282 THE MALT TAX 



would have given a legal definition as " beer " to a liquor 

 which was a mixture. Such a compromise would have been 

 of very little, if any, advantage to barley growers. 



In 1903 Mr. Henry Stopes died, and in recognition of his 

 untiring endeavours to secure " pure beer " the Council 

 raised a Memorial Fund, amounting to 153, which was 

 presented to his family. Mr. Clare Sewell Read died in 1905, 

 Mr. A. F. Jeffreys in 1906, Colonel Kenyon-Slaney in 1908, 

 and Sir Cuthbert Quilter in 1911, so that our most active 

 helpers in this particular question, and those who knew most 

 about it, have been irretrievably lost to us. 



1906. 



Mr. G. L. Courthope got a place in the ballot, and at the 

 request of the Council introduced a Beer Bill, framed much on 

 the lines of that introduced by Sir Wm. Tomlinson. Like 

 its predecessor, it was also rejected, by 163 votes to 90. On 

 this occasion there was a notable absence of those members 

 who were usually looked upon as supporters of agricultural 

 measures, and this accounted for the small numbers in the 

 division. 



1908. 



In January the Council passed a resolution calling the 

 attention of the Government to the serious condition of the 

 hop industry, and on 6th February Mr. Laurence Hardy 

 moved, and Mr. Courthope seconded an amendment to the 

 Address on the same lines. The Chancellor of the Exchequer 

 (Mr. Asquith), having promised to appoint a Select Committee 

 on the subject, the amendment was withdrawn. This Com- 

 mittee presented its report on 10th July, but its conclusions 

 were so contrary to the great bulk of the evidence laid before 

 it, that Mr. Courthope and Mr. Gretton both presented 

 Minority Reports, which showed a wide divergence from the 

 views expressed by the Majority. In November the Council 

 considered a report from a Special Committee which they had 

 appointed upon the Select Committee's report, from which 

 the following extracts are taken. The Council agreed with 



