458 



THE BREWING INDUSTRY IN IRELAND. 



tion of whiskey. The amount of malt upon which duty was paid in Ireland 

 during- the decade 1838-47 was 30 per cent, less than the corresponding 

 amount for the previous decade, and the famine years and the subsequent 

 emigration had their effects upon the brewing trade, and numerous breweries 

 v/ere obliged to close. Shortly after the middle of the century, however, 

 the brewing industry began again to expand, and the heavy increases made 

 in the spirit duty, especially in 1858, when the English and Irish rates were 

 equalised, and the rate fixed at Si", per gallon, treble what it was in Ireland 

 five years previously, tended to increase the use of beer. The amount of 

 beer brewed in Ireland in 1856 was estimated by the Commissioners of 

 Inland Revenue at 926,000 barrels, and in ten years this amount had 

 increased over 50 per cent. 



The growth of the brewing industry and the regularity of the increase in 

 Ireland m the last forty years is clearly shown by the following figures : — 



* Estimated by the Commissioners of Inland Revenue from the amount of Hcence duty charged 

 t .. ,, ., ,. .1 .. .. materials used. 



I Calculated ,, ,, ,, ,, ,, ,, beer duty paid. 



Brewers and the Law. 



As has been already mentioned, the beer tax was abolished in Ireland 

 in 1795, and in England in 1830, and was not re-imposed until 1880, when 

 the malt tax, which had been levied in England from 1697, and in Ireland 

 from 1785, was abolished. Until 1847 brewers were not permitted to use 

 any materials except malt and hops in the brewing of beer for sale. Hops 

 also were subject for a long time to a duty which was reduced in i860 to 

 I y^d. per lb., and finally abolished two years later. In 1 847, under the pro- 

 visions of 10 Vic, c. 5, brewers were permitted to make use of sugar in 

 brewing. The amount thus used in the United Kingdom averaged only about 

 35,000 cwts. a year in the period 1847-66, but in 1867 250,000 cwts. were 

 used, and in 1879 the amount exceeded 1,000,000 cwts., and last year nearly 

 treble this amount was used. This increase was no doubt due to the public 

 taste for a sweeter beer ; but it has also been fostered by sugar refiners 

 preparing a better sugar for the use of brewers, and also by the manufacture 

 of grape sugar from sago, rice, and other farinaceous substances. At first 

 there was no tax imposed upon the sugar used in brewing, owing to the 

 high customs duty paid, but afterwards, owing to the reduction of the sugar 

 duty, a special tax was imposed on all sugar used for brewing, and the tax 

 was arranged on the assumption that 210 lbs. of sugar was equivalent for 

 brewing purposes to a quarter of malt. The amount paid in Ireland for the 

 malt tax in 1875 (an average year) was ;^430,ooo, and the amount paid for 

 the tax levied on sugar used in brewing was over ;^3 1,000. 



