The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1844-04-16 00:00:00

BASS' PALE ALE.

MESSRS. BASS and Co., with every wish to avoid
whatever may serve to prolong a dispute, of which
they are fully sensible of the indignity, conceive that they
arc called on to make a brief reply to Messrs. Allsopp's
Advertisement of the 28th ult., as far only as is necessary
to vindicate the accuracy of their own statements.
It will have been observed that with the exception of
their returns of the shipments of the current season
Messrs. Allsopp have not attempted to contradict a single
statement advanced by Messrs. Bass and Co. neither do
they deny that their references are of the highest authority.
They resort for quotations favourable to themselves to
nameless prices current, and to the letters of their own
agents, and they go back to dates extending over October,
November, December, and January, while the quotations
of Messrs. bass and Co. referred specifically to the latest
reports of prices in December, which reached here by the
Overland Mail in February. Messrs. Bass and Co.
quoted an actual sale of that date in Calcutta at 80 rupees.
A plain account of this transaction will show in what
manner Messrs. Allsopp, who had learnt its true nature
from the documents Messrs. Bass and Co. placed within
their reach, have perverted the facts relating to it. On
the 22d of December, Messrs. I. Mackey and Co. sold
ten butts, equal to 20 hhds. of beer, daily expected to
arrive per 7'ecurnseh, half at 75 and half at 80 rupees. On
the arrival of the vessel it was found that having fallen
short of provisions, the troops on board had consumed
sixteen hhds. In the mean time the market had advanced,
and the sixteen lihds. were charged and paid for at the
current market price 90 rupees, two hhds. were delivered
at the original price, and two being ullaged (not full)
realised 70 rupees; yet Messrs. Allsopp, notwithstanding
they had seen the letters of advice of the sale of the
twenty hhds., have represented this as a sale of two casks
only. Messrs. Allsopp insist that Messrs. Bass and Co.'s
returns of shipments for the present season are " grossly
untrue." Those returns were collected from the customary
public sources of information—to which, indeed, Messrs.
Allsopp refer when it suits their purpose—and, as far as
relates to their own shipments, Messrs. Bass and Co.
know them to be accurate, while Messrs. Allsopp's con-
tradiction rests upon their own unsupported assertion.
Their home trade for Pale Ale having quadrupled within
the last four years, Messrs. Bass and Co. have been com-
pelled to limit their foreign trade, and to decline large
orders from their most valued correspon,lents ; but a re-
cent addition to their Brewery, though not fully in work
until January, and still incomplete, has enabled them to
ship within the last six months, as may be seen by the
excise entries and subsequent clearances,
To the three Presidencies of 1ndia...... 9,080
To other Settlements East of the Cape.. 1,750

Total .. 10,830 hhds.
It will also have been remarked that this dispute origi-
nated in Messrs. Allsopp's publishing returns of shipments
for 1141-42, in such a manner as led to the inference that
they were those of last year. In endeavouring to excuse
themselves for producing an erroneous impression by
means of the equivocal words " for one year past," they
now assert that the exports of the two houses last year
" were as nearly as possible in the same proportion" as
those of 1841-42 which they published ; whereas, the truth
is, that the excise returns, which are obviously of equal
authority for both years, show that so far from being in
the same proportion, the exports of Messrs. Allsopp fell
off last year 611 hhds. while those of Messrs. Bass and
Co. increased 2177 hhds. Messrs. Bass and Co. are
content to leave the fact just stated to bear its own com-
ment, and in retiring from this unseemly altercation, they
trust it will be apparent to all who have made themselves
acquainted with its character from the beginning, that
they have been forced reluctantly to intrude on the public
attention in a manner which they are quite sensible would
under other circumstances have been altogether without
excuse.
Burton-upon-Trent, 10th April, 1844.

LIVERPOOL STORES, IRONMONGER-LANE,
GEORGE LYON and Co., Agents.