1800.] On the Public Brewery. 215

We ſhall now examine the comparative rate of taxation on the two claſles of the conſumers, as diſtinguiſhed above.

XXV. A public brewer is ſuppoſed to make three barrels of (7) ale(equal to 108 gallons) from a. quarter of malt. This malt pays a duty of 8s. 4d; the beer produced from it Il. 45. Each gallon of this beer conſequently pays more than three pence halfpenny(3d. 6-1oths) to the exciſe, The brewer for advancing this duty muſt charge enough to complete the ex- action up to 4d. per gallon. The private brewery is only liable to the above malt-duty; wherefore on the ſame beer(privately brewed) the duty amounts to 100d. on 108 gallons. But as a large quantity together can be more profitably brewed, we may reduce the produce of the quarter of malt to 100 gallons. In that caſe 8s. 4d. per quarter amounts to exaQly one penny per gallon.

AXVI. Now, as no line can more exadly diſcriminare the rich from the poor than the power of brewing at home, this law virtually enacts that the rich,(in conſideration of his ſuperior ability to pay it,) ſhall be(7) exonerated from three-fourths of a burden impoſed on the poor; that the rich man who has abundant choice of other exhilarating liquors ſhall be lightly taxed, while the labourer whoſe exhauſtion reguires every recruit, ſhall, in this ſecond neceflary of life, in his beſt ſolace of poverty, pay a(s) treble proportion to the public rèvenue.

XXVII, The exciſe of beer has yet other features of unjuſt partiality in its detail. Firſt, it virtually annibilates ſmall beer, by limiting its deſcription to 10s. bd. per hogſhead: of this the duty is 1s. 4d. Hence it appears that legal ſmall beer is at2d. per gällon! A mere mockery of the unfortunates who only can wiſh to drink it! Secondly, in the caſe of the frongeſt beer, it abfurdly alleviates the duty. Thus, in the country, a brewer uſually makes two barrels,(equal to 72 gailons,) of frong beer

(g) Technically ſpeaking, the barrel of porter is no more than z2 gallons, but as- the excife is in proportion, to the preſent purpoſe it is indifferent; ‘Thoſe authors who have profeſſed to develope tlie ſecrets of the porter-brewery have eſtimated the produce of a quarter of malt at five of theſe ſmall barrels, But as theſe authors write with the uſual ſpleen concerning public brewers, and as the profits in that caſe are wholly iùcredible, I ſhall ſuppoſe a quarter to produce four barrels, equal to 128 gallons,

(7) It was conſiſtent with my ſubjeét to deſcribe the operation of this law at ſome length. A modern writer has done it more ſtrikingly in fewer words: €“‘The Parliament,(ſays he,) granted to King William an exciſe on all beer brewed for ſale.—N. B. The members of this Parliament all brewed their own beer.” He might have added, their conſtituents alſo.

(«) To thoſe gloomy people who talk of the vice and depravity of the preſent age, it may afford ſome conſolation to compare the conduÆ of Par- liaments a century ago with that of our preſent legiſlature. To ſurmiſe the impohtion of ſuch a tax as this on beer by modern Parliaments, could only ſound like‘an affectation of ſuſpicion. Certainly we approach,(though üowly,) to the golden age!