THE BREWING INDUSTRY IN IRELAND. 



471 



enjoyed by this firm is all the more remarkable from the fact that some of 

 the other brewers carrying on business in Dublin are of greater antiquity, 

 and very much exceeded the trade of the St. James's Gate Brewery in the 

 eighteenth century. 



The beer manufactured consists of four kinds, viz., Porter, which is chiefly 

 used in Ireland for draught ; Extra Stout, which is the article best known 

 to the English public, but which is also largely used in Ireland ; Export 

 Stout, which is generally exported in wood ; and Foreign Stout, which is 

 specially brewed in the coolest season, stored in vats for a long time, and 

 prepared for the bottlers, chiefly in Dublin, Liverpool, and London, who 

 supply foreign markets. 



The trade of the St. James's Gate concern was at first a local one, but about 

 the year 1825 English Agencies were established, and henceforward there 

 was a rapid increase in the trade across the channel. In 1834 their exports 

 are stated to have been about 34,000 barrels of stout and porter per annum. 

 In 1856 the figure had increased to 62,000 barrels, while to-day the annual 

 export of Guinness's porter and stout is said to amount to more than 

 600,000 barrels. It was not until about the year i860 that the export 

 trade of Guinness to foreign countries and the colonies assumed any con- 

 siderable dimensions ; but the trade now done in this direction is very 

 large. 



The firm was turned into a public company in October, 1886, with a 

 capital of ;^6,ooo,ooo, divided into 250,000 Ordinary Shares of ;^io each, 

 ;£,"i, 500,000 Five per cent. Debenture Stock, and ;6^20O,O00 Six per cent. 

 Cumulative Preference Shares of £10 each. The ;£^i, 500,000 Five per cent. 

 Debenture Stocks may be redeemed, at the Company's option, after January 

 1st, 1907, at 1 10 per cent. The prospectus shows that the profit made in the 

 five years before flotation averaged ^^"45 2,294 a year, while the profit made 

 the year immediately preceding the formation of the new Company was 

 ;^554,327. To show how this Company has expanded we give a tabulated 

 statement showing full particulars taken from the balance sheets from 1887 

 to the financial year ending 30th June, 1901. 



a These amounts were placed to Reserve for Capital Expenditure and Contingencies. 



