The Sun.
London, England, 1802-04-14 00:00:00

die Order of the Day for going into a Committee
upon the Beer and Malt Duty Bill.
Sir C; BUNBORY said, he was aware, that the
difficulties must be great indeed, to meet the great
expence incurred. He had always preferred, rather
to give his assistance, than to oppose the measures
of Government, but he was bound to watch over
the iuterests of his Constituents. The duty now
proposed, appeared to him to be oppressive, as it
would nearly double the former Duty upon Malt.
It would fall very hard upon industrious poor fa-
milies in the Country, who would, by this Tax,
be
,depriyed of their home-brewed beer, which
for:l.'6lod' one of their principal comforts. But the
etiiivbiildgibt stop there ; it would drive the 'La-
liiiatterAcilit'e public-house, where his morals would
beinjuredby bad company, and his health impaired
by spirituous liquors. Government had always
been anxious, in their Taxes, to take care of the in-
terests of the Lower Orders of the People, but upon
the present occasion, that system seemed to be
departed from. He objeaed to this Tax, because
, it would increase the price, and diminish the con.
stunption of Beer, and drive the Poor to the use of
spirituous liquors. It would confirm the fashiona-
ble prattice of drinking Wine at dinner, like
Frenchmen, and afterwards like Germans. Ano-
ther effect of this Tax would be, to discourage the
growth of Barley, and consequently, to discourage
Agriculture : Upon these grounds, he opposed the
SPEAKER leaving the Chair.
Mr. WHITBREAD said, that having troubled
the House upon this subject at considerable length
before, he should not now occupy much of their
time. This Tax he should contend was, in fact, a
Commutation for the Income Tax ; but the operation
of it would be entirely upon the Lower Orders,
while the Income Tax was paid by persons in a
different situation of life. The Minister had been
obliged to provide interest for 97 millions this ye:til.
56 millions of which it hecaMe necessary to pro.
vide interest for in consequence Of the repeal of the
Income Tax; consequently, if that Tax had not
been repealed, the present one would not have been
necessary-. The situation of the Labouring Poor
was not such as to enable them to pay an additional
halfpenny, for their beer, and, therefore, in his opi-
nion., .somearother object of taxation ought to-have
been resorted to. One of the worst effeas of this
would be that of driving the Poor from a good and
wholesome beverage,' and compelling them to have
recourse to spirits. This would he the inevitable
consequence, if they could not drink water. As a
Financier, the Right Hon. Gentleman ought not to
have resorted to this subject for taxation, '.because
the consumption of the at tide had decreased. In
the year 176 a, when the last duty was laid on,
though the circumstances of the times were very
dliferent, yet the consumption was very mnch di-
minished, and did not recover itself for three years.
—At that time there Was an allowance made to the
Brewers, for they were then thought worthy the
protection of Government.—This TaX would dtive
the Brewer to make the article lower than it was at
present, if that•were, possible (a laugh ).—Gentle-
men might laugh, but it was no joke, at least not
to him. He repeated that it was impossible to
make a lower extract than wits now done. He
trusted the Right Hon. Gentleman 'would reconsider
the subject, and that he would withdraw 04
' Bill.
—He complained that the Right Hon. Gentleman
had not, when he opened the Budget, fairly stated
the result of his own calculatiobs.—The Right
Hon. Gentleman had, by his own account, provided
Taxes to a larger amount than was necessary ; in
point of fad, he had proposed Taxes that would be
sufficient for'a moth larger Loan, for he had pro..
. posed Taxes to the amount of 750,0001. more than
was necessary to cover the Loan.He simposed.the
Right Hon. Gentle Man would give the House -some
explanation upon that subject.--But the RigheHon.
Gentleman had wholly omitted Scotland in his
calculations, and there were many other points
which the Right Hon., Gentleman had omitted,
so that, in fact, instead of having provided an
excess of Taxes to the amount of 750,0001. he had
actually provided an excess of i,500,0001. The
Right Hon. Gentleman had farmed his calculation
as if the consumption would not diminish, lint ii he
Wouldlook to the last two or three years, when the
price ofßeer was raised, he would see that the con-
stmiptiota had, at the same time, diminished. Tile
price of Beer had remained. the same since the year
1-760, which was a period of 42 years;and he shOuld
be happy to see it again reduced to the same
.price,
because he was sure the consumption would he very
considerably increased. The Brewers had been
enabled to withstand the late severe pressure, .by
some improvements which had been made in the
trade, and by some ingenious machinery which had
been invented ; but the cad of this Tax would he
most injurious to them. There was one effect which
would he produced by this additional duty, which,
though it might be advantageous to him personally,.,
yet would be ultimately most injurious to the trade,,
viz, that of ruining all the small houses in the trade.
Now, though this might be ultimately beneficial to
Mtn, yet he hoped he felt too strongly for the
Public Good, to receive any consolation froto,such,
an advantage. There was one poiot which it was:-
proper to state to the House, which was, that it had:
become a praetice among the Brewers to get posses.
sion of public-houses, Which made .thetulnerely the:
channels for issuing out bad and unwholesome
beverage to the Public. This plan of getting. pos...
session of public-houses,, had never been adopted
by the House to which he belonged ; but if this Tax
was peraisted in, they would be obliged to do it
in their own defence. There was one point of
view in, which the Right Hon. Gentleman did oatappear to have considered it, and that was, that he
would. gille a very great advantage to the private,
over public Brewer, and over the lower classes:
of, i,heaCeittimunity. A person who brewed for
liin4elfrauld go to market and buy- his Malt
anti lHnjis, at the same price as the ptiblic brewer,
but the Lifter .had ;in additional excise to pay of;
i.ss. 4d., a barrel ; notG, as the. poorer classes of the
CommtinitY.Ould riot go to market, and purchase
their own Malt and 1-16fis to-make Weir-own "Beer,
they must bny it at the public; house; earl& then they
would have to'pay the interest-of the capital
Brewer- and the Publican. Another part of the.
Right Hon, Getitleman's plan was, to deitroy the
differincGbetweenSmall Beet and Table Baer, be.

met in London ; in, this he was mistaken, for • r!el,,
cause he styposed :hat there was no sale for
was a considerable quantity used in the hospitals
wodu.t,
and the work-houses, and the increase of price
he lel
;lpepsreovveerdeloyi feltthis bmyetalsluemre.,
particularly hard upon the Brewers, who contribut d
•t
so largely to the Revenue, and also because 1
oppressive upon the poorer classes of the people
whom it would deprive of a wholesome beverage.
The CHANCELLOR a:Trim EXCHEQUER said!
wUhig-inhethethlovuh;lliet,presse;
he had' hoped that the Hon. Gentleman who had
just sat don ivould not have made his opposiT ,
to the Bill now before the House,
one the ciiieStio
that the Si, E u should leave the Chair, but "11;,
he would have allowed the Bill to tavegune
the Committee, as the best stage to-Consider, 11r
.
derail, the most 'minute objedions ; ,and "free
all that might have passed there, he should hari
,
found the force of his ohjedions. still remaining, ,16e.
might urge them upon a subsequent occasion, I'.
progress of the Bill. The House would pace°, ,
there was a considerable labour in going over and
answering the observations of the Hon.
,which, howeverebe should proceed to do, so. fuar ea?
appeared to him to be really necessary. The' ."(38.-;
stated, do
Gentleman had, among other things,
the Tax upon Malt, Hops, and Beer, was to be Or::
sidered as a Substitute, or indeed Commutation 11:).
creiltleurr
the Income Tax, now about to he repealed : that
It
was a Commutation, he had over. and over agar'rt
nied. He said also; that this•was part u:a
sion for the Interest of the 97,000,0001. CaP:talf:
an admission which went a greqr way cowgirl°
Hoa
swering most of the arguments of the o•
Gentle-
man against it ; 56,0°0,0°01. of which arose fr,()r
the defalcation by the Repeal of the Income 13'11;
but while the Hon. Gentleman expatiated til)°" /0
sum of 4,000,0001. to be raised for the Interest -
the sun to be provided for, surely he could not fril;
get that 2,000,0001. of it applied to persons c'"le
very different description' from those on whom
said these Taxes Would bear heaVily, narnel.Ye-% !
Working Classes of the Community. If a°?;
tleman would lOok at the Bill for lavina additional
duties by way of Assessed Taxes, he would see t'1.14
the weight did not all fall on those for Wliwnet 5r
Hon, Gentleman expressed his anxiety. Let -ePlf
oseurevelodofkoratthtehis matter fairly', and,then ask hialusb-
whether or notiliagtillyergorretaietrsteotfitiseorenteefsm,iba:dirixericret
tion would be easily answered, r,fteriookillee%
irirlgop-lotoseu(stetso,
i&xci.n;fpacitsedd
duties imposed on Carriages,. on HorseS, 00
freports-c9,
'',ol3°n Eix));)olrotosk:itnngd: at
the
4.-
%.
tax which he was indeed ready to adMit, f"ul4
way over all classes of the community, because it°!it
rated on so many articles of consumption, but 1i"1;
were certainty to be defrayed, in the first'instance;
by those . whoi were opulent, and would not 01'd
the indigent consumer of the necessary articles ea
life. Therefore he. might say,' before he 'advancry
any further, that out of the 4,000,0001. neces'ero
to be raised at present by Taxes, . 2,000,0001. fr7ef
imposed dire4ly upon the optklent ; and even °l3`eia
the other z,0c0,0001. the Hon. Gentleman c 0 of
mnoatlitronvoep,s7 the fad was otherwise, that Much
tiec
it would not fall upon the Rich,. The truth 0 ots
matter, was, that a large proportion of the Duty Malt,
and Beer, must fall on the Rich ;
i
large portion of these articles were constonedees
themselves, or were consumed in their dwellinbci
which was the .same- thing as. to the operatino
the tax with reference •to those who bore it' Site
thought these ob;ervations grew 'out 'of the
of the Hon. Gentleman ; not that they here e„C
sary of theMselves, for the House''Must he aw 3-140
these. things without being reminded of dial:. , Des
trusted it would never be imputed to him, tP3-010
was less sensible of What was tine it feeling fureue
Poor.-;-This was a subjea on which be weteuy
willing to dwell ;it was one that admitted of C
eve
declamatory points, and he hoped he should %or
forget what was due to the consideration of it' to
did he wish any other Gentleman in that I-fotrseo.os
forget it : the subject. was nearehis heart, but jetd, to
not within the stripe of any faculties he posfsit,,
devise means for defraying the Interesi.of,tne
the
without bearing in some degree on that OW °, so
Community, Whieh; as it was hisearnese wi9'l' to
it would have been his highest.,gratificalicil
rjee
spare. This Tax on Malt and Beer was "te'eeurell
up by Mill on the sudden ; 'it did occur to himrthet
the pressure arising from the late scarcity and Malt
circumstances were felt by the Public, thaLieual
and Beer would afford a fair sohjed for aj""eo9,
taxation. From the year 1760 to the year. /I(iC
there was no increase of Duty on that artic!e;rease.
when it came to be considered how much inc %vas
took place on the price of Malt and flops, j' that
matter of astonishment as well as satisfaOic'n' they'
the skill of the Brewers had enabled them -they'
their Beer at the same price, for some dale) ae.,'s etteC
did in the year 4760 ; but even now it was
of astonishment, that Beer should have increas
hich I°'
so very small a proportion to the advance w The
-taken place in all the other articles of life' 'the •
Hon. Gentleman stated, that independent ° ess;„
its
ohjedion he had to this Tax, on account of 1" P by
ing so much on the Lower Classes of S('cieetYr' oh'
the 'price of the article of Beer, he hail anotue irge.
jedion, that of its tending to increase tyre Ticrtlyi4
don of Spirits; undoubtedly a great and
toted It
evil, if it should have that effed ; but he trui bet-
' would not, and the Hon. Gentleman sh°°, wonla
eonsider, that the Duty imposed on ivla'r
operate as a Tax on di ;tilled Spirits as weld that
Beer. The Hon. Gentleman had stated alse!puty"
this was an unfortunate tithe fcir imposing tilad l' ay
h •
on Beer, because the "consumption of Beer IP
;
much diminished, And that he was not Jusiwate 0f
taking the average which he took (11°
:the prc.)bable produce of the Tax. 171e1041se
the Trade had suffered severely duriPg u`taiv,tity
I Soo and So r. Unquestionably the q
sitierably
Strong Beet of r Soo and sot was. 41'n on the
below the average of the eight years r the
upo
ing period,. but_ by the Pa peg .teecony
1"11.1e of the House, it afepeared that wee
r-80,r
s-umption of the years Soo and ' ,ears Pr
eight
tided!
considerably "higher : than. the
ceding the period to which he had last r.usti6ett
: aria ect,
[Here he referred to the Paper itse • obser •6.
his observations frorn conten e tl.-- "
eee antitf c`
rg a
also, that the Brewers made as la

4