hi en raised in vas ,was parts of Lag • land, and particularly in the inctialailis, itssumurlt that the Woole custom of its pwpisliswo i. s ligrossed by abwor shown great breweries abuse principal s act i n nimbi:tat —meeting together like tb. rutin is af one concerti, and Gasug the price at which beer shall be Fuld. 4. Thai when the reduced prier of malt and hope, of horses, proveuder, and labour, the lessening, the I.lx 011 111:111, a n d the sti'vra quent abolition of the Prop. , . ty Tux, enabled the brewrs. to 'liaise peat reductions os their as, cuss . d charges. they Illst nut make such reductions, hut kept up their priers, until after their fuel had excited anstnadeersimis in the Hawse of C,,mmuns, allegoig as a reason fur their doing su, that their stock in baud must he first disposed o f. f. That so soon as the failure of the harvest in 1916 caused the price of malt to look up, and while their stock Was wholly unaffected by the rise in the materials, they rs • vired the high prices ot beer to the e.stisumer, which paces they have lately still further advanced. 1 hat the beer as now made is so void of the nourishing and invigorating qualities which it formerly possessed, 1114 is 0M1111:ties so ungrateful and even iiijuriiiits to the stomach, (mom to the dclett•rtiout ingrediesits a/which it is composed, that rowanners are frequently driven to use a mixture of gin with it, to give it the semblance of strength and spirit, or still woes prejudicially to the drtukiug of gut 111$14`ait ni beer. 7. That these and numerous other evils are justly attri butable to the muuopuly which the great brewers have established. N. 'That this monopoly is produced and upheld by the miconstitutional power given to Justices of the Peace in their respective localities to preveut any persons from reading beer, excepting such persons and in such houses us they plrase; a power which, being subject to no human con trol, and being exercised iu many Instr.:lees by needy or avaricious men, is naturally applied by them in preventiug competition in trades in which they ur their friends or patrons are interested. O That a desire to prevent an unnecessary tier of houses, the reason generally assigned for refusing permis sion to open houses, built fur public ►ouses, where the rea sonable walo of the public require than, is evid.ntly in sincere; because the same licensers grant betimes to public houses in clusters, where the interest of their friends is thereby upheld, although such houses can ouly be supported by allowing and encouragiog bad practices. 10. That the similar pretence, that competition is pre vented, in eider that the landlords of the favoured houses may Boorish, and not be indneed, through necessity, to suffer disorderly conduct on their premises, is equally fal lacious; because the owners of the favoured houses, who are generally brewers or spirit dealers, always require pre miums of their truants, equal to the value of the mono poly to them, or an additional rent ; thus keeping the ie. omits' profits 'luso, however valuable the monopoly may be to the principal. 11. That the supposition of correcting the licentiousness encouraged at some public houses, by denying licenses ("l athers, is only cakutated to benefit the Monopoly Systeni ; it being evident, in principle, that men will not drink let.. Of be leas disorderly when drawn together in one house, [trio they would be if divided among two or three; and It is no. tenons in practice, that some of the must profitable houses are among tbuse which are most mini isms to the public health and UMW. 12. That such is the value, however, of the proltihition of competition, that thousands of pomols are frigoently even for the euneeekration u 1 a license to a house, nn other words, fur permission to trade, shalt expense, together with the retie profits ercureil by the unworn,. fall upon lit • cooatutt, vs, sad become a grievous burden to the losee Masses of the community. 13. That it a snressonsble to invest Justices of the Peace with the iight of loaning exclusive powers for 0.141, 2 vietwals, wheat the Uniiine of such powers by Ow ti:oirtreiet; Immicli is declared to he void tit law. 14. That it is equally toiresoninhie to antherise the said Justices to dissente wen of then. Ills-flies natal nee ens/ ~,,, at their own will sod pleasure, 0111.0ut Wog scimantal.' , to sal holll4ll brine, while tfo.&•.g, on his Throne, n< ie • terJiitta fretn " liortive Qr mg" the 'acmes; , there, he must tile care of his license...-(Hear.) — From what he hail just staled. it milk be tilde* to army person. dad the a►lvertieelttent did not so too tar its milli* the busi►►ess of brewers, alit stood et prepent. a Monopoly. He had tams ompidara- Me pine w►th this subject ;. bet. wishing to he aa securer as possible. hr had written down the mutt of his instairiessi—aud he hoped the Harting would pardon he took the liberty of reeding. from ▪ paper wl►ich he had prepared, the statement upon Lii■lMlNimml.