The Sun.
London, England, 1850-07-01 00:00:00

RAILWAY RETURNS

-
RAILWAY TRAFFIC.—The following are the Total Receipts of Rail-
ways for the past week—that is to say, up to the date to which the
respective returns are made, together with the receipts of the same
week in the previous year:—

Week .
Last 2),
ending NAME OF RAILWAY. week.
6.9
June 15 Aberdeen ..... 1,329 517
23 Amiens and Boulogne .•••• • •
22 Belfast and Ballymena ••••••• • •• • • • • 574 498
23 Birkenhead, Lancashire, and Cheshire 1,177 1,008
16 Bolton, Blackburn, Clitheroe, and W. Y. 404 430
- Bristol and Exeter • • .•••••• • • • • - 5,003
16 Caledonian... ......•
23 Chester and H01yhead........... • •
20 Dublin and Drogheda ••• • • • ••••• •• • • 991 829
25 Dublin and Kingstown ... ••• • • 1,076 1,033
22 Dundee, Perth, and Aberdeen ' 561 476
23 East Angllan.. •• • • •
22 Edinburgh and Glasgow . 3,533 3,509
22 Edinburgh and Perth •• •• •• 2,309 '2,059
23 Eastern Counties and North Eastern. • 16,480 15,981
23 East Lancashire ...... .........• • • 3,237 3,143
23 Eastern Union.. 2,459 1,329
22 Glasgow, Kilmarnock, and Ayr •• •• •• 2,466 2,724
22 Glasgow and Greenock.• • -•. .. 1,211 1,040
16 Great Northern and E. L.• ••••• • • • • 3,381 2,030
22 Great Southern and Western . 4,371 3,418
23 Great Western, &c ••••••••• • • • • • • • • • 19,005 19,171
23 Lancashire and Yorkshire.. ••••• • • • • • 15.1'67 13,650
16 Lancaster and Carlisle... . ....... 3,571 2,218
23 Leeds and Thirsk •••• • • • • 1,114 241
23 Liverpool, Crosby, and Southport.... 247 230
22 Londonderry and Enniskillen • • ...... 187 146
23 London and North Western, &c.. -• 47,987 44,262
23 London and Blackwall.. ..... .. • • 1,210 1,135
22 London and Brighton ••• • • • 12,374 10,371
23 London and South Western . .• • • 14,032 i 1,384
23 Manchester, Sheffield, and Lincolnshire 6,093 3,631
23 Midland, Bristol, and Birmingham • • 22,617 22,457
23 Midland Great Western (Irish) .... • • 1,231 1,029
23 North British • .••••.••• • • • • • • • • • 3.018 2,746
22 Paris and Rouen .•••••••. • • • • • • • • • 6,472 4,764
22 Rouen and Havre .. •• • . •••• • • .. 2,756 2,285
23 Scottish Central •••• .. • 1,424 1,292
22 Scottish Midland 440 335
23 Shrewsbury- and Chester •••••• • • • • • 1,472 1,576
23 Shropshire Union ....... 473 --
22 South Eastern and Branches • • 13,776 9,276
16 South Devon...• . •......... •• • • 1,926 1,859
22 Taff Vale ••••••••••••• • • • • • • • • • • • • • 2,535 2,535
- Ulster . - 736
- Waterford and Limerick.............-
16 Whitehaven Junction .••••••• • • • • • • • 185 236
23 York and Newcastle .••••• • • • • • 14,897 13,384
23 York and North Midland . •••• • • .. 8,268 7.262

CONSUMPTION OF BEER.
Amongst the propositions established by the re-
cent inquiries of the Lords' Committee into the
Supply and Consumption of Beer was the re-
markable fact, that warm weather did not so much
quicken the draught within the beer-house as it in-
creased the demand for the liquor carried off the
premises. Such seasons as we are now enjoying
suggest very naturally to the artisan or the la-
bourer a little anticipation of his afternoon's allow-
ance, and men, while still foll Owing their occupa-
tions, are compelled to dispatch their orders for a
little beer. This was precisely the portion of the
trade which the Acts for the sale of beer were de-
signed to encourage, although it appears from the
evidence received by the Committee not only that
large provision is often made for gatherings on the
premises, but that magistrates are now inclined even to
exact some such accommodation in the house to be li-
censed. Some of the statistics disclosed by the examina-
tions are highly interesting. The calling of a beerseller
has two branches, one administered at the bar of the
house, and the other conducted in a lobby dedicated to
the "bottle and jug department," as usually notified by
a brass plate on the door. The utensil employed for the
carriage of the beer typifies not only the peculiar
wants of the purchaser, but his distance from the
source of supply. If he lives close at hand he
sends for his drink in a jug, if at some distance
he uses a bottle, by which the beer is more
readily carried, or, if need be, more securely
stored away for the morrow. In " good neigh-
bourhoods," such as, in the estimation of the
deponents, were the west end of the Com-
mercial-road and the streets converging upon
Kennington-cross, business in this way is very brisk
and creditable. "I do a great deal in bottles,"
said one witness, "it is a very respectable neigh-
bourhood. If I were to suffer anybody, to come
into my house and smoke a pipe I should lose my
custom." In fact, the deponent could have stood
the established test of respectability, for he kept,
not exactly a gig, but a light cart and horse,
by which he " took out" to the " families" round.
Few families living upon " floors" or in lodgings
have accommodation for keeping their own beer,
and they are necessarily, therefore, the regular cus-
tomers of some beerhou4e, besides which, the greater
freshness of the article insured by the quick draught
maintained in a popular house of call induces
many people of easier circumstances to resort to
the same quarters for supply. The question is
therefore whether these very reasonable require-
ments have not been substantially satisfied by the
establishment of beerhouses as distinguished from
the old inns, and we are bound to confess that
our opinions tend towards an affirmative reply.
It seems clear that the majority of applicants
in these cases do carry their eustom rather to
beershops than public•houses, and, indeed, the
latter establishments could never, under the con-
ditions at present affecting their licences, be main-
tained in sufficient numbers to bring a cheap
and wholesome beverage to every man's door.
In the next place, it is admitted by common consent
that there are beershops which more than realise the
utmost expectations of those who advocated their in-
stitution; in fact, it appears by the evidence that
there is room for such a house in almost every dis-
trict. A "good neighbourhood" creates its own de-
mand for these supplies. The beer of the resident
families is almost wholly brought from the shop,
which keeps matters lively in the "jug department ;"
and, besides this, the "refreshment-room" of the
establishment serves as a local Athenosum to the social
or inquiring spirits of the district. "All parties,'
said a witness, "from the working men upwards, fre-
quent my house. Journeymen workmen come in,
bringing their bread and cheese, and they sit down
and take their beer; then the tradesmen come, and
see the daily papers at eleven o'clock in the morning,
and in the afternoon and evening. We take in three
papers a day." This deponent emphatically. testified
to the selectness and respectability of his own and
similar establishments, and, though doubtless an in-
terested witness, yet there was reason in his argu-
ment that his customers knew each other, and that if
they were disturbed by any disorderly characters they
,would infallibly carry their patronage elsewhere.
Three or four specimens of such houses were intro-
duced to the notice of the Committee, and it seems
to us that the accommodation thus supplied is of a
kind which could not have been readily furnished by
the old public-houses. If, as the proverb goes, there
are good and bad in all trades, it is, of course, not
very likely that beerselling should command any
favourable exemption from the rule ; but we are not
quite disposed to conclude that the censures of their
Lordships on these shops are entirely warranted
either by the extent of the inquiries instituted, or by
the tendency of the testimonies given. As Mr. Ben-
jamin Bouch observed in a touching appeal to the
Peers of England—" If you was going to weed an
onion bed you wouldn't sweep away everything."
This argumentum ad komines had, perhaps, some
weight, for their Lordships put on record the claims
to consideration established by certain metropolitan
houses, though the general impression of the Com-
mittee was clearly against the calling. We du not,
however, well see how the accommodation to which
the public is now habituated can ever be maintained if
material restrictions are placed upon this trade, or if
beer and spirits are included in the same category.
At the same time, we have no desire to render ardent
spirits as accessible as beer, though a competent wit-
ness suggested a little relaxation in this respect, on
the ground that persons requiring both beer
and spirits would carry their jugs to the
spirit-shop or public-house, and provide themselves
with both :articles at the same moment. Lord Ashley

r will be pained to hear that " most people like a little
drop of spirits ; in particular of a Sunday, because it
is a leisure day." " Probably all our customers,"
continu'd the witness, drink spirits occasionally, and
ao we lose the sale of our beer on a Sunday, because
they go to come other house for it. They do not
becalm! intoxicated. The rich like their wine,
" and the poor their drop of gin." The reader mu-t
understand that these retail beer licences exclude the
privilege of selling the article by wholesale, though
the limits, it must be owned, are calculated with con-
siderable liberality—four and a half gallons being
the quantity which may be served in a retail way
across the counter. That this is a handsome figure
may be inferred from the testimony of Mr. Bouch,
who once only, during the whole of his unparalleled
experience, had a customer who demanded and
earried off the full legal amount, whether in his jug
or under his belt is not specified i❑ the depositions.
On the whole subject, we must add, that though
the suggestions of the report are not, in the main,
unreasonably conceived, they indicate conclusions
upon the general character of the trade which we
hardly think are sustained by the evidence; and
we repeat our hope that, in any legislation upon the
subject, the wants of the population at large may be
vigilantly cared for. No return to the monopolies of
the old system will ever be endured. That abuses
exist is probable enough, nor are we prepared to deny
that some of the suggested regulations appear
well calculated to check them ; but there is this
difficulty in the case, that in proportion as the condi-
tions of beer licences are assimilated to those of
regular publicans our steps are retraced towards that
system which was, with such good reason, abandoned
for ever. It is not, however, too much to expect that
the wisdon and justice of the Legislature may find a
means between the two extreme courses of laxity and
restriction.—Times.