The Sun.
London, England, 1830-04-16 00:00:00

COMMITTEE ROOM, LONDON TAVERN.

APRIL 8, 1830.
AT a Special Meeting of the LICENSED
VICTUALLERS, held this day, it was Resolved
that the following Petition be presented

TO THE HONOUR ABLE THE COMMONS OF THE
UNITED KINGDOM OF GREAT BRITAIN AND
IRELAND, IN PARLIAMENT ASSEMBLED.
THE HUMBLE PETITION OF THE UNDERSIGNED
PROPRIETORS AND OCCUPIERS OF PUBLIC
HOUSES IN LONDON AND ITS VICINITY,

That your Petitioners have learnt with surprise and
alarm, that a Bill has recently been introduced into your
Honourable House for the purpose of removing all restric-
tions on the Sale of Beer by retail, which Bill, your Peti-
tioners humbly conceive, to be as unjust in principle, as it
will prove to be injurious to them, and mischievous to
the Public in its operation, if passed into a Law, whilst it
is unnecessary for the attainment of the object proposed.
That your Petitioners are metnhens of a large body of
the community, who have embarked their Money in pro-
perty affected by this Bill. That the Money so employed
by a great number of your Petitioners, constitutes the
whole earnings of their industry and economy for a series
of years, and that the entire Capital invested in PUblic
Houses and the requisite Furniture, amounts to no less a
sum than Thirty Millions.
That until thee last few weeks your Petitioners had
every reason to believe, that the property thus acquired
was as perfectly seem.: to them as that belonging to any
other, members of the community, and 'that tbe same LaNsr
under which they had been enabled to obtain it, would
bate been continued, so .as to preserve to them the fruits
of their labour. _ _

That relying upon the continuance of such Laws—Laws
which have existed without interruption for Four Cen-
turies—the far greater number •f your Petitioners have
entered into engagements which they will be wholly unable
to perform, whereby many will be reduced to a state of
pauperism, whilst numerous Orphans and others, whose
sole subsistence depends upon Annuities charged upon this
description of property, will find themselves wholly destitute,
and be compefled to resort to their several parishes for relief.
That your Petitioners who are Publicans, trust that
their conduct as a body will be found to have been such as
to render them not undeserving of the attention and sup-
port of your Honourable House. That it has been their
constant endeavour to merit the approbation of the Public,
and so far as their means would allow, of preventing any
of their Members from becoming burthensome to the rest
of the community; and with this view they have, under
the fostering care of an Illustrious Duke, from time to
time subscribed such sums of money as in to result, has
enabled them to provide for the support of their neces-
sitous and unfortunate Members and their Families, and
for the education of their Children.

That your Petitioners feel convinced, that your Honour-
able House will not proceed to alter Laws materially affect-
ing Thirty Millions of Property, without the fullest enquiry
and the most mature deliberation, more especially as it
cannot fail to be remembered, that those Laws having had
their origin, at all events, as early as the fifteenth century,
the principle established by them has not only been in-
variably adhered to, but has been confirmed and fortified
by successive Parliaments from that time to the present;
and that no attempt was ever made to interfere with that
system until the year 1822, when propositions submitted
for limiting the coutroul of the Magistracy in granting
Licences for the retail of Beer, were rejected by your
Honourable House, upon the ground that the measure
was pregnant with the meat pernicious tendencies, and
that if the power and coutroul theretofore exercised by
Magistrates were withdrawn, or in any manner restricted,
great disorder and immorality would necessarily ensue.
That your Petitioners conceived, that by the statute
9th Geo. IV., chap. 61. (commonly called Mr. Estcour t's
Act), every evil and abuse that was supposed to have cr pt
into the system of.licensing Public Houses was effectually
checked or destroyed.
That by the exist:ng law, Magistrates are empowered to
license any number of houses they may think fit :—that
in the exercise of their discretion it is their duty to be
guided by a due regard to the population, and the neces-
sities of that'population, on the one hand, and to the moral
habits and dispositions of the people on the other, and
that such discretionary power has bean wisely confided to
those, who, as a body, have exercised it with integrity
and judgment,—the natural conservators of the public peace.
That your Petitioners collect from the provisions of the
. . . . . . _

Bill, that it is intended to withdraw this wholesome con_
trout from the Magistracy—to enable any individual to
obtain a license at his own mere will and pleasure, and
open a Public House for the Sale of Beer wherever and
whenever he may think fit,—under the impression that
by augmenting the number of Public Houses the con-
sumption of the article will be increased, the price
diminished, and the public derive a corresponding benefit.
That your Petitioners are duly sensible of the advantage
that must result to the community at large, from the abo-
lition of the Duty, and that a considerable increase in

the consumption of Beer will necessarily follow :—your
Petitioners however respectfully submit, that the expecta-
tion of any further increase, by reason of an unlimited
and uneontrouled licensing of Public Houses, will not be
realised, but ou the contrary, as your Petitioners if per-
mitted so to do, are prepared to prove, that the quality of
the article will be deteriorated, the price augmented, and
consequently, that the consumption will not be increased,
nor the public benefited. -
That in the year 1824, being the first after the passing
of the Act authorising the sale by retail of Beer of au in-
termediate quality, the number of licensed public Victuallers
in England and Wales was 48,804, of which number
22,573 brewed their own Beer; and there were alto at
the same period 25 intermediate Brewers. That the total
quantity of Beer brewed by the public Brewers in the year
ending July 1524 was 3,744,243 barrels, by the Victuallers
2,345,738, and by the intermediate Brewers 15,957,
making together a total of 6,105,938 barrels. That in the
same year, 1824, another Act was passed, with the view
of increasing the consumption, by which Brewers were
enabled for the first time to sell Beer by retail; and thus
as the demand might from time to time arise, the public
were provided with the means of obtaining a supply of
Beer to an unlimited extent throughout every part of the
country, and wholly independent of the Licensed Victuallers.
That since the year 18,14, and in addition to the ineens
of supply provided by the two Statutes referred to, a pro-
gressive increase has taken place in the number of Licensed
Victuallers, and that in the year ending sth January
1830, the total number amounted to 50,442, of which
23,304 brewed their own Beer. There were also at this
period 22 intermediate Brewers and 1,269 retail Brewers,
making an increase within the last five years and a half,
in the number of houses licensed for the sale of Beer, of
2,907, exclusive of the numerous retailers of intermediate
Beer, for the sale of which no license was requisite.
That at the last mentioned period, the quantity of Beer
brewed by the public Brewers was 3,569,363 barrels ; by
the Victuallers 2,166,096, by the retail Brewers 213,831,
and by the intermediate Brewers 55,498, making a total
of only 6,004,788 barrels, and thus your Honourable
House will perceive, that notwithstanding the great in-
crease in the number of licensed houses, and of the facili-
ti, afforded for an unlimited supply of the article, there
has been a falling off in the entire quantity of Beer brewed
in England and Wales, of upwards of 100,000 barrels.
That your Honourable House will be aware, that in all
cases where the supply is fully equal to the demand, (am:
in the present instance it has been proied by the foregoing
statement to be more than equivalent to it,) every addition
to the number of retailers is, as le girds the price of the
article, detrimental to the public ; for if by vending 200
barrels of Beer per annum at a profit of ten shillings per
barrel, a Publican can obtain a moderate subsistence for
himself and family, it is evident, that if he can sell only 100
Barrels (which exceeds the average quantity sold by
45,981 Licensed Victuallers in the country,) he must
charge an extra ?lice to the public, to enable him to live.
That your Petitioners also beg to represent to your Ho-
nourable House, that Beer is an article liable to be ma-

tuially injured .by changes of temperature,—is in other
respects of a perishable nature, and requir, a not only con-
stant attention, but a competent knowledge of the article,
to enable the vender of it to deliver it oat in good order.
That it has a'so this peculiarity attached to and inseparable
from it, viz. That its flavour and goodness (be its original
qualities ever so excellent,) depend upon the quickness
with which it is drawn from the cask, and that on this
Account also, it is matetially for the benefit of the commu-
nity, that the venders of Beer should not be extended be-
yond what is necessary to supply the demand.
That it has hitherto been the constant aim of the Le-

PALMERS' IMPERIAL NEUROTIC BALSAM, OR
NERVOUS AND STOMACHIC RESTORATIVE.
THE very great success which has attended
the administration of the above medicine in cases
of low nervous debility, and the surprising effects which
have been produced in speedily restoring tone to debilitated
stomachs, and, by so doing, strengthening the digestive
organs, ereating au appetite, and invigeratiug the whole
system, have induced the proprietor most strongly to re-
commend it to the notice of the public, and to assure them,
that, as an antidote against sickness, fainting, and hysteri-
cal affections, and as a Nervous and Stomachic Restorative,
it stands unrivalled, and is a speedy cure for the Ague.
The most satisfactory and respectable references might be
brought forward in its favour; but, as this method is fre-
quently adopted merely to deceive, and all a single bottle of
the Balsam will almost invariably afford the greatest relief,
if not wholly remove the complaint, the proprietor prefers
recommending a trial, and leaving it to stand on its own
merits.

Prepared only by alward Palmer, 249, Tooley-street,
near London-bridge, and sold in bottles, at 4s. 6d., 11 5.,
and 20s. each; the latter containing as much as six small
ones ; sold Also by C. Butler, 4, Cheapside ; J. Sanger,
150, Oxford-street; R. Johnston, 68, Cornbill ; J. Gif
ford, 104, Strand; E. Davies, 43, Wood-street; C. W.
Waltbew, 8, City-road; Fleming, 8, Holborn; and by
moat regpcctable chemists in town and country,