The Sun.
London, England, 1850-06-18 00:00:00

THE SALE OF BEER.
In London no less than at Munich the grave attention
.of the Legislature has been rscently drawn to the im-
portant subject of beer, nor will we do our readers the
injustice to conceive Chet they cars be indifferent to
aught concerning the manufacture, maintenance, and
supply of this highly national and invigorating bey er angeed.
Some twenty years ago William, our King. sanctioned
an Act so favourably intended towards the
consumers
of malt liquor, that he was extolled as havinge practicallyatuillers
taken off the tax thereon, and thus entitled
actual
ii
The
himself to
the gratitude of Britons for
operation of the law consisted,
sale
as
:wheeeoenr eteod
partieshardly wahyo
u,
in extending licences for th
could never have aspired uneder the old regime of corpo-
rations and quertersteseions, to the dignified vocation of
Master publicans, but who, by the simple process of the
new registratiosn, were enabled to start in this attractive
and to offer to all their friends and
supporters sitehse privilege of being drunk on their
premises.
Such was the measure which inaugu-
reforms of King William's
rated the famous
reign ; and it is now, in the twentieth year
of its operation, that a Committee of the Lords have
reported upon its discoverable effects as regards the con-
dition of the beershops, the morals of the population,
and the steality of the article ordinarily supplied. As
may reanily be supposed, shops multiplied rapidly in a
trade requiring such moderate capital, possessing such
intrinsic allurements, and dealing with a commodity in
such steady demand. But the new beerhouses soon ac-
quired a peculiar character and position relatively to the
old inn or " public." A lower rating was required for
the house to be licensed, and a lower qualification as
regarded property or interest in the applicant for the
title. These provisions were intended to render the
beerseller more independent of municipal and mercantile
favours than the regular publican, and perhaps they had
this effect, but they also called into being an entirely new
class of dealers. The beershop could not, it is true, supply
spirits, at least not openly; but it supplied what would pro-
duce intoxication, and many witnesses testified to the fact
that in nine cases out of ten the frequenters of these
establishments were attracted less by liquor than
by the cotnpany or other incidental seductions of
the rendezvous. In these points the beerhouses soon
shot ahead. They furnished skittle-grounds, bagatelle•
tables, and dominoes, and, what was more, their society
was conveniently exclusive. The old public-house was
the resort of travellers and visitors of all ranks, as chance
might bring about, but in the beershop the labourer sel-
dom met any but those of his own class, from his own
neighbourhood, and was not liable, therefore, to surprise
or detection in a moment of idleness or excess. More-
over, the house had a kind of private look about it, and
a companion might be induced to enter it with less diffi-
culty than a more professed place of entertainment.
The result of all these circumstances has been the mul-
tiplication of beershops to an extent not always justifiable
by the natural wants of the local population. Instead
of being simply houses of refreshment brought closer to
the doors of the working man, they are often places
of meeting for the dissolute and ill-disposed, and have
sometimes been found in districts where no legiti-
mate trade could possibly support them. As much,
however, may of course be said of public-houses.
Touching the quality of the beer thus consumed in
such enormous quantities, we regret to say the evidence
is anything but favourable. Indeed, we confess to some
unpleasant misgivings on this subject in general. It is
our impression that the beer generally procurable
throughout the kingdom by ordinary consumers is mate-
rially worse than in past generations, as far as we can
judge by tradition. M. Ledru Rollin has not, we believe,
noticed the fact in his "Sketch of England's Decline,"
though it would have carried considerably more weight
than many of his demonstrations, but we suspect there is
little doubt in the case. Of course, good beer is still to
be bad by painstaking and inquiry, but we allude to that
general standard of our national beverage which affects
the mass of consumers. Among the wealthier classes
beer has been much superseded by light wines, and in the
middle ranks the iniquitous compound termed "bitter
beer" bids fair to drive out the old British drink as
completely as the Hanoverian rat exterminated that in-
digenous breed which is now only visible in the Isle of
Portland. The hopes of England might still, in exem-
plification of Mr. Disraeli's theory, have found a retreat
amongst her peasantry, but the report informs us that
in this quarter the deterioration of the produce
is greater than ever. It appears, indeed, to have
been generally imagined that an inferior article
was brewed expressly for the beershops, as likely
to be satisfied with a quality lower than that
maintained by regular public-houses. This was denied
by professional witnesses, hut it seems evident that the
supply of beershops, es distinguished from the old inns,
is confined in the main to a certain class of brewers,
and that many of the large houses have no part in it. In
fact there is a kind of rivalry subsisting between the
new establishment and the old. The point, however, is
one on which household experience will enable so many
readers to judge for themselves that we subjoin the re-
quisite particulars. The beer is usually supplied to
these shops in 36-gallon barrels, each of which has con-
sumed from 3 to 4 bushels of malt and 21b. of hops,
and is purchased from the brewer at prices ranging from
30s. to 38s. It is retailed at 31. or 4d. a pot, it bought
and carried off across the counter, but no less than 50
per cent. is charged if the consumption is effected on the
premises. Altogether, t acing the price of a barrel de-
livered from the brewery at 365., it is computed that its
prime cost to the brewer was about 315,, and that the
odd is. represents his particular profit. The gross pro-
duce of its retail sale would be about 605., or a little
more, so that the total profit upon the article is
very nearly 100 per cent., of which a large
share goes apparently to the retail dealer. A sale of
two barrels a-week, it was deposed. would make a beer-
shop a remunerative concern. TIP, most successful
speculator is this line was included among the witnesses
examined. Ho began business in 1832 with a capital of
one shilling, his first barrel being unpaid for at the time
he tapped ie ; and in 1849 he was summoned before the
Peers of England to enlighten the Legislature by his
successful experience. " I stand," said he, "most pre-
eminent in the beet- trade." He was "doing," in fact,
some 60 barrels a month, and his son was as fortunate
as himself. He never allowed swearing or smoking, and
drove a ready-money trade, with occasional indulgences
to a- neighbour, clearing all scores with his brewers
every, 28 days. Of Father Mathew and his doings he
spoke-not lovingly, and with some remarkable conclu-
sions.- "I think," ho observel, "that since I came to
London there has been mere drinking than previously;
thereis a good -deal of nonsense about his preaching;
temperance is good, but teetotalism is a great evil to the
constitution; temperate people will drink a great deal of
beer; beer is very strengthening." It was clearly the
design of the witness to impress upon their Lordships
that every- man's duty was to take a modest quart
over his counter, and consume it, without profane
language or tobacco. In conclusion, this Overetone
of humble life communicated to his august hearers the
approalhing reward of his industry ani merit. "I um
going to leave off business next year. I shall have five
ehillings a-day coreirg in independent ; and I mean to
live in a little cottage in the country where there are no
ill-conducted beerhouses." We fear, however, that Mr.
Bouchls testimony and example are not sufficient to re-
deem the scandal contracted by his less scrupulous bre-
thren. it is CE.:f.ll:lo,74iftYl'ille-1, ttild indeed scarcely
needed eueh demoretretion, that the eche= of creating
s. ekes of houses which should supply wholesome beer,
and yet be free fr.= the drawbacks of public-bourns,
has not been realised. Beershop.i aro certainly not
better conducted places than inns ; it seems probable
that they are much worse. The recommendations of
their Lordships' report appeared in our columns on Ss-
turd iy, and are net likely to have escaped the reader's
notice. Soil, in any legishoion upon this; subject, it
must he recollected that there are many witnesses not
likely to judge or speak ef beershops with any particular
favour. Their establishment was a proclau.ation of free
trade; which broke r!,,-en a monopoly long enjoyed and
oppressively used. We will not ascribe the present
complaints to Protectionist reaction, but we trust that in
any revision of these memorable Acts the original spirit
of King William's advisers may be preserved unimpaired.
—'limes.

LAW INTELLIGENCE.
COUNT OF COMMON PLEAS, June 17.
(Sittings at Nisi Priui before Lord Chief Justice WILDE
and a Common Jury.)
NEWIIIIAM V. SIUNDERS.
This was an action for an exces,ive distress. The
Proceedings were of great length, the examination of the
tint witness taking up several hours. The case fur the
Plaintiff WaS nut concluded when the Court rode.