The Express.
London, England, 1853-07-26 00:00:00

PARLIAMENTARY COMMITTEES.

THE COMMITTEE ON METROPOLITAN PUBLIO
HOUSES.
yeeteycZtty, before the committee appointed to in-
quire into ti. ii question, Hon. C. I'. Villiers in the chair,
and a numerctse body of the parties interested,
Mr. Ashley, enlicitor to the Metropolitan Beerscllers' As-
sociation, was examined chiefly by the hen. chairman and
another hon. member, Mr. Ker Seymer. Mr. Ashley stated
that the members of that association amounted to nearly
1,000. In some of the laws at present regulating the beer
shops of the metropolis there were one or two oppressive
provisions, regarding which he suggested some amendments.
As the law now stood the overseer of the parish had to cer-
tify to the excise whether the applicant for a license was
the true owner and real resident of the house, and had
the power, under any caprice, of withholding his signs-
ture; and he (the witness) would sue gist that the whole
economy connected with the licensing both of beer shop
keepers and licensed victuallers should be transferred to the
Commissioners of Police. The Public-Houses Act (11 6: 12
Vic.) had been instrumental, by means of restricting the
opening of houses on Sundays within certain limits, in
checking to an enormous extent drunkenness throughout
the metropolis, and preserving decency and decorum in the
public thoroughfares on that day, and from what he could
hear lie was opinion that the publicans of the metropolis
would have no objection fur their own convenience to have
' their houses closed entirely on that day. tie was not at uq
of opinion that the Beer Act had been a failure. It had
enabled the public to have better supplies, and furnished
them with greater facilities for obtaining it. When
the act was first passed there were only 24,342
houses, now there were upwards of 40,000 and
one large house had increased its consumption of malt
from 1,000 quarters to 30,000 quarters per annum, sending
out 2,000 barrels a week, at 30s. a barrel. He thought
that, as regarded licenses, the beer sellers of the metropolis
should be put upon the came footing as the licensed vic-
tuallers, and be allowed to sill wines and spirits. The
present system of granting licenses was a mere lottery. The
magistrates were influenced for and against, and there was,
at least, 5,0001. a year spent in speculative applications of
this kind, resulting in no success, among barristers and
lawyers. A man might make ten applications, at a cost of
100 i., for a license, and be no nearer obtaining it than at
first; and on this ground he would place the administra-
te n of the matter in the hands of the Chief Commissioners
of Police, with power of appeal to a jury. The trade, he
thought, should be entirely thrown open, and that every
person, on obtaining his license, and under certain
regulations, should' be allowed to sell beer and
spirits, just as the community were allowed to
trade in any other article. It had been stated
that of the 6,000 licensed victuallers' houses in the
metropolis, 5,000 were free limn the influence of the great
brewers, but he thought that 1,000 was nearer the mark.
The brewers always got their money and made sure of it,
while other creditors went without. He sould not intones
the committee wheth, r there was a majority of applications
for licenses before or alter a general election. (A laugh.)
Mr. Mather gave evidence to show that nearly all the
beer shops in North and South Shields were " tied," as it
is termed, under bond to the grc .t brewers, and that these
were the worst conducted kind of houses, while the free housts
were well ordered. These beer-shops laid in clandestine
stocks of spirits and retailed them without a license, and no
one interfered to inform. Upwards of 300 houses in North
and South Shields were under the subjugation of ten
brewers. He suggested an alteration in the present license
system, and proposed that the amount of it should be in
the ratio of the'population of the town or district, beginning
with 101., and rising in the scale of the census.