348 



THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



THE CHANGE IN THE MALT DUTIES. 



The announcement of the Chancellor of the Ex- 

 chequer, on Friday, March 16, that the subject of the 

 proposed change in the malt-duties would not be gone 

 into till after Easter, gives those who are specially 

 interested in the matter an opportunity of looking into 

 the details ; and as the question is of general importance 

 to our readers, both as producers and consumers, we 

 have gone into some of the statistics bearing upon 

 the production of malt and the consumption of beer, 

 which may be found useful for reference. 



In England and Wales, in 1857, there were 6,235 

 maltsters, paying a licence-duty of from 2s. 7^d. to 

 £4 14s. 6d. per annum ; 11 roasters of malt, paying 

 ^£"20 per annum ; and 21 dealers in malt, paying £10 

 per annum. The duty derived from all these was 

 £15,338. In Scotland there were 653 maltsters, 2 

 roasters, and 1 dealer ; and the duty received from these 

 licences was £1,124. In Ireland, 158 maltsters, 9 

 roasters, and 1 dealer; payins an aggregate licence-duty 

 of £740. There are therefore 7,091persons who are 

 makers of or dealers in malt. Tlie reduction in num- 

 bers of late years is very noticeable. In 1847 tliere 

 were 9,578 maltsters, distributed as follows : 8,290 in 

 England, 1,098 in Scotland, and 190 in Ireland. 



The malt retained for home-consumption, in the last 

 sixteen years, has been as follows :— 



From these figures it will be seen that there has been 

 a gradual and steady increase in the make during the 

 last four years. Since the close of 1855, when malt was 

 permitted to be made free of duty for distillation and 

 for exportation, we find the following quantities were 

 so made free of duty : j 



1856 ...... 4,912,147 bushels, 



1857 5,668,948 „ 



1858 6,049,321 „ 



1869 4,987,224 „ 



or an avernge of five million bushels a-year. The 

 great bulk of this (4,000,000 bushels) is, however, 

 made and used in Scotland. 



The estimated quantity of malt used in the beer 

 exported in the past three years has been, in 1857, 

 1,066,958 bushels; in 1858, 1,105,622 bushels; and 

 in 1859, 1.316,986 bushels. 



The revenue derived from malt since 1856, when the 

 duty was reduced from 4s. a bushel to 2s. 7d. and 5 per 

 cent., has been as follows : 



1856 £6,676,350 



1857 6,690,950 



The duty charged in each round, or period of six 

 weeks, is payable within six days after the termination 

 of such round ; unless where bond has been given for 

 the payment of the duties, in which case the maltster is 

 entitled to a further credit of eighteen weeks. When 

 sureties are taken, a bond is given by two. persons, 

 not being maltsters, for double the value of the duties 

 which shall be likely to become due from the maltsters 



within a period of eighteen weeks. A recent return 

 shows that, in the seven years ending with 1858, there 

 were fifteen cases in which sureties have been 

 called to pay duties by default of their principals ; the 

 aggregate amount of duty being only £5,042 in that 

 period. The loss of malt-duty incurred by the revenue 

 during the same period has been under £900, in four- 

 teen instances. 



Calculating the malt charged with duty at 

 48,000,000 bushels per annum, and the population at 

 29,000,000, we have a consumption per head of 1 .55 

 bushels (or a little more than 1|), and the revenue 

 yielded, £5,400,000, gives a proportion paid per head 

 of 3s. 8d. 



As upwards of 4,000.000 quarters of grain are now 

 employed in making beer (calculating 3.^ barrels of 

 beer for each quarter, and 36 gallons for each barrel), 

 we have the enormous quantity of 490,000,000 gallons 

 made, or an average consumption of nigh 19 gallons 

 per head, supposing it were all used at home. But 

 there is an annual shipment of about 534,000 ban-els to 

 deduct. 



If the great increase in the population be considered, 

 this average quantity will, after all, appear very small 

 for a national beverage. Malt liquor is the natural, and 

 should be now, as it once was, the national liquor of 

 England. It early became to the labouring classes 

 what the inferior vin ordinaire is to the people of 

 France — at once a necessity of life and a luxury. The 

 taste for it was universally diffused. Two centuries 

 ago the consumption of duty-paid ale, irrespective of 

 home-brewed aud untaxed, was nearly 7,000,000 

 barrels. 



At present we do not believe the quantity privately 

 brewed to bear any very great proportion to that 

 brewed for sale. Private families, unless those resident 

 in the country and having large households, not think- 

 ing it worth their while to devote the time and trouble 

 to the manufacture, which can be obtained nearly as 

 cheap and good by purchase, in small or large quan- 

 tities. 



In 1854 the war excise duty on malt was imposed, 

 yielding £2,450,000 to the revenue, and again reduced 

 in 1856. The effects are seen by the variation in the 

 quantity made, as already stated. The malt charged 

 with duty in the last seven years has been 



No here or bigg is used for malting in England, and 

 the quantity so employed in Scotland and Ireland is 

 only about 120,000 bushels, the duty being but 2s. per 

 bushel on this grain. The average price of barley in 

 England and Wales, in 1858, was 34s. 8d., against 42s. 

 Id. in 1857, 41s. in 1856, 34s. in 1855, 36s. in 1854, 

 33s. in 1863, 28s. in 1852 24s. in 1851, and 23s. in 

 1860. In 1815 the price ruled at 31s. 2d., in 1820 

 34s. lid., in 1825 40s. Id., in 1830 32s. 7d., in 1835 

 29s. lid., in 1840 36s. 6d., and in 1846 31s. 8d. Fully 

 two-thirds of our barley crop is used for mnlt, but our 

 average foreign imports of barley are 1,700,000 quar- 

 ters yearly. What quantity of this will come in malted 

 under the new regulations remains to be seen. 



And now we will close with a few words on continental 

 beer. We learn from tlie agricultural statistics of France 



