REPORT.

THE SELECT COMMITTEE appointed to examine into the System under which PUBLIC HOUSES, HOTELS, BEERSHOPS, DANCING SALOONS, Coffee HOUSES, THEATRES, TEMPERANCE HOTELS, and Places of Public Entertainment, by whatever Name they may be called, are Sanctioned and are now Regulated, with a view of Reporting to this House whether any Alteration or Amendment of the Law can be made for the better Preservation of Public Morals, the Protection of the Revenue, and for the Proper Accommodation of the Public; and who were empowered to Report their Opinion and Observations, together with the MINUTES of EVIDENCE taken before them, to THE HOUSE;--HAVE considered the Matters to them referred, and have agreed to the following REPORT:

YOUR

OUR Committee have devoted a considerable time, both in the last and present Session of Parliament, to the several matters referred to them, and which have of necessity involved a very extended inquiry.

The licensing system has necessarily constituted a leading branch of the investigation. Your Committee have called before them the chairman of the Board of Inland Revenue, several borough and county magistrates, the Chief Commissioners of the Metropolitan and City Police, superintendents of police in the provincial towns, and parties interested in the system as brewers, licensed victuallers, beersellers, and their authenticated representatives.

Apart from distillers and brewers, the persons, either by licence, or some Division of equivalent sanction, entitled to supply the public with intoxicating liquors, licences. seem to be comprised under the following heads: wholesale wine dealers, wholesale spirit dealers, wholesale beersellers, victuallers or publicans, beerhouse-keepers to have drinking on the premises, beerhouse-keepers not to have drinking on the premises, three-halfpenny table-beer-sellers who are not required to have a licence, cider and perry sellers, free vintners who claim, as a privilege of the Vintners' Company, to sell anywhere in the kingdom wine to be used on the premises without licence, proprietors of theatres who, owing to a legal difficulty, are allowed to sell excisable liquors for use on the premises without licence, and grocers and others licensed to retail sweets, made wines, mead, or metheglin. The licence to sell by wholesale is obtained from the Board of Inland Revenue, or Collectors of Excise. The duty upon the wine and spirit licences is, for each, 10 guineas, and for bottled beer three guineas.

Wholesale dealers are restricted from selling spirits in any less quantity than Wholesale wine, two imperial gallons, and bottled beer in less than 24 reputed quarts, under a spirits, and beer. penalty of 50 l., with power to the justices to remit to 12 l. 10 s., but not below that amount; they can, however, under the 11th & 12th Vict, c. 121, s. 9, known as the "Maraschino Act," take out a retail liqueur licence, the duty upon which is two guineas, and which enables them to sell a single bottle of any foreign liqueur.

Licensed victuallers obtain, in the first instance, a certificate from the magis- Publicans. trates, stating that such an one shall be licensed and empowered to sell under the Retail. authority of the Act of Parliament, on the production of which, and payment of

the duty, the Board of Inland Revenue give the licence. No bond or surety is required, and officers of the Excise have no inquiries to make, and have no option. The amount paid for the licence is determined by the rating according to the following scale :—

Magistrates' certificate.

Retail spirit licence not granted with

out beer licence.

the Excise.

at 50 l. and upwards.

11

The justices grant the certificates at the annual general licensing meetings, held pursuant to the 9th Geo. 4, c. 61, s. 1, in the counties of Middlesex and Surrey within the first 10 days of March, and in every other county on some day between the 20th of August and the 14th of September inclusive. All licences are required to be granted or renewed annually. As to licensed victuallers, they are, upon compliance with certain forms, issued or withheld solely at the discretion of the licensing magistrates. The wording of the Act is, "And it shall be lawful for the justices acting in and for such county or place assembled at such meeting, or at any adjournment thereof, and not as hereinafter disqualified from acting, to grant licences for the purposes aforesaid to such persons as they the said justices shall, in the execution of the powers herein contained, and in the exercise of their discretion, deem fit and proper." The licence does not include wine, and is based upon the sale of beer, cider, or perry, to be drank upon the premises. The words are," And be it further enacted, that no licence for the sale of any spirits or foreign wine, or sweets or made wines, or mead or metheglin, by retail, to be drank or consumed in or upon the house or premises where sold, shall be granted to any person or persons who shall not have, and produce a licence for the sale of beer,' cider, or perry by retail, to be drank or consumed in or upon such house or premises in that behalf granted as herein by this Act before mentioned; and if any licence for the sale of any spirits or foreign wines, or sweets or made wines, or mead or metheglin by retail, to be drank or consumed in or upon the house or premises where sold, shall be granted to any person or persons other than as aforesaid, such licence shall be and is hereby declared to be absolutely null and void to all intents and purposes; and all and every such person or persons as aforesaid shall be subject and liable to all and every penalty and penalties imposed upon persons selling spirits or foreign wines, or sweets or made wines, or mead or metheglin, by retail without licence" (6th of Geo. 4, c. 81, s. 14).

Beerhouse-keepers' The beerhouse-keepers' licence is obtained from the Commissioners or collectors licence granted by of Excise, who are compelled to grant the licence where the applicant has complied with the conditions imposed by the Act of Parliament, in the production of a certificate as to the rating of the house, signed by the overseer (3 & 4 Vict. c. 61, s. 1), and a certificate of character, where the licence is to drink on the premises, signed by six resident ratepayers occupying houses not rated to the poor at less than 6. a year, and who shall not be maltsters, brewers, sellers of spirituous or malt liquors, nor proprietors of houses licensed for the sale of such liquors (4 & 5 Will. 4, c. 85). Where the licence was originally granted prior to the 3d & 4th Vict., c. 61, s. 1, no certificate of the rating is

required;

required; and in cities, corporate towns, and towns returning Members to Parliament, where the population is above 5,000, no certificate of character.

The rating qualification established by the above Act is, for the cities of Certificates of chaLondon and Westminster, or any place within the bills of mortality, or any racter and rating. place within one mile of any polling-place used at the last election, or any place having a population exceeding 10,000, 15 l.; for places similarly circumstanced, the population of which exceeds 2,500, 11 .; and for all other places, 8. The uniform duty for the licence to have drinking on the premises is three guineas; and not to have drinking on the premises, one guinea.

licence.

The sale of beer at three-halfpence a quart, without licence, seems to have A quart may be been first granted by 12th Charles 2, c. 24, s. 39, and to have formed the subject sold without of exceptional clauses in the Beer Acts; but so confused had the law as to the sale of beer and spirits become, especially after 1 Will. 4, c. 64, as to create a doubt whether the original clause, or any other, providing the like exception, were any longer in existence; the difficulty was overcome by the following Treasury Order, bearing date 9th November 1830, and general order thereon of Board of Inland Revenue, bearing date 16th November 1830, giving the seller the benefit of the doubt, and confirming the privilege.

TREASURY AUTHORITY allowing Table Beer at 1 d. to be Retailed without
Excise Licence, and General Order issued thereon.

Gentlemen,
Treasury Chambers, 9 November 1830.
THE Lords Commissioners of His Majesty's Treasury have had under their consideration
your Report of the 30th ultimo, on the Memorials of the Birmingham Brewery Company,
M. Brown and H. N. Byles, praying to be informed whether, under the regulations of the
Act 1 Will. 4, c. 64, persons are allowed to sell table-beer by retail, as heretofore, without
taking out an Excise licence; and I am directed by their Lordships to authorise you, under
all the circumstances stated in your Report, to allow the retailers of table-beer, as heretofore,
to sell their beer without taking out an Excise licence, provided such beer is in no case more
than 1 d. per quart.

Treasury Minute sanctioning such sale without licence.

GENERAL ORDER.

I am, &c. (signed)

Geo. R. Dawson.

Excise Office, London, 16 November 1830.

Excise Order

IN pursuance of directions from the Right Honourable the Lords Commissioners of His thereon. Majesty's Treasury, signified by letter from one of their Lordships' Secretaries, dated the 9th instant, Ordered, that no objection be made by the officers of this Revenue to the sale of table beer only, by retail, by persons not licensed, in the same manner as before the passing of the Act 1 Will. 4, c. 64, provided such beer be not sold at a higher price than 1 d. per quart.

By the Board,

Chas Browne.

Cider and Perry licences are on the same footing with beer licences, and pay the same amount (11 Geo. 4, and 1 Will. 4, c. 64, s. 30).

Persons free of the Vintners' Company claim, as by right, to sell wine without Free vintners sell an Excise licence, and to send out spirits in sealed bottles (1566) to be consumed wine without on or off the premises. Sir Richard Mayne states that the right has been licence. disputed, but always without effect (179).

In theatres the sale without licence arises from the contradictory provisions. Theatres sell withOf the 5th & 6th of Will. 4, c. 39, authorising the proprietor to have a licence out licence. without the magistrate's certificate, and under which the Excise would grant

it; and a Treasury Order, bearing date 11th September 1835, prohibiting the

Excise from issuing the licence (523).

The licence to sell sweet made wines, mead or metheglin, may be obtained Home-made wines by any person, under the Excise Licensing Act, 6 Geo. 4, c. 81. The duty on Excise licence. the licence is one guinea, and it restricts the holder to sell by the bottle or

gallon.

The distinctions as

evasion of the law.

Your Committee have had evidence in proof that these distinctions in the to licences lead to trade are the occasion of constant evasions and infringements of the law. It is admitted by the wholesale dealers themselves, that they do not observe the restriction to sell spirits in not less quantity than two imperial gallons, or twelve reputed quarts. A dealer having establishments both in London and Brighton, gives the names of several houses of the highest standing at the west end of London, who have been fined for selling less than the legal quantities (1563). The risk is taken daily. Mr. Webb, Brighton, states that "the law is Wholesale dealers evaded every day by every respectable wine merchant in the place; almost sell by retail. every house in Brighton has been informed against" (1587-1588); and another witness also from Brighton, and in the same trade, states "that for 20 years he broke the law by sending two bottles of brandy at a time to a late Chairman of the Board of Excise (1628).

Three-halfpenny

beersellers sell alc.

Beershops licensed for off, have drinking on, premises.

Free vintners sell other drinks as wine.

The restrictions as to wholesale

dealers inconvenient.

The Maraschino
Act.

Hardship of the

restrictions adnitted by magistrates and Excise.

Colonel Hogg, chief constable of Wolverhampton, states that "there are a great many places where beer is sold without a licence, supposed to be worth 13 d. a quart; but where ale as good as can be had at any other place, may be had after all the other houses are closed" (6837-6832). Similar places are spoken of by several witnesses as existing in greater or less numbers at Manchester, Bolton, Preston, Oldham, throughout Hampshire, and in other places; and there is no room to doubt that wherever opportunity offers, three halfpenny beer is made use of as a cover for the unlicensed sale of other drinks.

Captain Harris, chief constable of the county of Hants, states, that "he has frequently convicted parties, licensed only to sell for consumption off the premises, of selling for consumption on the premises" (7114-15.) The Chairman of the Board of Inland Revenue refers to "the very great temptation to parties having a beer licence to sell spirits, and the great opportunity afforded to those having a beer and spirit licence to sell wine without a licence (389), and states, that great difficulty is at present felt, both by the Excise and the police, from the fact that the house having a licence to sell beer, and a number of persons resorting to it, there is an opportunity, and great temptation, to evade the law by supplying people with spirits (393); and further, that the more frequent cases of offence are of sales of wine at places licensed to sell beer and spirits, but not to sell wine (381); and they have also cases of spirits being sold in houses licensed only for the sale of beer" (349).

Mr. George Ridley, of Crutched Friars, himself for many years connected with the wine and spirit trade, states, that "vintners' licences are frequently borrowed. If he wanted a vintner's licence, he might find one named Smith, and put his name over the door, and thus obtain the privilege of selling wine" (4864); and Sir Richard Mayne states, that "under the vintners' privilege, though they have authority to sell wine only, he believes they sell other things. It is very difficult to say what is wine in glass or in bottles, and it is difficult to make out in evidence whether wine or other drink is sold" (185).

It is stated that the public are inconvenienced (and would be so to a much greater extent, if the law were not broken,) by the restriction upon wholesale dealers. Persons are unwilling to send their servants to a public-house, and have no other place open to them where any moderate quantity of brandy, or other spirits, may be procured. It is not easy to find any good grounds for the distinction that wine may be sold by the single bottle, and spirits in no less a quantity than 24 reputed quarts; nor is it reasonable to suppose that the majority of dealers will prefer the chance of losing their custom for wine to the risk of being informed against for selling a less quantity of spirits than is allowed by law. The inconvenience is so universally admitted that it has frequently engaged the attention of Parliament, and successive Governments have proposed to amend the law, but hitherto with no further result than the 11 & 12 Vict., c. 121, s. 9, commonly known as the "Maraschino Act," and by which wholesale dealers, provided, in addition to their licence to sell in quantity, they take out a retail licence, may sell a single bottle of any foreign liqueur.

The admitted hardship of the restriction is further evidenced by the magistrates, in every instance, mitigating the penalty from 50l. to 12 l. 10s., the minimum allowed them by law, and the further reduction in several recent cases by the Board of Inland Revenue to the nominal amount of 10 or 20 shillings.

There

7

There is no other ground put forward for the continuance of the existing Licences not conrestriction upon wholesale wine and spirits dealers than that their extinction cerned with trade would enable wholesale dealers to sell in quantities which can now be had only distinctions. of hotel keepers and licensed victuallers.

The only result to licensed victuallers of preventing persons with a wholesale The restriction on spirit licence from selling less than 24 reputed quarts, is to give rise to a general wholesale dealers belief amongst the public that brandy and other foreign spirits are to be had, of is injurious to the best quality, from the wholesale dealers only; and there can be no doubt retailers. that the belief will continue until the single bottle can be had alike from the merchant and the retailer. The publicans are themselves, therefore, interested in the abolition of the restriction. Meanwhile it is a manifest injustice that, whilst the wholesale dealer cannot, without a magistrate's licence-which would involve him in consequences inconsistent with his business-sell in any less quantity than two gallons, the retailer, being in possession of a magistrate's licence, can obtain a wholesale dealer's licence as a matter of course, and then enter from below upon the competition from which he would exclude those above.

Your Committee do not find that a majority of the wholesale dealers are desirous of selling for consumption on the premises; on the contrary, Mr. Butler, who spoke as to the opinions of a considerable number in the trade, states, that they wish only to sell in sealed bottles (1572), but to be permitted to sell a single bottle (1575); that they would not object to pay an increased sum for the licence to do so, so that they could conduct their business fairly and honourably (1568).

Your Committee desire very strongly to express their conviction of the impolicy of permitting the continuance of a law which, whilst it interferes with legitimate trade, and subjects the public to inconvenience, affords constant opportunity for vexatious proceedings by common informers, and is condemned alike by the magistracy and the Board of Inland Revenue.

The distinction between beershops and public-houses appears also to Your Evils of distinction Committee to have been productive of considerable evil.

between beershops and public-houses. Forced competition gives rise to expedients to at

tract custom.

The natural tendency of the distinction between the two classes of houses is to give rise to an unhealthy competition, under which both parties are drawn to extreme expedients for the attraction of custom. Mr. Stinton says, "There is a great deal of gambling carried on in Birmingham, although the police do all they can to put it down; when the policeman is about the cards are hid, and that has been brought on entirely owing to the beer trade; because if the licensed victuallers did not allow it, the parties would go to a beerhouse. I recollect a case myself It becomes difficult in which I said, I will not allow cards in my tap-room,' and the consequence for publican or was, that the men said, 'Well, there is a beerhouse, and if you do not allow it, we will go to that house.' Bad language was being used, and my house was cleared; I lost all my custom for a time, and I was obliged to allow it, in spite of the law."

6

The two classes of houses are not upon an equal footing in trade; the beershop-keeper must make his profit upon beer only, and has to compete in its sale with the licensed victualler, who has the advantage of selling spirits as well as beer. The publican may sell beer at little or no profit, he can make up for the loss upon that branch of his trade by the profit upon spirits, he can therefore afford to attract custom by a price at which, unless at a loss, it is not possible for the beershop-keeper to sell; the latter is thus in many cases driven to seek a profit by deteriorating the quality of his beer, but even then, he is met by the publican, who has the advantage, that he can not only compete in reducing the beer, but can still undersell his competitor, and compensate himself for the loss by lowering the quality of the spirits in which he also deals.

beershop to pre

vent card-playing and gambling.

The two classes of houses have not

the same opporta

nity of success.

The necessity of making a protit on beer only gives rise to adulteration.

house or beershop

Your Committee have had some important evidence of the extent to which Beer is seldom as this evil has been carried. A late partner in one of the metropolitan breweries good at the publicsays, "it is quite notorious if you drink beer at the brewery, and at a public- as at the brewery. house a little way off, you find it a very different commodity" (4538). Another witness, himself a London publican, states that most publicans have a system of doing something to their beer (1742). It is not possible to make a living by selling beer at 3d. a pot, for which the brewer gets 1s. a gallon; but if a pail