266 THE MALT TAX 



This Act forbade absolutely the use of any article or preparation 

 whatsoever for or as a substitute for malt or hops. Penalty, 

 forfeiture of articles and vessels and 200 fine. 



Repealed by the Inland Revenue Act, 1880. 



10 & 11 Vic., cap. V. (Feb., 1847). An Act to allow the use of 



sugar in the brewing of beer. 



Sec. VI. For the purpose of brewing and regulating the 

 amount of duty to be paid by such brewer for the licence to be 

 taken out under 6 George IV., c. 81., the brewer shall be deemed 

 to have brewed one barrel of beer for every fifty pounds' weight 

 avoirdupois of sugar used. 



Repealed by the Inland Revenue Act, 1880. 



The last-named Act was passed with a view to placing colonial 

 produce on the same footing as British in the home market. 

 When the Bill was introduced it was stigmatised by Mr. Baring 

 as " false pretences." " In the Queen's Speech," he said, " it 

 was alluded to as a measure to be productive of relief to Ire- 

 land, whilst the Chancellor of the Exchequer (Sir C. Wood), 

 in introducing it, touched very lightly on that point and 

 recommended it mainly as a boon to the colonial interest." 

 The West Indian planters at that time were a powerful 

 political party. With the large incomes they were then making 

 it was not difficult for them to secure seats in the House of 

 Commons for their adherents and cadets, and some of these 

 (for instance, Mr. W. E. Gladstone, son of Sir John Gladstone, 

 owner of the sugar estate of Vreeden Hoop, in Demerara) 

 were men of more than ordinary capacity. The West Indian 

 planters, however, in this matter w r ere not quite strong enough, 

 or not clever enough, to get all they wanted, for a blunder 

 was made in arranging the respective quantities of malt and 

 sugar upon which duty was to be charged, with the result that 

 the brewer found it as profitable to use malt as sugar. It, 

 however, breached the wall which had hitherto guarded to 

 some extent the malt and hop producers. 



In 1862 the Hop Duties were repealed, and by thus removing 

 the watchful eye of the Inland Revenue officials the door was 

 opened to adulteration by all kinds of hop substitutes. In 

 fact, the use of hop substitutes was expressly permitted, so 

 long as they were not substitutes for malt. 



