under-estimated at 2,000,000. (For
comparative production and consumption see BEER.)

_Taxation and Regulations_.--The development of the brewing industry in
England is intimately interwoven with the history of its taxation, and the
regulations which have from time to time been formed for the safeguarding
of the revenue. The first duty on beer in the United Kingdom was imposed in
the reign of Charles II. (1660), namely 2s. 6d. per barrel on strong and
6d. per barrel on weak beer. This was gradually increased, amounting to 4s.
9d. on strong and 1s. 3d. on weak beer in the last decade of the 17th
century, and to 8s. to 10s. in the year 1800, at which rate it continued
until the repeal of the beer duty in 1830. A duty on malt was first imposed
in the reign of William III. (1697), and from that date until 1830 both
beer duty and malt tax were charged. The rate at first was under 7d. per
bushel, but this was increased up to 2s. 7d. prior to the first repeal of
the beer duty (1830), and to 4s. 6d. after the repeal. In 1829 the joint
beer and malt taxes amounted to no less than 13s. 8d. per barrel, or 41/2d.
per gallon, as against 21/2d. at the present day. From 1856 until the
abolition of the malt tax, the latter remained constant at a fraction under
2s. 81/2d. A _hop duty_ varying from 1d. to 21/2d. per pound was in existence
between 1711 and 1862. One of the main reasons for the abolition of the hop
duty was the fact that, owing to the uncertainty of the crop, the amount
paid to the revenue was subject to wide fluctuations. Thus in 1855 the
revenue from this source amounted to L728,183, in 1861 to only L149,700.

It was not until 1847 that the use of sugar in brewing was permitted, and
in 1850 the first sugar tax, amounting to 1s. 4d. per cwt., was imposed. It
varied from this figure up to 6s. 6d. in 1854, and in 1874, when the
general duty on sugar was repealed, it was raised to 11s. 6d., at which
rate it remained until 1880, when it was repealed simultaneously with the
malt duty. In 1901 a general sugar tax of 4s. 2d. and under (according to
the percentage of actual sugar contained) was imposed, but no drawback was
allowed to brewers using sugar, and therefore--and this obtains at the
present day--sugar used in brewing pays the general tax and also the beer
duty.

By the Free Mash-Tun Act of 1880, the duty was taken off the malt and
placed on the beer, or, more properly speaking, on the wort; maltsters' and
brewers' lice