The Express.
London, England, 1853-11-09 00:00:00

latter proportion ii fully borne, oat by the
of otber towns furnished to the Committee.
iserpool, Mr. ROBERTSON GLADSTONE 'alerted

or
eoi4ates
to Li-
d*

a great part of the public-houses—if we recol-
lect aright not less than I,ooo—either belonged or
were under the control of the brewers; in Norwich,
another witness stated, out of 566 licensed houses,
there were only 18 free end independent; and in
South Shields it appears that more than twc-thirds
were what is there roughly but expressively called
" tied."

Now in what other trade in the kingdom is there
any such dependence and subordination of retailers
to manufacturers as this? To assert that such re-
lations can be beneficial to the public in an econo-
mical point of view is quite of • piece with the
most exploded bread-monopoly fallacy. It injures the
public in a hundred various ways. For example, the
license is at the bottom of badly-served, ill-furnished,
and high-priced hotels ; it is the cause of beer-
houses now being in inferior and poorer hands ; i-
prevents the flow of capital both into the mildew-
ture and the vending of malt liquor; it raises the
price of beer, and by limiting its consumption injures
both the revenue and the agriculture of the country,
and by giving the friends of the magistracy and the
great power over licenses it interposes between the
police and their duty, and so protects vice and im-
morality.
But, as a general rule, what is economically hurt-
ful to the public cannot be profitable to retail trade.
To contend that the subserviency of 5,000 out of the
6,000 London licensed houses to the great metropoli-
tan brewers, or that the dependence of 548 Norwich
public-houses out of 566 on the wholesale trade, can
be advantageous to the retailers, amounts almost to c.
contradiction in terms. It is true that Mr. HANBURI
denies that in London any difference is made in
prices to free or to dependent customers. But even it
this be true as to prices in London, it is not
the cue in country towns ; fur at Norwich, beer.
it is distinctly proved, is 6s. a barrel cheap:
to the free than it is to the bound publican ; and
while at South Shields " tied" houses are compelled
to pay 21e., the price of the same commodity to their
free rivals varies, according to credit, from 20s. to
225. It is, indeed, in the very nature of things that
a man free to purchase where he pleases, and having,
as freedom from control indicates that he has, money
to pay promptly for his purchases, must buy at ad-
vantages, in the open market, which are denied to
those confined to a single wholesale house. Such a
man, at liberty to go with his money where he
pleases, must be able to give his customers a cheap:is
and a better article, and in the long run to conduct
his business with much greater profit to himself.

Restricted and dear ;whets are not however the
only evil the licensing system inflicts on retailers.
A license in London, it is generally admitted in the
evidence taken by Mr. Vlutrats' committee, suite=
the value of the house licensed by 5001. at least to an
in-coming tenant. Here then is at once a large
amount of extra capital unnecessarily required for
this trade; required, not to carry it on, not to pur.
chase front the manufacturer, nor to pay for fixtures or
good will, for all these form additions to the mini-
mum of 5001., but needful to obtain permission to
enter a trade subjected to such artificial restric-
tions as a magisterial license. And this it it..
which in nine eases out of ten reduces the liecnsLil
victualler to the control of the brewer, which gene-
rally embarrasses him, and too often at last ruins
hint. In a law, productive of these consequences, the
retailer, wo confidently assert, has no real interest.
On the contrary, his prosperity would take a new
►tart from the opening of his trade; for in a state ni
freedom he would have all the advantages of at,
established business requiring less capital. Let him
put no faith then in the idle fears of Mr. Alderman
WIRE; but believe that freedom to his trade is the
best basis on which it can be established.

For there is no necessary connexion between unre-
stricted competition and a multiplication of drinking-
shops, nr an increase of iminoralioy. At first, more
houses might, indeed, be opened, but their continu-
ance would of course depend on the rate of profit. It
from a large increase the rate fell below that to be
obtained in other trades, the number of houses would
quickly be reduced again. If the number were
maintained at the higher figures, it would be because
the profits were amply remunerative of the capital
embarked. Of this canon of trade the beer-houses
are perhaps one of the most telling examples; for, ac.
cording to two witnesses, we find that the number
of licenses, which in 1838 was 43,717, in 1849 Lad
fallen to 38,200. And as to morality, what says
Mr. DANIEL WHITTLE HARVEY ? "I do not con-
sider that, if Me number of Licenses in the' City ?cos
doubled, it would require the addition of a constable."
Larger experience or keener observation than those
of the City Commissioner of Police it would be diffi-
cult to bring to bear on the subject.

VICTORIA TO WIT.-MORALS AND POLICY

OP COLONISATION.

The return of the immigration agent for the colony
of Victoria, for year 1832, is both curious and in-
teresting. The addition to the population of the colony,
in 1852, by immigration was in all 94,664; the dimi-
nution by emigration was 31,038 ; the balance of
immigration in excess was 63,626. Of the immi-
grants 74,812 were males, and 19,792 females; of
the emigrants 28,620 were males-2,118 females.
In other words, tho proportion of males to females
leaving the colony was as fourteen to one, while the
proportion of males to females entering the colony
was only as four to one. If the ratio between the
sties, in the additions to the colonial population
by immigration in future years, continue the same,
the excess of males over females—one great source
of the vice and rudeness which still taints so large a
proportion of the population—will be gradually dimi-
nished. The total number of immigrants from the
United Kingdom was 44,763, of these 30,032 were
males and 14,731 females. The unassisted immi-
grants from the United Kingdom consisted of 22,270
males and 7,016 females ; the assisted of 7,762 males
and 7,715
_ females. The immigrants into Victoria
from New South Wales were 12,523 males and 1,264
females; from Van Diemen's Land 17,107 males and
1,396 females; from South and Western Australia
12,908 males and 1,940 females; from New
Zealand and the South Seas 843 males and
60 females; and from foreign parts 1,457 males
and 191 females. As the return embraces only the
arrivals in the colony by sea, the immigration from
New South Wales and South Australia is probably
stated at too low a figure. The most important fact
elicited by this return is the greater facility with
which men are induced to change their homes than
women. This shows in the first place the necessity
of assisted emigration for a young colony. The
number of males and females among the assisted
immigrants into Victoria from Great Britain is
almost equal, while even from the immediately
adjoining provinces of New South Wales and
Vain Diemen's Land the proportion of males to
females is as twelve and seventeen to one. It is coin-
, partitively easy fur an attractive colony like Victoria
. to obtain a sufficient supply of male emigrants, but it
costs some exertion to get females. In the second
place, the excess of male over female emigrants from
, all the countries included in the retain of the Vic-
toria immigration agent, shows the ad% outage of
hoeing a large proportion of females among the set-
tlers of a new colony. If men proceed alone or with
few feinaks to a new settlement, slight difficulties ur
mere whim may make them fly off again and aban-
don it ; but set women down in a country, new or
old, and they will cling to it, and keep a sufficient
number of men with them.

LETTERS FOR TIIE ARCTIC SUlPS.—Letters for
officers and men serving on board the Enterprise,
Rattlesnake, and ('lover, in Behring Straits, to
be sent to the Admiralty on or before the 31st
December.