+--------+----------------+---------------+ | | No. of | Proportion | | Year. | "on" Licences. | per 10,000 of | | | | Population. | +--------+----------------+---------------+ | 1831 | 82,466 | 59 | | 1871 | 112,886 | 49 | | 1901 | 101,940 | 31 | | 1909 | 94,794 | 26 | +--------+----------------+---------------+ The change may be put in another way. In 1831 there was one public-house to 168 persons; in 1909 the proportion was 1 to 375. The proportional reduction goes back to the 18th century. In 1732 there was in London one public-house to every 50 persons (see above). In Scotland the number of public-houses has been diminishing since 1829, when there were 17,713; in 1909 there were only 7065, while the population had more than doubled. The number in proportion to population has therefore fallen far more rapidly than in England, thus--1831, 1 to 134 persons; 1909, 1 to 690 persons. In Ireland the story is different. There has been a fall in the number of public-houses since 1829, when there were 20,548; but it has not been large or continuous and the population has been steadily diminishing during the time, so that the proportion to population has actually increased, thus--1831, 1 to 395 persons; 1909, 1 to 249 persons. As a whole, however, the United Kingdom shows a large and progressive diminution of public-houses to population; nor is this counterbalanced by an increase of "off" licences. If we take the whole number of licences we get the following movement in recent years:-- _No. of Retail Licences ("on" and "off") per 10,000 of Population._ +-------------------+-------+-------+-------+ | | 1893. | 1903. | 1909. | +-------------------+-------+-------+-------+ | England and Wales | 46 | 42 | 37 | | Scotland | 37 | 33 | 30 | | Ireland | 41 | 46 | 45 | | United Kingdom | 45 | 42 | 37 | +-------------------+-------+-------+-------+ The diminution in the number of public-houses in England was markedly accelerated by the act of 1904, which introduced the principle of compensation. The average annual rate of reduction in the ten years 1894-1904 before the act was 359; in the four years 1905-1908; after the act it rose to 1388. The average annual number of licences suppressed with compensation was 1137, and the average annual amount of compensation paid was £1,096,946, contributed by the trade as explained above. The reduction of public-houses has been accompanied in recent years by a constant increase in the number of clubs. By the act of 1902, which imposed registration, they were brought under some control and the number of legal clubs was accurately ascertained. Previously the number was only estimated from certain _data_ with approximate accuracy. The following table gives the official figures:--