The Sun.
London, England, 1840-02-20 00:00:00

15th of March, respectively, and be in attendance till
the Committees are sworn."

BEER BILL.
Mr. PAKINGTON moved the second reading 0
the Sale of Beer Act Amendment Bill. In doing so,
he was bound to state the views which he entertained
upon the subject ; and he hoped the House would be-
lieve, that in again pressing upon Parliament the consider-
ation of that subject, he was act uated only by a sincere de-
sire to provide a check to the unfortunate and pernicious
system, which, most notoriously, and in the sight all, in
every town and county, was undermining the morals
and sapping the virtue of the artisans and labourers
throughout the country. He agreed with what had
been said by an Honourable Member opposite, that
the Bill was one which ought to be in the hands
of the Government. He was convinced that its
importance was such that it could not be carried
with advantage in the hands of a private Member, and
especially of one so humble as himself. He had endea-
voured to persuade the Government to take it up. He
had requested the Right Hon. Gentleman (the Chan-
cellor of the Exchequer) to take the matter into his
own hands ; but the Right Honourable Gentleman
declined to do so, and lie professed to hold dif-
ferent views upon the subject from those which
he (Mr. Pakington) entertained. He therefore had
no alternative, but to undertake this measure himself,
with the determination to do his best with it, relying
upon Hon. Members on both sides of the House to give
it due consideration, and to assist him in providing a
remedy for evils, the extent of which was not to be
disputed. He would not, on this occa-
sion, detain the House by • going into any
extended proofs of the crying necessity that
existed for legislating on the subject. He had
detailed those proofs at some length last Session, and he
thought it unnecessary to do so again, after what oc-
curred in the House on that occasion. He had then
also stated Icily the reasons which induced him to pro-
pose that measure, and the occurrences which bad since
taken place throughout the country rendered it need-
less to occupy any time with the repetition of
them. The Bill of which he now proposed the
second reading, was in most respects the same
with that which be had introduced last year.
He did not succeed last year in carrying the Bill he had
brought forward—he was obliged to withdraw it ; but
although he did not succeed, he considered the result
of what had taken place in that House and another
place, had placed the present question in a very different
position than when it was brought forward last session,
because both Houses of Parliament had admitted that
the evils of the beer-shops were great, and that some
legislative measure was necessary. In that House the
principle of the measure he had introduced was ad-
mitted on both sides, as well as by her Ma-
jesty's Ministers, but they could not concede the
details. These reasons induced him not to enter
so fully into the subject as he had done on a for-
mer occasion ; but there were two points connected with
the subject which had arisen since last Session, which
he wished to allude to, and which would go far to
strengthen the case be had to maintain before the House.
Those two points were, first, the circumstance of the
late rebellion in Monmouthshire, and how far the beer-
houses had been the cause of it ; and next, certain ob-
servations and opinions of the Noble Lord the Secre-
tary of State for the Colonies. In consequence of
the disturbances that had taken place in Monmouth-
shire, he had thought it his duty to obtain cer-
tein returns with respect to public and beer-houses,
in that county, and from those returns he found that in
Abergavcnny, containing the large district of Nan-
tyglo, pith a population of 6,000, there were 41 beer
houses in addition to the regular licenced houses.
In Pontypool, in which there were nine parishes, and
14,000 inhabitants, there was no less than 229 houses
for the sale of intoxicating liquors ; and in Duke's
Town, which had been the chief sea; of Chartism,
the results were nearly the same. He did
not know the population of that town, but the
number of houses altogether was 151, and of these 151
there were five public houses and 28 beer-shops, making
33 houses for the sale of intoxicating liquors, or one
house in every five being either a public-house
or a beer shop. No doubt he might be told that if
the people were disposed to rebel, whether there were
beer shops or not these disturbances would have taken
place, but no man could deny that they held out great
temptations and opportunities, and he wou'd add that,
with two exceptions, all the Chartist meetings and lodges
had been held in beer•shops. He would ask whether
it could be considered essential to the comfort, the wel-
fare, and the rational enjoyment of the working elaqaps
that every fifth house should he a beer-shop or a pub-
lic-house ? The second point to which he wished to
allude was the statement made by the Noble
Lord, the Secretary for the Colonies, viz., that the
present system of beer-shops was injurious to the in-
terests of the country, and that he looked for a remedy,
not to legislation, but to an improved system of police.
--(Hear, bear.) He had stated on a former occasion
that he thought the Government bad conferred a
great benefit en the country by the improved police
system which they had introduced ; but lie warned
them, and he warned the Noble Lord not to elpeet
from that improved system of police a degree of benefit
it was never likely to confer. It was absurd to place
the youth of both sexes in positions a here their minds
would be contaminated, and where they would be
brought into daily and hourly intimacy with poachers,
drunkards, prostitutes, and thieves,and then to say if they
transgressed the law, there was a police to punish
them. In his opinion, prevention was better than cure.
He would now proce, d to ment:on the provisions of
his Bill. lie had been strongly urged by many persons
to bring forward a measure for the total repeal of the
existing Beer-laws. Others had urged him to do that
of which his Noble Friend the Member for Liver-
pool had given notice on a future stage of that
Bill, namely, to prohibit totally the sale of beer for con-
sumption on the premises. He had refused to do
either. He had no wish to restore the monopoly of
the brewers, nor to return to the exclusive licensing
system which was in existence before the passing of
the Beer Act. He thought it would be better
to get rid of the worst part of the present system with•
out returning to the old one. Tho principle on which
he proposed to proceed was, that no one should be
allowed to sell intoxicating liquors, unless they were pos-
sessed of a property qualification sufficient to
guarantee in most cases their respectability.—
( Hear, hear.) He had last year proposed two classes
of ratings for qualification. The first class of rating
was 181. for large towns, and 101. for the country dis-
tricts. It had been objected to this proposition that 101.
was too high a rating for the country districts. He had
admitted that it might appear high for some country
districts, but over and above the city districts there
were large populations—as, for instance, in Monmouth-
shire where there were no large towns and no municipal
authorities. In these districts he did not think 101.
too high a qualification. In the present Bill
he should propose three classes of qualifications instead
of two, and he thought he had reason to complain of the
conduct of the Government last year, when they pro-
posed certain amendments to his measure, that
those amendments had been proposed without any
knowledge whatsoever of the subject. A qualification
cf 151. had been proposed for the metropolis ; they ought
to have known that that would hardly have touched
a single beer-house ; 101. had been proposed by
the Chancellor of the Exchequer as the qua-
lification for cities and towns. The Right
Honourable Gentleman was unaware that that
had been the law of England for five years,
and had been found totally inefficient. He had pro-
posed, in the third place, a qualification of 5/ for the
rural districts ; such a qualification was a mockery, and
worse. than useless. He should now propose three classes,
which he did with reference to the parish to which he had
alluded, for he had no hesitation in saying he had drawn
this part of the case with special reference to the distur-
bances in Monmouthshire—the first, that in parishes eon.
taining not more than 2,500 inhabitants, no man should keep
a beer-house who was not rated at 111. per annum, t
middle class in country districts 81. per annum, and
addition to that, he proposed that no man should sell on
the premises who did not pay five guineas for his license;
this was part of his proposition last year, and was adopted
by the Government. The only further alteration was
that persons called on to c( rtify to the respectability of the
arties, instead of being rated at 6/. as now, which
as found w
ould be ratedii.operative, at 121. per annum. Having this
explained the provisions of the Bill, he should reserve
his further observations to his reply to the objections that
might be offered. He would only beg in conclusion to
remind the House that this was e,o party measure, that ho
looked to both sides of the House for support ; be hoped
to receive it from the Hon. Member for Finsbury, on ac-
count of some circumstances that had come under his
knowledge. He thought he could not give a stronger
proof that it was not a party meaure than that
the Honourable Member for Sorriersetshire was'
the seconder of the Bill, and he was most happy to
have the benefit the weight of his name would give. Ho
would further remind the House, that he was supported by
magistrates of all classes and parties, Whig and Tory,
county and city, from those of the ancient courts of quar-
ter sessions, and also of the new system of municipal cor-
porations, who prayed with one consent the Legislature
would devise some method to remedy the evils of the apt-
tern ; and he implored the House, not to pass his Bill—let
that stand upon its merits—but to give the subject that at-
tention it deserved. He then moved the second reading of
the Bill.

Mr. WARBURTON said it a; peared to Lim the
course ta.(Ln ort ti at Bid was hale to a primary oh*.