Clause 1. — (Increased duties and draw- backs on certain descriptions of beer.)

Part of Orders of the Day — FINANCE (No. 2) BILL. – in the House of Commons at on 30 September 1931.

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Photo of Lieut-Colonel Sir William Wayland Lieut-Colonel Sir William Wayland , Canterbury

We have all been talking about equality of sacrifice, but with this extra duty I can only see a gross inequality. The duty, if this Bill is passed, will be lb times greater than it was in 1914, and we object to the fact that there has been no relief to the Beer Duty for many years, but only additions to the heavy burden now borne by a very large proportion of the working classes of this country. One can only suppose that Chancellors of the Exchequer are actuated, not only by the desire to obtain extra revenue, but by a feeling of wishing to victimise the beer drinkers. I do not remember, and I may be wrong, but not to my knowledge has a single Chancellor of the Exchequer since 1918 been a beer drinker. I believe there have been those who have been whiskey drinkers, port wine drinkers, and champagne drinkers, hut no beer drinkers, and not being beer drinkers themselves, they have had no hesitation in penalising all those who drink the national beverage. I cannot help thinking, therefore, that the beer drinker has been sacrificed on the altar of teetotalism.

What are the present conditions of beer drinking as compared with pre-War? In 1914 convictions for drunkenness were 183,828. In 1929 they had dropped to 51,966, which are the last figures I could obtain. The consumption of beer during that time had dropped from 31,000,000 barrels to 19,000,000 barrels, which means that the consumption of beer from 1914 to 1930 had dropped by nearly a half. That proves that we can really consider this country to be a nation of very moderate drinkers. What does the teetotaller do in the way of equality of sacrifice? What burden does he bear? Precious little. If a man with an income of £400 a year has three children and does not consume alcoholic drink and does not smoke, he pays no taxation at all. That is not fair. It is absolutely unfair, and yet every Chancellor takes the first opportunity of planking another burden upon the poor consumer of the national beverage.

The Chancellor expects that he will get £10,000,000 out of this extra impost next year. I offer to bet him five to one that he does not get anything like that. Since the tax was imposed, I am informed, the sales have dropped considerably, and they are likely to drop. How can you expect the man in the street with an ordinary wage, especially in the country districts, to be able to indulge in even one and a-half pints of beer a day at the price which he has to pay for it at the present time? I have the honour to represent a constituency where a large quantity of hops is grown, and I am informed by the hop growers, who are farmers, that, in view of the fact that the consumption of beer is bound to fall, it is their intention to grub up a large quantity of land which is being cultivated for hops, and in consequence to discharge a large number of their employés. In the hop fields more labour is employed to the acre than in any other crop. The agricultural labourer gets a low rate of wages compared with other workers. The average throughout Kent is 32s. for the ordinary agricultural labourer, who consumes, say, one and a-half pints of beer per day. That means 68 gallons per annum, and he will pay in beer taxation £13 12s. a year, or 5s. 2d. per week. It will be agreed that that is not fair to him or to any other beer drinker. The agricultural labourer, like every other worker, has a right to be able to indulge in his favourite refreshment without being penalised to such an extent.

I believe that the Chancellor could have found other means of obtaining the necessary money. He has stated that it is not his intention to tax either tea or sugar. I would remind him that there is a difference between necessities and necessaries. Neither tea nor beer are necesssities. Sugar may perhaps be termed a necessity, but the other two articles certainly are not. To single out beer for heavy taxation and leave tea alone cannot possibly be fair. It may be said that beer causes drunkenness and the wreckage of many homes and the Noble Lady the Member for the Sutton Division of Plymouth (Viscountess Astor) will base her arguments on that foundation; but it will be admitted that the wreckage of women's nerves to-day is in a great measure due to the excessive consumption of their favourite beverage, tea. Who would have felt the imposition of one penny a pound on the present price of tea, which is sold at such a low figure that, taking the average consumption for a household at one and a half or two lbs. a week, it would have meant no more than twopence per week extra. Let us take the housewife's position. She would have to bear twopence extra a week. Her husband is a beer drinker, and in many cases he will say to her: "Well, mother, I am giving you 25s. a week to keep the House, or 30s. or 40s. Now I have to pay a penny a pint more for my beer, and as I consume three pints a day, I am afraid that I shall have to deduct 1s. 9d. a week from your housekeeping money." If he did that, the housewife would be far worse off than if a penny had been placed on tea; she would have paid that extra impost and would not have felt it.

I cannot see why the Chancellor should not tax those millions of bottles of foreign mineral waters which come into this country every year. A million bottles a week come from France; we import a large quantity from Germany, and considerable quantities from Belgium and Austria. Taking them altogether, I do not think that I under-estimate the quantity when I say that probably 8,000,000 bottles a month are consumed in this country. They are consumed, not by the working classes, but by people with fair incomes and large incomes. Therefore, we could easily have placed a tax of 3d. a bottle on these foreign minerals and spa waters. We should not only derive from that source a large amount of money, but give a chance to those who like Harrogate water or other water, and so give our own spas a chance of selling considerably more water than they are able to do to-day. The taxation of beer is a gross inequality, and it places a heavy and undue burden upon the working classes, and especially the class which I represent, the agricultural labourer.