The Report of the Select Committee on the Hop Industry. 641 
" The great majority of witnesses engaged in the cultivation 
of hops attribute the fall of price mainly, if not wholly, to foreign 
imports. They allege that the price of foreign hops rules the 
market for English hops, and that foreign hops have largely sup- 
planted English hops in the home consumption. The greater 
number of these witnesses favour the imposition of a duty on 
foreign hops to the amount of 30s., or more, per cwt. By some 
it is suggested that this duty should be accompanied by a tax of 
\l. per acre under cultivation of hops in England. This, how- 
ever, was objected to by the great majority of witnesses. The 
proposal, therefore, is practically one for a protective duty on 
hops. 
" Your Committee, while not excluding evidence in this direc- 
tion, have not thought it necessary to take evidence as to the 
ultimate effect and incidence of such a protective duty upon the 
cultivators of hops and consumers of beer, or as to the expediency 
of taking a step with respect to a single article of production and 
consumption at variance w T ith the general commercial and financial 
policy of the country. Your Committee cannot recommend the 
imposition of a duty upon foreign hops. They have not, however, 
refrained from considering how far the reduction of late years in 
the acreage of hops has been due to their free importation." 
It is shown in this report that the effect of the foreign importa- 
tions of hops is not nearly so great as it has been depicted. In 
spite of imported hops, the cultivation of English hops increased 
rapidly immediately after the duty upon foreign hops was taken off 
in 1862. In that year there were not 50,000 acres, but from this 
time there was almost a yearly increase up to 1878, when there were 
71,789 acres of hop-land in England. 
The Committee state that "the crop of hops is so uncertain, 
varying so much from year to year both in quantity and quality, 
that it is necessary to take averages of not less than seven years in 
order to form a fair estimate of results. Taking the last three 
periods of seven years, and estimating the average produce of hops 
at 7 - 8 cwt. per acre, the following table shows the average produce 
and import " : — 
Teriod 
Average number 
of acres under 
cultivation 
Average produce 
Average import 
o£ foreign hops 
Total annual 
consumption 
1869-75 
1876-82 
1883-89 
63,000 
68,000 
65,000 
cwt. 
491,400 
531,900 
507,000 
cwt. 
167,000 
195,000 
169,000 
cwt. 
658,000 
726,000 
676,300 
"The septennial period 1876-82 contained two years of ex- 
ceptionally low produce, 1879 and 1882, and the average produce 
was probably somewhat below that stated ; but even with this 
correction the table does not show that foreign hops have sup- 
planted English hops of late years ; on the contrary, the imports 
have borne about the same proportion to the home produce in 
