THE DISTILLING INDUSTRY IN IRELAND. 



511 



one-half of the retail price of whiskey, and the duty on beer less than one- 

 fourth of the price of beer. 



Perhaps a more satisfactory method would be to compare such quantities 

 of the articles as would usually be considered equivalent by the consumer. 

 We may suppose, for instance, that a labouring man might hesitate between 

 a pint of beer, a pint of tea, or a glass of whiskey. Now the duty on beer 

 being /s. gd. per barrel, it follows that the taxation of a pint of beer is 

 considerably over a farthing, and supposing (which probably is a large 

 estimate), that a quarter of an ounce of tea is used to produce a pint of the 

 liquid, the tax which a pint of tea bears is something less than half a 

 farthing. But the glass of whiskey is burthened with over i %d., and its 

 contribution to the Exchequer is (if we suppose that it is retailed at about 

 20 per cent, under proof), a large percentage on the cost, and about five 

 times as much as is imposed upon the beer, and more than twelve times 

 as much as is imposed upon tea. 



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