BEER MATERIALS COMMITTEE 275 



tants whatever quality or kind of drink they cared to produce.* 

 The Chancellor of the Exchequer (Sir M. Hicks-Beach) dis- 

 approved of the provision in the Bill limiting the use of the 

 term " beer " to the product brewed from malt and hops 

 only. He expressed himself willing to grant an expert inquiry 

 into the use of deleterious substances in the manufacture of 

 beer. Unfortunately, Mr. Quilter accepted this statement, 

 in good faith, and withdrew the Bill, instead of getting a 

 second reading, and then ascertaining the Chancellor's sug- 

 gestions as to the personnel of the inquiry. The result was 

 that a Departmental Committee was appointed in November, 

 called the Beer Materials Committee, to inquire 



" Whether legislation is required to prevent the use of deleteri- 

 ous substances in the manufacture of beer ; and whether the 

 materials of which beer may be composed can be defined by law 

 without undue interference with the liberty of brewers to use 

 any wholesome materials in brewing." 



The reference to the Committee was fairly good, but the 

 Committee was not fairly constituted. It consisted of the 

 Earl of Pembroke (Chairman), Dr. James Bell (ex-Principal 

 of the Inland Revenue Laboratory), Professor W. Odling 

 (Professor of Chemistry), Mr. H. W. Primrose (Chairman of 

 the Board of Customs), Sir J. H. Gilbert (Rothamsted), and 

 Mr. Clare Sewell Read. Lord Pembroke was a Lord of the 

 Treasury, and two other members were connected with the 

 Inland Revenue Department. The two Secretaries of the 

 Committee were both from the Treasury. This gave too 

 much weight to the views of officials, and it is nearly always 

 the case that Government officials are opposed to changes in 

 the routine to which they have become accustomed. Two 

 witnesses from the Inland Revenue Department were examined 

 and one of them put in a memorandum which shows a very 

 decided bias in favour of the status quo. 



This Committee did not issue its report until January, 

 1899. All the Committee signed it except Mr. Read, who 

 issued a Minority Report. The Chamber sent as witnesses 



* He was a member of the Cabinet which created this monopoly in 

 1880, and gave the brewers their " free mash tun." 



T 2 



