§ So much for the full "on" licences. The next point in importance is the beer-retailers' "on" licence, commonly known as the "beer-house" licence. The same conditions as regards the enjoyment of a monopoly value attach to these licences as to the publicans' licences. The trade done in a beer-house is frequently as extensive and as profitable as the trade done in fully licensed premises, though, of course, as the privilege granted by the licence is a more restricted one, this is not invariably the case. The present fixed charge of £3 10s. for a beer-house licence, without regard to the value of the premises to which it is attached or to the profits which it enables the owner to earn, is, if judged by the standard of what would form a fair and reasonable consideration for so valuable a privilege, absurdly inadequate.
§ I propose, therefore, to introduce for this class of licence rates graduated on the same basis as that which is to be made applicable to full "on" licences, the rate being in each case two-thirds of the amount chargeable for a publican's licence in respect of similar premises—that is to say, one-third of the annual value of the premises. The principle of a minimum rate according to the size of the place in which the house is situated will be applied to this as to the public-house licence. The scale will be: For rural districts having a population of under 2,000, £3 10s.; between 2,000 and 5,000, £6 10s.; between 5,000 and 10,000, £10; from 10,000 to 50,000, £13; 50,000 to 100,000, £20; and above 100,000, £23 10s.