The Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1860-03-20 00:00:00

nate indulgence, in defiance of all the restraints imposed by
_the lam. In England and Wales alone there is d licensed house
-to every 202 of the -ponolation, while there liclinly one pariah
church for every 1.484.' " The lesson taught by the results of the
,beee'billyarenot lost. upon society. The country is in a state
of well-founded alarm at the prodigious increase in the number
of beer houses. In single parishes in rural villages of 1,100
inhabitants there are fourteen houses of entertainment, and it'
is there the complaints of the employers of labour are the
loudest.
But if the case were otherwise, the law provides the remedy.
There is no restriction on the power of the magistrates. They
are officer's of the State, appointed by the Crown. They may
grant more licensee if public convenience require greater accom-
modation. is not the fact that they restrict our numbers proof
tkat the good order of society requires it, and at the came time
that the people are suciently •supplied for all pperpur-
poses ? ffi rolt is open for Ministers of the Crown to plead that the
magistrates they themselves appoint, and arm with high judi-
cial powers over the peop:e are not to be trusted ; and that
while t •ey on the one hand continue them in their office, on the
other they must pass Acts of Pnrliament to exauctorate them
from their ministerial functions, and ignore the exercise of
their discretion ? At the bottom of Mr. Seymer's and the
Government provisions lie suspicion and distrust of the magis-
trates. If the Crown cannot rely upon the integrity of its
officers, Ministers have no justification for continuing them in
the exercise of their functions.• -
But-what want of any class is not supplied underthepreaent
system ? The middle and higherclasses may have any
quantity
of wine and spirits in the small measure of two gallons, from
Poor EllaY amallegt
the wine merchant, while rich and
retail quantity of either from the publieen, t Wiltonumed
either
be on
served r off
b y the
dipstu rremiss, . hat useful object is
tobing an arrangement which
irantidteataglaeoTnsitilaiwnth?" Willmeets every reasor.ahle want,
tio P. produce a better article i Has that
public have not recorded the sli the
greazer uoinineti,
ever dope so in any trade conneoted with
the Beer Act suppressed lbod or drink Has
adulteration in beer ? Reduction in
'
price is -afforded only Ike deterioration in quality.
disclosures of the war in which wine is tam The repeated
pered with in tale
cloaks and otherwise is a proof of what is to be
-expect eik from
extending to wine and spirits the unlimited foeill,tiaea of -sale
given at present to beer ; while ire unlicensed awe al.
..,....,....,.
nropcsill. now before Isarlda-
alone has been the subject of many porta and: ennierossi-gitws`4
adulteration and abuse, and of a
ment for providing the maehiitery., of analysis
ta detect and
check imposition.
In regard to -,,Mr- St',E:naer's motion, it is earlEt I—.,
that in effect
it mean§ hoe trade in alcohol'. -The reeohition does not define
•.` spirits."- A gill 4 gin. diluted with water or
the word
anythi•ng else, would cover iis terms. Who is to say the -bottle
not 'les& than one-sixth of a gallon,
is full when sold i At the article may be contained in any
kind of hottlok
wooteE
130 W eakkiti,V, ld the condition of quantity and 4,
evaded. Increased alcoholic strength would bear audit.
e,.
quantity of water. Next door to, or opposite the ,apit slim
drinkers might club their pence. The mereliam ~,,,,e, ,t
Hii_tl!,
he' tern& thus
provide the room for consumption, while Ina kept Joining
to woe 4 '`-- prem" is not
premise§ for the sale. The beerseller would
to accommodate les cuato net,., .
and next to that
definSd in the resolution. Tottuded from ids tap byes pio.titi3n
Of spirits. The cook, 'confectioner.
or party wall, might bi. his spirit shop,
his room, the consuntntioll
shell-fi.hlitetwe*, cigar merchant, .may suffer his Premises to be used by his customers, baying their gin next door. The
hie' Et bleak for
sale of 4 bottle of whitky over the emmter will
moving off to next door which have never ni-a- i .4....
s-io, 4auty. The
most vigilant officer would have no ti tie tAb
but onll.-Iteed -' y indiViduals who
tfiter--firetaises not requiring a license ft, sell,
consume ; and if he did, how could- he tell that the drink on
OA Who requires no
the table was not that aolctisy the beer seller or eciok, at the
counter of his lieeinteds,pint shop over the w
mar vouch for any t his regular
permit, a_rfl whoi . • r cus-
tomcat,. e.hocise,lo say they purchased,
Tke, provision of the Chaneellex oT the Ricoliequer for licensing
is to.facilitate the sale and encou-
refreshment rooms tq sell wines is still more objectionable in
principle, Its eto.Wed o.lstEst
, rage the. 4ousuiriptiOn of dkkty taling wine ; in other wordi,, not
. for the, regida,tion and reotn ti , but for the extenAnn of
drinking and the imicense of its temptationg. • And *ha,
sort
iof drink ? A 4, renpshment room i /KIS ant' mon a bkers,
i butcher's, tobacconist's, a cook's. or confeeioner's. 'Phev are, however, not to allow the brew r. the distiller, the eolonial
planter to have an opportunit,t ot coMpetition against - the
foreign wine grower. Thekt enstonaers will call in, vain Inr
stout, homebrewed, NM, gi;rl,. or whisky. Route produce thee Claret,. burgund:e4 nod other foreign prof
to r. fuse tn seat)
ands are ,dupc.to.be favoured at the ex liense of the industry Of
British si,i,fijeo:. .Ts that tenable firal position ?
To give. a wine 'Wrote to evert' subject who Pays for it, is to
j legalise every. pl. e. of nubile resort, every club-6T diisipition,
everYtialnee of assignation, every 'rendezvous. of viee or crime_
A hut, a stable, a coivahed, a travelling waggon will be covered
by the definition. With wine to sell and spirits to smuggle under
Mr. Seynier's provision, the number .of "refreshment rooms"
will increase to hundreds of thousands. Evert now mart' beer-
houses, especially in country places, are the haunts of:burglars,
ICarnwaymen and harpers. What anapiint of constabulary,
what bench of magistrates rnuld cope with or controls or perhaps half, a millien quarter.
,oinovly-opened places of resort?
Would not such a gigantic syktem become wholly unmanage-
able ? If it were found to he injuriene and daueroua, eauld it be, suppressed after vast, varied, 6 - --new'
inteteses .bad been called lino being •by the . folly of
Parliament ?. A - new reform bill, reducing
franchise to Eln, and the borough suffrage the county
to £6, will
give every reirealonent room a qualification, make every place
of resogit a rendezvous for political Agitation and a focus for
too 'much poli-
electors. It is charged upon us that we liave
tical influence now. What Parliament will be able: to eope
with the refreshment-room interest' indefinitely multiplied,
when its advantage is OPPOsed t 4 tha„t of the public 1 what
government will be able toNsillsstE4ut tEle•illlPortunities. of such
inous of enfranchlood PP. tittioneNs?.. Whatever, therefore, iti
done now will he done irrevocably', Tentative legislation is
impossible where vast new interests depend upon making what
is etperimental Permtment, • • •
Is drunkenness mat sufficiently prevalent now, that we
shmild quadruple its opportunities and temptations! Women
now are ashamed to be seen at the bar of 'beer or publialionses.
They resort to the pastrycooks, the confectioners, the eating-
house. But if they can find wine where the. resort only for
pastry, soup, or coffee, the question will be, not how many
indulge in wine, but how few abstain 'P in Scotland, where
licensing . was indiscriminate, the drunkenness of women
became alarming. To bribe them, to buy his tea and sugar,
the grocer treated servant girls to port or Whisky; 'And under
nretence of inakingptirehases Of neoessaries, the wives of the
himalder._ ulasses treated themselves to a gossip and a -dram.
The Prea,mble to the Ant reealling the right of indiscriminate
licimaint-deklitrii*", That- great evils have been found to wise
from the granting certificates for spirits, wine, &c., to be-eon
turned en the nremises, to dealers in provisions anti other such
ectomoditip,o

The heavy price paid by the publican far tits lease is a recog-
nisance to the law. The forfeiture of it would amount to an
enormous penalty: He •nattst ‘t), order to conciliate the
police ; he must protect the. reyenne to protect himself ,from
conviction. 13qt tthatbail'still refreshment rooms give to the
excise or the carstoma? What guarantee need they tender for
deeelley and order 1,, Their lieenae is of no value ; to forfeit it
la to kiae.nothing worth preserving. And all this stimulus to
secret feinale.tippling, this avowed incitement by Government
itself to wine-lilbbing ; for what'
Will it increase the consumption of duty-paying wine ;+
Then it will be at the expense of duty-paying home-made
beer and spirits. . If it will not affect the consumption of
these
,then it will only not do so by enlarging the area ".of
drinkLig. The people can consuro,e no more than they can pay
far-- If they grieved more on taxed wine, the less will remain
for tea, yielding aa.ax, of tour hundred per cent., sugar, of two
hundred per pent, or tobaoeo, of twelve hundred per cent.
?Wait tiontrol can revenue °teen' have overhucha system?
What staff or customs or excise could supervise a quarter of a
Million of sine shops? It is notoriotts now that spirits. are
sold Ander a beer license extensively. ' It 14 throngh the beer
houses, whose leases are of no value, that amoggling la risked,
' and facilities given for "moving off", illicit spirits. Mr.
Gladstone proposes to permit the sale of wine. as such,. con-
taining 40 per cent of aloobalie strenoh.. NVlio ix to distin-
guikh between strong wine and-weak rum sr-brandy ? Narho is
to test it in thowontia of houses in the 'United Kingdom ? How
is the tobacconist ar PaStryt3(x* to know when he exceeds the
law 1' 'H smuggled much sggled gin, whisky, rum, and brandy
will be. "moved off" ,by the smuggle' themselves, under
the disguise of other Hayes, when they , may an
extemporise houses in their own tenancy for the sate of
wines? How many disreputable houses will be stint, against
the authorities and informers, but opened to known customers
to whom they may supply contraband liquors?:
This is no the oaly way in which the revenue would suffer.
sluff-shop, eating-house, pastry-00a, provision warehouse,
b ,ker's, and grocer's wine scold be manufactured at home.
Champagne from rhuh,ar4 gooseberries, or cider already has a
place in the marksl. The "13,ritjsh wine-maker" would exert
his chemical ingenuity to supply " foreign acinea.anne,onsokm,
of IL. Customs. Licensed wine•anerelmats are a substantial
and respectable body of men. Biit make nine-chinking a taste
and habit of the poor, by caffernin encouragement to cheapness-
and the use of the lowest qualities of vinous produce, and the
new houses to be o.Perke4 by the Chancellor of the Exehequer
o
will find wine for the million." on the most patriotic
prin-
-044,,,, without troubling either France or ,Spain. Most
assuredly the Exchequer will not get what certainly the dis-
twet and the brewer will lose. The premiutnegnupaor
natheeastuurar oi
facture of wine 'being greater than upon an
beer, it is obvious that to turn the taste of the masses in the
direction of claret or cheap sherry is to give a stimulus to the
consumption of a totally unprodoctive British imitation, from
which the revenue must materially suffer.
Is the budget not anfficiently experimental alieadv,
without
adding to its hazards by such a social and fiscal revolution as
au
thies
sive and xten and
substantial an orde ing to strike- at the WIG% of toe prosperity of j
r a society as ours 1 .
,Are
the. •
representations of the police, the almost unanimous on-
viction of the magistrates, th,e evidence of the gh Au' -man or
the Board or Excise; is all Oils overarlieliniiia: —-' t
irls,3'
authority Against inchscrintinate licensing to be totally ignoredf
merely that the conschription or British liquors may be s(‘(ted in favour of foreign wines ? Is the
_whole 3PastsluePgiset-
lotion on the subject of licensing', extending over hundreds
of years, and uniformly recognising the necisitv'of nagisterial
limitation and control to be summarily exploded
u as an anti-
foreignd, teeforee on our masses an at far
commodit,es at the expense of native producetlstei not necessary to the completion of the treata' ; it is not --tents tial to:the scheme of the budget; it Will hazard, but canno; increase the relienne. ' • '
As to the motion '.of Sir:. Josenb, Paxton, that the wine
license to refreshment rooms,_ " shall include the,_ power, lif
. selling. beer in bottles," we. would hope that it, is unneces-
sary to elaborate the exposition of the absurdity -which lies
on its:krtace, A wine license to sell beer. is a practical
bull-4 sell beer "in bottles," while nothing,
,is said about
qurgity or conditiom is ,merely to prokribe jugs and quart
pots, and to make legislation .ridiculous. Already in Paris,
because the tariff restricts cabarets in the; sale pf....nitliell ate.
in draft, the law is evaded by drainingit,4orn the cask into a
bottle in place of running it into a tumbler or spot.
In conclusion, we would respectfully ask if public opinion is
to go fornothing with Caavennuetit? ' We are not aware of a
single meeting being held ,of petition: presented to throw the
wine and spirit trade open, while hundreds of both hive
appeared to, increase the restrictions won and circumscribe
tke munber of places for the consumption of intoxicating
drinks. The clergy of all denominations, with their congre-
gations, philanthropie ,and educational bodies, the judges
from the bench, recorders bebre the grand jun:, base
all denounced the increase Of tempfailons—"to the con-
sumption of beverages which stimulate to crime. Are these
protests againit a headlong policy to be ignored by ministers ?
We cannot' afford to violate the law, to defraud the revenue,
to incur penalties. How 'can we compete with those who have
nothing to lose—to whom the risk of detection is without
hazard, and whom the amercement of fines would leave no
poorer than before'" Deprive us of our profits, and where will
be .safety for trAvelling strangisrs, or our waarmg public—what
Rill become the character o our wayside houses, and decent
country inns? ' '
We entreat for these suggestions the candid consideration of
the Government. We had certainly understood that Sir C.
tion to. the Maraschino Act,
Wood, in deprecating our ciPP"i
had applied something like an assurance that we were not to
be further disturbed. We urgently solicit now that a final
period may be put to the course of meddling legislation, which
keeps Ai in sit :penile and bur trade in uncertainty.
- . (dy order)
ClC?enrge Adams; Chairman, Thomas Smith, Secretary : Lon-
don Licensed Victuallers' Protection Society, 90, Parringdon-
, street. '
..E.d.witra Harcourt, Chairman, -Thomas Harrison,
, Secretarr-.
Birinyi* gham United Towns' Association and- National Detence
League, 11, Moore-ttreet, 'Birmingham.
Andrew. Bobbie, Chairman, George Candelet, Secretary
Manchester Licensed 'Victuallers' Association, 25, Brazennosea
street, Manchester.
Matthew Warriner, Chairman, 4: If. Crossna,an, Secretary
Liverpool Licensed Victuallers' Association,'West Derby-road:
H. E. Allen, Chairman, Henry Morrish, Secretary s Bristol
Licensed Victuallet a' Association, Higlasstreet„
John Bland, Chairman, George Skinner, Secretary : Sheffield
Licensed Victuallers' Association,-Nia,- Westfield-lib:re, West-
street. .
M. Brown, Chairman, Samuel Clearer, secretary 1 Leicester
Lice; sed Vichialleas! Asaogiation, Northanipton-iguare. •--
9Q, rarringdon,street, March 10, Woo.
Mr. DANSON next add,ressetl the meeting, Re said,
As a member of the deputation that waited upau -the
Ohancellor of the. Exchequer, he could fully agree with
the chairman's , remarks upon the promise that -Mr,
Qitidstone Olen made to place the granting of 'the"
.
'licenses wider - the. surveillance of the magistrates, In
the bill,*s...it alskar.stood,-b.orase, hothiott-ef—the-eort
had been introduced. -It Was true it did contain some
slight restrictions, ,liiit theylwere of no more effect than
the -prestur,--reskietiQUS_oll beef.-houses, :In the ewe of
beer-.boutlesr,it was a-riOtoriousftrot it-sue.t the magistrates
were in many instance even unable to exercise the slight
amount of powei, they possessed,' 'Now by this' bill they ,
I were going to give the
,privileges of licensed victuallers
tu allt, sorts. of houses, without placing them under any
further
.yestraint than that which had been found so
inefgeient in th ease of beer-houses. As the deputation
erpthitiod to-tire Chancellor of the -Exelialtief, Thririr
,would virtually extend the beer house system, in its j
..- ,
*worst and most objectionable form 'The provisions which I
'heSl_43teßintr_oiluoecl fet-the_proteetion-of thefair.trader 1 I
were simply a subterfuge
,and a 4.allacy. This point I
of the Ilon-protection of the fair trader was pressed upon
Me, Gladstones notice,
„but, it appeared, without any
ffeet. 'On reading the memorial for the first time, he
hought the language was rather strong ; but there was
nothing in it inconsistent with the facts of the case. It

Tin expectation that the habits of society be improved
bN substituting a taste for wine in the room of beer or spirits,
is POrely chimerital. In.. the countries, such as. Belgium,
Holland, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Russia, America, where
the duties are are less than those prop,osfd by the budge. wine
is wry little used among communities remarkable for addiction
to drinking. In France itsen beer is preferred by the working
classes wherever its, price does not greatly exceed.that W wine.
Th€,Onotint of ' the intoxicating element in beer of aterage
strength does ,not, exceed 12 per cent., while the_msnuatto
alcoholic strength contemplated in the wine of the refreshment
rooms is 18 per cent., rising ta three times the strength of beer,
or to 40 per cent. in inebriating capacity. In Spain wine con-
tains 33i per cent. of alcohol, which can be had cheaper, and
in greater quantity, than that of France. Should a license be
granted. intoxication will be as easy at the refreshment room
as at the beer house. '