The Beer Tax.

Auckland Star, Volume IX, Issue 2604, 22 August 1878, Page 3

The Beer Tax.

DEPUTATION TO MR BALLANCE.^, (PUB STAB SPECIAL WJBSfy! (From Our Own Correspondent). WELLINGTON, Wednesday. The brewers' deputation was introduced by Mr Marshall. He read a written, statement to the effect:—Firstly : That the principle of taxing local manufactures is highly objectionable, inasmuch as it seriously affects the development of our resources. Secondly: That the beer tax, ,as imposed by the Government, will interfere to a serious extent with colonial industry, and with its being fairlydeveloped, after years of hard struggling and great expenditure of ;money. Thirdly: That the tax, if borne by the brewers, will be a direct tax upon the trade, and,there; fore a class tax ; and: if borne by consumers' will bear heavily on working men, who looks ■■upon his beer, as being-as much a necessity! as" tea^&nd sugar. Fourthly:.: That. the;.i;ax. •■\v.ill:;haye v a tendency;"to" increase the consumption of 'spirits,- and that spirits, not beer,-are the chief cause tot drunkenness' in this colony; if the tax is! necessary 5 •itishO.uld be on spirits, riotv beer. FifthlyXTiie tax is retrospective! and presses heavily, on brewers who have large contracts to" fulfil. Sixthly : Those brewers who use English malt and hops are doubly taxed.. Seventhly: It is a vexatious"iax, and interferes with the developement of industry, by encouraging private brewing in order to escape the tax.

!; Eighthly-.Theitax-would offer inducements Ito use articles in the manufacture of beer I deleterious to the consumer, for the purpose Of cheapening the cost of production. 9. The brewers did not think that they should be taxed because of the falling off of the revenue rece'ved from the importation of English beer, when, the falling off in the revenue derived from the importation of spirits caused the colonial distillers to he closed, the Government give them twelve months notice, to allow them to clear stock, and gave a large bonus as compensation for vested interests. 10 That the effect would be to stop competition by forcing small brewers to close their doors, thus throwing trade into hands of few capitalists. 11. That the beer tax: has never been imposed in any, of- the Australian colonies. ; V_. /Mr Ballarice asked whether by doubling the taxes'the deputation meant being twice taxed.—Mr Marshell said he referred only to the additional duty.—Mr Ballance said the Amount of duty proposed was ; 6J per cent, "while remission on sugar was two per cent, It must be-admitted that the falling off on EnglisEheer was due to the high duty, hut would the brewers object to a reduction of that duty which would largely increase the consumption of it I The duty .on ; English beer in New Zealand was- Is 3d, while. m -ttieAustralian colonies it,was only 9d. Ihe -increase on spirits would develop smuggling and illicit distillation, which would create loss of revenue. He agreed that beer was to a certain extent as necessary as tea, and sugar, but a considerable duty was left on the two last named. Mr Marshall : This is the commencement of the tax on beer. How can we tell what will be the end ? Mr Ballance : Notice of motion has been given to increase the tax on beer.to 3d, but the Government would not support that.—Mr Sharpe said there would be a difficulty in collecting the tax in j country districts.—Mr Ballance said they would use the police as revenue officers in smaller places. The Government; desired to harass tlTe brewers as little as possible ; but they believed the stamp system would be best. It is proposed that bottling should be done off the premises.—Mr Todhunter. said stamps would be used a second time. — Mr Ballance : We shall have a check upon that.—Mr Marshall: Is it the intention of the Government that the tax shall fall upon the brewers ?—Mr Ballauce : The tax will fall ultimately upon the consumer. The publicans will put an extra charge upon beer. Already the idea has been mooted of having smaller glasses.—Mr Johnston : How will he,do that in the case,'of pints and half-pints ?—Mr Marshall : You willrob the poor man of his beer. Mr Ballance : You may use a little more sugar.—Mr Johnston did not think the brewers, in' Auckland used a ton of sugar within the year.—Mr Ballance : That is a reflection on other brewers throughout the colony. I admit there is a claim for the drawback, as the tax has come into operation this month,' and the remission is not until January.: The remission on sugar would reduce the tax to two per cent.—Mr Macffarlane, M.H.R., said the tax would injure the. barley growing interest One brewer- in Auckland took 10,000 bushels of barley.— Mr Joel considered the-Treasurer had made; too high an estimate in reckoning the price' of beer at £5, while it is sold in Dunedin at £4 less five per cent., ordinary beer being from five to six per hogshead. The duty instead of being six and a-half per cent.,. would be thirteen. The brewer would hav.e to produce an inferior article to sell at a reduced rate. The higher classes only would benefit by a reduction on bottled beer. ENGLISH V. COLONIAL BEER. Mr Ballance :By a reduction the working man would be encouraged, and there would be increased consumption. He had heard an argument that the effect of the tax would be to improve the quality of the beer. —Mr Joel denied that colonial beer was of inferior quality to the English. Illicit distillers could only manufacture whisky and gin. The higher classes consumed brandy, why not tax that?—Mr Ballance would ffu^Mte Utt $«? rBBSU8 a& sugar had been only a farthing it would render the beer tax unnecessary.—Mr Ballance said the sugar duty here was much higher than in other colonies.—Mr Todhunter did not believe the publican would get anything out of the consumer except by adulteration.; —Mr , Ballance thought the tax wouldstrengthentheposition of the browing.interest. All taxation was a necessary evil.—Mr Todhunter : It would be as fair to tax the woollen mills.—Mr Ballance : That was a question that might come on for consideration when the mills became numerous. They could not tax young industries to the same extent'as beer. —Mr Sharpe said there was no industry in the colony in which so many failures had occurred "as in beer.—Mr Marshall: ,Oat of twelve- breweries started in Dunedin there were now only five. i— Mr Todhunter: There have been j several failures in breweries in. Christchurch.—Mr Sharpe said the proposed taxation would reduce brewers by 40 per .cent.—Mr Ballance said he had known manyi brewers who had retired with large fortunes.^ He had been told by the representative of N.S.W. that if the duty was removed in W.Z. off Australian wines, N.S«.W. would remove the duty off beer.—Mr Burns said they were free traders, and would give the matter their best consideration, j He was afraid Victoria would not make ijhe concession in consequence of the; strong protection policy, but wonld consider the question of reckoning fifty gallons to the hogshead. : ■ . i ; •- THE STAMP DUTY, j Mr Dobson suggested that the best form of stamp duty would be on corks. t Mr Ballance said the Government was determined to adhere to the proposed tax. As to the contracts extending over the period when the tax came into operation, the Government intended to make tihat' fall upon contractee. They would alsoconsider the question of granting a rebate, in stocks. With regard to .employers brewing for workmen, he ws'uld ascertaiu what the practise was in England. The deputation thanked the Treasurer, and withdrew.