"
The Brewing Trade in 1892.
The Annual Parliamentary return recently issued at the instigation of Mr. Cosmo Bonsor, M.P., furnishes much information I of very considerable interest to the brewing a trade, and at the present time, when the public are eing moved with indignation at the confiscatory proposals of the present Government, this return becomes of very much more than trade interest. From previous articles in these columns on the production and consumption of beer, our readers already know that the quantity of beer manufactured in the United Kingdom during last year was much above that of the previous year, and now we find from these returns that a larger amount of duty was paid during the twelve months ended September 30, 1892, than in any year since 1881; we cannot go further back than this, because prior to 1881 the duty was levied on the malt, and not on the beer as at present, and any comparison between the two systems would be valueless.
The following figures give the total amounts of beer and licence duty charged to brewers for sale during the last twelve years, and the result last year compares very favourably with that of any previous period :—
1881 |
£8,498,044 |
1887 |
£8,845,919 |
1882 |
8,668,405 |
1888 |
8,782,725 |
1883 |
8,449,721 |
1889 |
9,323,171 |
1884 |
8,746,529 |
1890 |
9,864,556 |
1885 |
8,664,319 |
1891 |
10,039,217 |
1886 |
8,539,329 |
1892 |
10,079,678 |
It will thus be seen that the total amount paid last year (i.e., for twelve months ended Sept. 30, and unless otherwise stated this period is meant in all cases) was £10,079,678, which represents an increase of £40,461 in excess of the preceding year, and £215,122 more than in 1890. This state of affairs, while eminently satisfactory to the brewing trade, must be particularly annoying to the parties championed by Mr. Caine, Sir W. Lawson, and their allies, and the more so because, going hand in hand with the increased consumption of our national beverage, is the great diminution of drunkeness, crime, poverty, and ignorance; this is a bitter potion to swallow for those who would wantonly destroy a legitimate trade without any redress.
It is now a fact, established beyond a shadow of a doubt, that the number of brewers continues year by year to grow less, and this has been the case ever since the repeal of the malt tax, the principal decrease being among the smallest members of the trade. During last year the falling off amounted to 578 as compared with the corresponding period of the previous year, and the total decrease from 1880 to 1892 inclusive was 10,558. We have compiled the following table to show how rapidly this diminution in the number of brewers has been continuing since 1880, when there were no less than 21,223 who took out licences :—
Number of Common Brewers Paying for Licences in Year Ended September 30. |
|
1881 |
1882 |
1883 |
1884 |
1885 |
1886 |
1887 |
1888 |
1889 |
1890 |
1891 |
1891 |
1,000 |
14,948 |
14,499 |
13,864 |
13,199 |
12,608 |
12,155 |
11,716 |
11,586 |
10,705 |
9,986 |
9,283 |
8,766 |
10,000 |
1,677 |
1,619 |
1,592 |
1,560 |
1,537 |
1,529 |
1,533 |
1,518 |
1,479 |
1,447 |
1,370 |
1,303 |
20,000 |
275 |
275 |
274 |
289 |
270 |
260 |
271 |
264 |
273 |
274 |
284 |
276 |
30,000 |
88 |
84 |
79 |
85 |
83 |
85 |
94 |
89 |
108 |
130 |
126 |
136 |
50,000 |
63 |
66 |
58 |
64 |
66 |
68 |
68 |
74 |
69 |
72 |
74 |
78 |
100,000 |
32 |
36 |
40 |
39 |
38 |
39 |
42 |
38 |
48 |
53 |
54 |
55 |
150,000 |
7 |
11 |
11 |
10 |
10 |
9 |
11 |
9 |
13 |
16 |
20 |
20 |
200,000 |
7 |
6 |
6 |
9 |
9 |
7 |
6 |
6 |
5 |
5 |
5 |
4 |
250,000 |
2 |
2 |
2 |
2 |
1 |
3 |
3 |
3 |
3 |
2 |
2 |
2 |
300,000 |
3 |
2 |
2 |
2 |
2 |
2 |
2 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
3 |
2 |
350,000 |
— |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
— |
1 |
2 |
3 |
3 |
400,000 |
1 |
1 |
2 |
1 |
2 |
1 |
2 |
3 |
3 |
2 |
1 |
1 |
450,000 |
3 |
2 |
1 |
2 |
1 |
2 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
2 |
500,000 |
1 |
2 |
2 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
2 |
3 |
3 |
550,000 |
— |
— |
— |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
|
1 |
— |
— |
1 |
600,000 |
— |
— |
— |
— |
— |
- |
— |
1 |
1 |
2 |
2 |
1 |
1,000,000 |
2 |
2 |
2 |
2 |
2 |
2 |
2 |
1 |
— |
— |
— |
— |
over 1000000 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
2 |
2 |
2 |
2 |
Total |
17,110 |
16,609 |
15,937 |
15,268 |
14,633 |
14,166 |
13,755 |
13,598 |
12,756 |
12,000 |
11,233 |
10,855 |
deacrease compared with preceding yrs. |
4,113 |
501 |
672 |
669 |
635 |
467 |
411 |
157 |
842 |
756 |
767 |
578 |
The Brewers' Guardian 1893, page 89.
What the article says about the decline all being in the smallest categories is true. All the categories greater than 10,000 barrels were either stable or increased. The authorities were quite happy to see many of the very small breweries to close because they were more difficult for the Excise to chek up on.It was much easier to check up on a smaller number of larger breweries.