THE BREWING INDUSTRY IN IRELAND. 49a 



exceeded the amount imported. At the time of the Financial Relations 

 Commission a special inquiry was instituted by the Commissioners of Inland 

 Revenue to ascertain the actual incidence of the different taxes in each part 

 of the United Kingdom. The total amount of duty paid on beer in the United 

 Kingdom in the year 1889-90 was ;^9,4io,426, of which ;^76i,7i3 was paid 

 in Ireland. From information furnished by the Collectors of Inland Revenue 

 throughout the United Kingdom after communication with the different 

 traders in their districts, it was estimated the duty paid in Great Britain 

 upon beer exported to Ireland amounted to ;^36,905, whilst the duty paid in 

 Ireland upon beer which was subsequently exported, amounted to £iy 7, 262 

 and that consequently the duty paid upon beer consumed in Ireland in 1889- 

 90 amounted to ^^621, 356. This represents a consumption of 1,988,339 

 barrels, the rate of duty in 1889-90 being <5s. -^d. per barrel; and as the 

 population may be fairly estimated at 4,750,000, the average consumption 

 in 1889-90 would seem to have been about 15 gallons per head of popula- 

 tion. 



The consumption is now probably considerably higher. The productiort 

 of beer in Ireland in 1901 shows an increase of over 20 per cent, (nearly 

 600,000 barrels) as compar d with the production in 1891, and the exports 

 certainly have not increased to that extent during the last decade, whilst the 

 population has decreased. Most of the porter exported from Ireland is 

 shipped from Dublin, and the amount despatched from that port in 1900- 

 1901 was about the same as in 1889-90. Still the export trade of Dublin in 

 beer, as distinguished from the coasting trade, has undoubtedly increased, 

 for much of the beer that formerly was sent by boat from Dublin to Belfast 

 and some other parts of Ireland, now goes by rail, and there is an increased 

 export of beer from several other Irish ports, but it seems probable that a 

 considerable portion of the additional 500,000 barrels brewed in 1901 as 

 compared with 1891, was consumed in Ireland, so that the total average 

 consumption of beer in Ireland is probably not less than about 17 or 18 

 gallons per head, whilst the consumption of beer in Great Britain averages 

 at present about 33 gallons per head of population. 



Before leaving the subject of the Brewing industry in Ireland, it may be- 

 noted that, though we live in an age of co-op>eration when " syndi- 

 cates," " combines " and " trusts " are words grown familiar in our mouths,, 

 the brewers of Ireland have not, as yet, combined to form an association to 

 guard and promote the common interests of their industry. Although the 

 brewing trade is one which, in some respects, seems peculiarly to require 

 such action, the County Louth Brewers' Association, consisting of firms in 

 the Dundalk Collection District, is the only combination of brewers as yet 

 formed in this country, but perhaps it may be destined to be the nucleus of 

 a Brewers' Association for all Ireland. 



