Star.
London, England, 1822-07-19 00:00:00

BEER BILL.

Mr. BROUGHAM rose to move the second read-
ing of this Bill. He disclaimed any wish to attack
the motives of the individuals who opposed the mea-
sure; but the fact was, that the beer in general sale
was so bad, that its consumption had not increased
in proportion to the increase of the population. He
did not mean to say that.this was to be entirely at-
tributed to the badness of the beer, but to the tax,
which seldom appeared to be taken- into account.—
The poor were grievously oppressed by the tax; and
it was on their behalf that he submitted the Bill to
the consideration of the House. As the law now
stood, no person could sell strong beer by retail,
without an excise license, and a license from the Ma-
gistrates. It was a most admirable inconsistency in
the law, to place itself in hostility to the practice of
tippling, and yet to oblige every man who wanted a
pot of beer, to go to the public-house for it. He de-
nied that the law meant to give the brewers the mo-
nopoly which they assumed. His Honourable Friend
reminded him that the Magistrates so construed the
law as well as the brewers. It might be so, but he
spoke in the presence of many worthy Magistrates,
with whom he wished to enter into amicable discus-
sion on the spirit of the law, convinced that their
anxious wish to do justice to the Public, would lay
them open to an impression from him, whilst he
pledged himself to give way to their views, if they
could convince him. He asked them then what was
the meaning of that part of the law which gave them
the power to restrict the number of public-houses by
licensing, if it were not the prevention of the indul-
gence of tippling, by keeping the number of public-
houses exactly proportioned to the wants of the Pub-
lic, and admitting only to be the owners of them,
such as could give the security of good character,
and property to a certain amount? It was evidently
the convenience and well-being of the Public that
were meant by the laws in this respect, and part of
the intention must, therefore, have been to ensure to,
the consumer the benefit of good wholesome beer.—
Since
the supply of this article had been exclusively I
in the hands of the brewers such beverage had been
imposed upon the People as the Legislature was not
warranted to sanction the continuance of. The en-
couragement of retail beer-shops would also be be-:
neficial to the Revenue. It was at present the interest
of the brewers to use as small a quantity of malt as
possible, to make that article and hops keep pace
s ith each other as much as possible. -Ile would re.
/rain besides fl om adverting to any of those other in-
gredients with hard names, of foreign plants, which
were so well known to be mixed up with the liquor
they had to drink. This was certain, that the beer
they now had was not of that kind spoken of by an
excellent judge of his day, Boniface, as that which he
could eat, di ink, and sleep upon I If this Bill were'
allowed to pass the poorer classes of his Majesty's
subjects would have better beer !mewed for them, and
instead of being obliged to send fur every pot to the
tippling-house, exposing their daughters and children ,

to all the temptation and Pollution of evil ea. mpie by
making them the messengers, they might obtain rt
from a respectable humble shop, where no bad cons
pony would be thrown in their way; Good. whole.;
some, old English beer would again flow thintigh the
country. A fair competition would be introduced to
that which was poison to the health, and worse to the
morals ; and which had in some parts of the country
which he knew, reduced a healthy vigorous popular
don, to a puny paralytic race, lease alone its effects
on the Metropolis. The -House would of course see
that he alluded to ardent spirits—(Hear, hear). The
, Hon. Member concluded by moving,
That the Order ofe Day be read for the feeend readlni
tithe ttetau Deer MU"
The Order awing been read, and the question put
upon the second reading,
-Mr. F. BUXTON said, though his Honotirahle and
Learned Ft lend had expressed himself as a ft lend to
the right of property, he was convinced that he did
not know what would be the operation and effect of
his own Bill. The House would be surprised to hear
that such were the sentiments of his Hon. Friend in
bringing forward a Bill, the effect of which would
be to bi ing ruin on 50,000 persons, and to injure a ca-
pital of SO millions employed in the beer trade. This
being the important effect of the Bill, he did not
think he need urge any other objection to it that, the
late period of the Session. AB public business of im-
portance had by common consent been postponed,
and yet that was the period thought fitting for the
introduction of a measure, affecting prue:eo t) to a
greater extent than any which had been brought in
during the present Session—(Hear, hear).—With re-
gard, however, to his other objections to the 13111, he
must point out to the House the justice of separating
the interests of the victuallers and publicans from the
brewers, who were of a far more obnoxious charac=
ter. If the brewers deserved punishment as mono-
polists, why should the publicans be included ? If
the brewers employed too great a proportion of capi-
tal in the business, what had the publicans to do with
that? They were in no way connected, and it was
not just to the weaker delinquent to join him in pu-
nishment with the larger. He therefore called upon
the House to separate the cause of the publicans from
that of the brewers. He was sorry his Hon norable
and Learned Friend had not made any direct attack
upon the London brewers, as he should have been
most happy to vindicate them from the charge of
a bad article upon the country. But the Bat
had the direct effect of ruining the publican, and in=
kiting the brewer. Now, he begged the House td
observe, that the property of the publican was ex-
tremely hard earned; his little wealth was of slow
oroo‘, th, and, in tact, accumulated shilling upon
shilling. Publicans had generally been servants who
set up with small capitals; and he assured his Hon.
and Learned Friend, that the London publican earned
his money much mote by sending out his beer, than
by selling it at his bar. It was the same in the coun-
try, though not to the same extent. If, therefore,
the House conferred upon all the chandlers and bar-
bers in the neighbourhood the power of selling beer,
they would destroy the publicans out-door sale, and
rain his business. He again assured the House, that
there were upwards of 50,000 respectable, indus-
trious, thriving tradesmen, who would be thus af-
fected by the Bill—(Hear, hear).—Then came the
question, whether these people had vested rights in
the existing state of thing, ? That questipn, he con-
ceived, might be set at test, by considering whether
the publican, at the time of vesting his capital in his
public-house, could anticipate this Bill being passed?
Certainly not. If antiquity had anything to do with
it, he could boldly assert, that the present system
of licensing public-houses dated its origin from act
Act of Edward the Sixth. He assured the House,
that he had in his hand the other day a license td
a public-house, under the hand of a well-known
eminent citizen of former times, he meant Praise-
God Barebones—(A laugh).—That house had heed
eminent in the sale •of good beer from the aye
of that individual down to the present .period.—
But he maintained that no policy, founded on public
convenience, could be tolerated which should injure
private interests. If so, what would have become of
the public creditor? The fact was, that this motion
of his Hon. and Learned Friend was an attempt, a
well-meant attempt, no doubt, on his part, to relieve
the agriculturists from that portion of distress which
pressed upon them. That was, no doubt, a strong
interest; but he was sure it would never be tolerated
that one class should be made to suffer the burthens
which properly belonged to another. Tile agricul--
turists, he believed, did not back his Hon. Friend—
they were too manly andgenerous to wish others to be
ruined in order to relieve them. Another evil of this
Bill would be, that the number of Excise Officers must
be increased. With regard to the morality of the
question, let the House recollect the different checks
of character and property upon the publican, under
the present system, and look at the effect of irrespon-
sible individuals of all descriptions having it in their
power to take out an Excise license, He must again
advert to the period at which the Bill was btought in,
and he would use the worts of his Hon. Friend on
that subject. It was only the other day that, speak-
ing of the Bill brought in, he --id They -"` kr
what was the meaning of intro
the 10th of July; it meant an
sious to empty benches, in short,
tion, and quite out of season.

he (Mr. Buxton) designated th,
able Fi iend. This was an opp
for the largest confiscation of pl
by such means. It would, if a,

upon the Revenue, degriiction
and immorality—(hear, hear).
Here seven or eight Members
gave way to Mr. 13Rovonam.
Mr. BROUGHAM roNd to Cr,.
Friend's misconception of his meam
brought in at this period. of the '
had said applied to the intention

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said :—They all knew
II
,oducing a measure on
oppressive law; discus-
rt, hot weather legisla-
'fhis, too, was the way
ie Act of his Honeur- 1 7
)ressi ve measure; it vial CD
property ever attempted
Omitted, lead to frauds
n of private property,
rs Bose at once; but all
•
correct his Honourable ' v.-
teaning about measures
e Session. All that hi
on that suth measures
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