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Corn Trade of Ireland.—Bounty on Inland Carriage.
THE police of corn in Ireland is almost confined to one of the most singular measures that have any where been adopted, which is giving a bounty on the inland carriage of corn from all parts of the kingdom, to the capital. Before it is fully explained, it will be necessary to state the motives that were the inducement to it. DUBLIN, it was asserted from the peculiarity of its situation, on the eastern extremity of the kingdom, without any inland navigations leading to it, was found to be in point of consumption more an English than an Irish city, in corn almost as much as in coals. The import of corn and flour drained the kingdom of great sums at the same time that the supply was uncertain and precarious. It was farther asserted that tillage was exceedingly neglected in Ireland, to the impoverishment of the kingdom, and the misery of the poor. That if some measure could be struck out at once to remedy those two evils, it would be of singular advantage to the community. THIS reasoning furnished the hint to a gentleman there of very considerable abilities, now high in office, to plan the measure I am speaking of. It has been perfected by repeated acts giving a bounty on OATMEAL the same as oats; the ten first miles from Dublin are deducted: it amounts, as has been found by experience, to near twenty per cent, more for flour than the real expence of carriage, and one and a half per cent, more for wheat. In consequence of this act many of the finest mills for grinding com that are to be found in the world were erected, some of which have been built upon such a scale, as to have cost near £20,000. The effect has been considerable in extending tillage, and great quantities of the produce are carried to Dublin. Before I offer any observations on this system, it will be necessary to insert such tables as are necessary to explain the extent, effect, and expence of the measure which took place in 1762, and in 1776 and 1777, arose to above £60,000. In order to see what the import was before that period, and also what it was before the bounty was in full play, as well as since, the following table will have its use. THESE authentic comparisons differ most surprizingly from the assertions that have been made to me in conversation. I was led to believe that Dublin was no longer fed with English corn and flour, and that the difference of the import since the bounty took effect was not less than £200,000 a year. What those assertions could mean is to me perfectly aenigmatical. Have the gentlemen, who are fast friends to this measure, never taken the trouble to examine these papers? Has the business been so often before parliament, and committees of parliament, without having been particularly sifted? We here find that the import into Ireland of foreign barley and malt, wheat and flour have lessened in the last seven years, compared with the preceding seven years, no more than to the amount of about £20,000. I read with attention the report of Mr. Forster's committee in 1774, the purport of which was to establish the principles whereon this bounty was given, but as the whole of that performance turns on a comparison of fifteen years before 1758, and fifteen years after, though itself contains a declaration (page 7) that the great effect of the measure then concerned only the three last years, very little information of consequence is to be drawn from it, since it assigns a merit to the measure while it admits none could flow from it, nor does the whole report contain one syllable of the decrease in the export of pasturage, which ought to have been minutely examined. But in order that we may have the whole corn trade before us, let me insert the import of other sorts of corn. Here therefore we find that instead of a decrease in the import the contrary has taken place. Recapitulation of the total Value of Corn, Flour, &c. imported. HERE is the result of the whole import account; the balance of which in favour of the nation is no more than this trifling sum of sixteen thousand pounds. The account, however, must be farther examined; we must take the export side of the question, for there has been an export notwithstanding this great import. We see something of this in the register of our English corn trade, where is a considerable speculative commerce in corn; but as no such thing exists in Ireland, where the corn trade is a simple import of a necessary of life, it is a little surprizing if any great export appears. Let us, however, examine the account. BUT as the preceding table includes the export from, all the ports in the kingdom, I have inserted it as an object of general information, not as immediately necessary to the enquiry before us, which concerns the port of Dublin only. A measure which draws the corn to that capital from all the ports in the kingdom, can never promote an export from them, but must operate in a contrary manner: for this reason I have drawn the export of the port of Dublin from the general tables for twenty-one years, and find the averages of the three periods, each of seven years, to be in value as follows: the table itself is too voluminous to insert. WHICH sum is the profit to be carried to the account of the inland carriage bounty. I must here observe, that there was a bounty given on exportation, which took place the 24th of june, 1774, viz. 3s. 2d. on the quarter of wheat, ground wheat, meal, or wheat flour. 2s. 4d. on the quarter of rye, pease or beans ground or unground. 1s. 3d. on the quarter of oats, which act declares the half quarter of wheat, rye, pease, beans, meal, &c. shall be 224 lb. barley and malt were left out to ensure the acts passing in England. THE following sessions an additional duty on import was laid of 2s. a barrel on all wheat, and 1s. per hundred weight on all flour, meal, bread, and biscuit, except of the produce of or manufacture of Great Britain, to be levied when the middle price of wheat at the port where imported shall exceed 23s. English, the barrel of 280 lb. The old duty on wheat was 2d. per barrel; on flour 1s. from all ports, Great Britain included. THE reader is not to imagine from hence, that the corn trade of Ireland yields a balance of profit; the advantage to be attributed to the bounty from this account is only a lessening
of loss, as will appear from the following state of export and import over the whole kingdom. IMPORT And EXPORT Compared in VALUE. IT is a reduction of the loss of 65,000 down to £18,000. HAVING thus discovered the advantage of the measure, let us in the next place examine, at what expence this benefit has been obtained. The following table shews the payments of the bounty to each county, the totals, the stones of corn, and the cwts. of flour brought. An ACCOUNT of the Sums paid as Bounties on the Inland Carriage of Corn to Dublin. From the Beginning to 1777. IF therefore the account was to be closed here, it appears that forty-seven thousand pounds per annum, have been given of the public money for a gain in the export and import account of corn of twenty thousand pounds a year. Surely this is paying very dear for it!—but the account does not end here. FROM this table the reader finds, that the bounty has been continually rising, until it has exceeded sixty thousand pounds a year. It also appears, that the increase of tillage has been chiefly in the counties of Kilkenny, Tipperary, Carlow, Meath, Kildare, King's, Wexford, Queen's, and Limerick, as will appear by contrasting the first and the last years of those counties with the particular sums paid to each. AND Limerick arose from nothing at all to £2773 in the year 1776; from hence one fact clearly appears, that the increase of tillage has by no means been in the poor counties, by breaking up uncultivated lands; on the contrary, it has been entirely in the richest counties in the kingdom, which confirms the intelligence I received on the journey, that it was good sheep land that had principally been tilled. The bounty to Tipperary, Carlow and Roscommon, once the greatest sheep counties in Ireland, was insignificant at the beginning of the measure, but has at last become very great. This circumstance, so essential in the subject, renders it absolutely necessary to enlarge our enquiry, that we may examine, as well as our materials will permit, whether any national loss, as well as profit, has resulted from converting so much rich pasture land into tillage; and in order to do this, it will be necessary to lay before the reader the exports of the produce of pasturage from Ireland, during these two periods of seven years each, which serve us for a comparison. An Account of the Export of the Produce of Pasturage Average from 1753 to 1759. THE prices of all these commodities must be ascertained, in order to discover the increase or decrease of value. THE custom-house price cf beef is £1 6s. 8d. per barrel; but I find that the average price at Waterford, from 1764 to 1776, was 16s. per cwt. or £1 12s. the barrel. The custom-house rate of butter is £2 per cwt. but by the same authority, I find the real price on an average of the last fourteen years to be £2 5s. 6d. Candles at the custom-house, £1 15s. per cwt. the real price £2 10s. Tallow at the custom-house, £2, the true price £2 4s. 6d. Average price of four and a half Average of the last 13 Years, 16s. Shipping prices of Butter, Tallow, Candles, and Pork, in Waterford, from the Year 1764 to 1777, both inclusive.8
These are the prices as they appeared at the beginning and at the end of each year. Prices of Ox Hides of 112 lb. from the Year 1756 to 1776, both inclusive. The real price of hides I was disappointed in at Corke, must therefore take that of the custom-house, which is £1 13s. 4d. tanned, and £1 5s. untanned; as more of the latter, I shall suppose £1 8s. on an average. Of the COWS, bullocks, and horses, I have no authority, shall therefore guess them at £5 on an average. Cheese at the custom-house, £1 per cwt. TOTAL EXPORTS OF PASTURAGE. THE second period being greater than the first by near three hundred thousand pounds, and Ireland having been throughout all three periods on the advance in prosperity, it follows that the increase should have continued, had not some other reason interfered, and occasioned, instead of a similar increase of three hundred thousand pounds, a falling off of above fifty thousand. I cannot suppose that the increase of tillage did all this; I should suppose that impossible. Most of these commodities are certainly consumed at home, which perhaps may account for there being no increase; but the increase of tillage must inevitably have had its share, and it is assigning a very moderate one to it, to suppose the amount no more than this decrease of fifty thousand pounds a year. We come next to sheep, and the exports which depend on them. The following table shews the whole at one view. IN the last century the quantity of wool, &c. was much larger, indeed it was so great, as will appear from the following table, as to form a considerable proportion of the kingdom's exports. RELATIVE to the prices I have charged, the following table is the authority. Market Prices of Wool in the Fleece, per Stone of sixteen Pounds; and of Bay Yarn, per Pack, containing fourteen great Stones, of eighteen Pounds each. WOOL is here rated at the market price for combing wool rough in the fleece, but no estimate can be formed from this upon what has been exported, the small quantities whereof have been for the most part wool upon skins or coarse sells, which must have come much lower than the prices herein mentioned. WOOLLEN yarn for export has not been an article for sale in Ireland; what has been sent out was directly from the manufacturer, I presume in very small quantities, and from the port of Corke only. WORSTED, or bay yarn, is sent principally to Norwich and Manchester, it sells by the skain in Ireland, but in the preceding table it is rated by the pack; the cost at market is only noticed, the necessary charges on shipping amount to full two per cent. exclusive of commission, which is two per cent. more. WOOL, woollen, and bay yarn, are exported by the great stone, containing eighteen pounds weight. A licence for exporting must be procured from the Lord Lieutenant, the cost of which is nearly fourpence halfpenny per stone.11
From comparing the prices at different periods, exported woollen yarn may pretty safely be rated at seventeen shillings and sixpence per stone, of which five shillings a stone is labour. WHOEVER recurs to the minutes of the journey, in the counties of Carlow, Tipperary, and Roscommon, the great sheep-walks of Ireland, will have no reason to be suprized at the loss of one hundred thousand pounds a year. There are yet other subjects so connected with the present enquiry, that in order to have a clear and distinct idea of it, we must include in the account. I think it fair to give tillage credit for any increase there may be in pork, bacon, lard, hogs, and bread; it is true they do not entirely belong to it, for dairies yield much; but to obviate objections, I will suppose them totally connected with tillage. The following table includes all these articles. THE data are now very completely before the reader, from which the merit of this extraordinary measure may be estimated. I will not assert that any custom-house accounts are absolutely authentic; I know the common objections to them, and that there is a foundation for those objections; but the point of consequence in the present enquiry does not depend on their absolute
, but comparative accuracy; that is to say, if the errors objected to them exist, they will be found as great in one period as in another, consequently their authority is perfectly competent for the comparison of different ones. Whoever will examine the entries with a minute attention, and compare them with a variety of other circumstances, will generally be able to distinguish the suspicious articles. In the present enquiry, I will venture to assert that they speak truth, for they correspond exactly (as I shall by and by shew) with many other causes, which could hardly have failed without a miracle of producing the effects they display. I should further add, that on the greatest number of the articles inserted in the preceding tables there are duties paid on the export which exempt them from the common objection to the entries. But to reason against the accuracy of such accounts is perfectly useless while ministers in defence of their measures, and patriots in opposition to them, found their arguments on them alone. Whoever attends either the English or Irish house of commons will presently see this in a multiplicity of instances. All who come to the bar of those houses, depend on these accounts; committees of parliament rely on them, and the best political writers of every period, from Child and Davenant to Campbell and Whitworth, have agreed in the same conduct, knowing the errors to which they are liable; but knowing also that there is no better authority, and that they are perfectly competent to comparisons. HAVING thus closed my authorities, I shall now draw them into one view, by stating the account of the inland carriage bounty, debtor and creditor. THUS far I have laid before the reader a connected chain of such facts as the records of the measure, and the parliamentary accounts would permit: it appears as clearly as the testimony of figures can speak, that it has had very ill effects upon the general national account. Had the effect we have seen taken place of itself without any artificial means to assist it, the friends of the public would perhaps have been well employed to remedy the evil: how absurd therefore must it appear to find that it has been brought about with the utmost care and assiduity, and at an expence of near fifty thousand pounds a year of the public money! IT is the intention and effect of this bounty to turn every local advantage, and natural supply topsy turvy. We have had for several years in England, an importation of foreign corn more than proportioned (the kingdoms compared) to anything the Irish knew.17
If any one to remedy this, proposed a bounty on bringing corn by land from Devonshire and Northumberland, so as to give it a preference in the London market to that of Kent and Essex, with what contempt would the proposition be treated! the corn counties of Louth and Kildare in the vicinity of Dublin are not to supply that market, but it is to eat its bread from Corke and Wexford! IT must also be brought by land carriage! the absurdity and folly with which such an idea is pregnant in a country blessed with such ports, and such a vast extent of coast, are so glaring that it is amazing that sophistry could blind the legislature to such a degree as to permit a second thought of it. Why not carry the corn in ships, as well as tear up all the roads leading to Dublin by cars? Why not increase your sailors instead of horses? Are they not as profitable an animal? If you must have an inland bounty, why not to the nearest port from which it could be carried with the most ease, and at the least expence to Dublin? This would have answered the same end. The pretence for the measure was the great import of foreign corn at Dublin; this is granting that there was a great demand at Dublin; and can anyone suppose that if the corn was forced to Corke or Wexford, it would not find the way to such a demand as easily as from the east of England, which is the only part of that kingdom which abounds with corn for exportation? But the very pretence was a falsehood, for with what regard to truth could it be asserted that Dublin was fed with English corn before this measure took effect, when it appears by the preceding accounts, that the import of the whole kingdom, from 1757 to 1763 was only £84,000 a year, and from 1764 to 1770 no more than £101,604? This import account does not distinguish like the export one, the ports at which the foreign corn was received; if it did, I should in all probability find but a moderate part of this total belonging to Dublin, as it is very well known that in the north there is always a considerable import of oatmeal. Granting, however, the evil, still the plan of remedying it by a land carriage of 130 miles was absurd to the last degree. But suppose so considerable a city as Dublin did import foreign corn to a large amount, is it wise to think this so great a national evil, that all the principles of common policy are to be wounded in order to remedy it? Where is the country to be found that is free from considerable importations even of the product of land? Has not Ireland a prodigious export of her soil's produce in the effects of pasturage, for which her climate is singularly adapted? And while she has that of what little account is a trifling import of corn to feed her capital city? We have seen the undoubted loss that has accrued to the nation from a violent endeavour to counteract this import, yet the measure has only lessened it to an inconsiderable degree. I was at a mill on Corke harbour above 120 miles from Dublin, and saw cars loading for that market on the bounty, with a ship laying at the mill quay bound for Dublin, and waiting for a loading; could invention suggest any scheme more preposterous than thus to confound at the public expence all the ideas of common practice, and common sense! By means of this measure I have been assured it has happened that the flour of Slaine mills has found its way to Carlow, and that of Laughlin Bridge to Drogheda: that is to say, Mr. Jebb eats his bread of Captain Mercer's flour, and the latter makes his pudding with Mr. Jebb's assistance; they live 100 miles asunder, and the public pays the piper while the flour dances the hay in this manner. THE vast difference between the expence of land and water carriage should ever induce the legislature, though sailors were not in question, to encourage the latter rather than the former. From Corke there is paid bounty, 5s. 6½d. yet the freight at 10s. a ton is only 6d. The bounty from Laughlin bridge is 2s. 3½d. yet Captain Mercer pays in summer but 1S. 4d. and in winter no more than 1S. 6d. Mr. Moore at Marlefield receives 4s. bounty, but his carriage costs him only 2s. 6d. in summer, and 3s, in winter; hence therefore we find that the bounty more than pays the expence, and that the profit is in proportion to the distance, i.e. the absurdity. IN the year ending september, 1777, there were 34,598 barrels of malt brought from Wexford to Dublin by land, receiving £7,077 4s. 11d. bounty. IT is therefore a loss
of about 80 per cent. purchased
by the bounty. IN proportion as sailors are lessened horses are increased. Suppose common coasting vessels navigated at the rate of one man to twenty tons, it requires sixty-six horses to draw that burthen, and thirty-three men: so that for every sailor lost, there are above threescore of this worst of all stock kept; which is of itself an enormous national loss. If the number of horses kept at actual work by this bounty, with the mares, colts, &c. to supply them were known, it might probably be found so large as to lessen a little of the veneration with which this measure is considered in Ireland. I find that in the sessions of 1769 and 1771, there was a bounty paid on the carriage of corn coastways to Dublin. It amounted in the first to £3,278.19
and the latter to £4,973,20
the act lasted only these four years. It was an experiment which surely ought to have been continued; for if corn is to be forced to Dublin, this most certainly is the only rational way of doing it. BY the following table the amount of this coasting trade will be seen, with and without that bounty. Corn and Flour brought Coastways to Dublin from 1758 to 1777. WITH the assistance of these particulars, united with the quantities on which the inland bounty is paid, given before, we shall be able to see the principal part of the consumption of the city of Dublin. Brought by Land-carriage Bounty. Average of seven years from 1771 to 1777. BY these accounts, Dublin on an average of the last seven years has consumed IF the average weight of the corn is 14 stone per barrel, the first of these articles To this should be added the import of foreign corn, which is known to be considerably more than the export, and it will appear that if there are 150,000 inhabitants in Dublin, they must consume above three barrels each of all sorts of corn in a year, which considering that the mass of the people live very much upon potatoes is a great allowance, and suggests the idea either that the people are very numerous, or that more money is paid in bounties than there ought to be by the acts, which is probable. I come now to consider one of the principal arguments used in favour of this measure. It is the increase of tillage being so beneficial to the kingdom. Taken as a general position there may, or may not be truth in the assertion: I am apt to think rather more stress is laid on it than ought to be, and some reasons for that opinion may be seen in Political Arithmetic
, p. 363. &c. But not to enter into the general question at present, I have to observe two circumstances upon the state of Ireland; first the moisture of the climate, and secondly the sort of tillage introduced. THAT the climate is far moister than that of England I have already given various reasons to conclude; but the amazing tendency of the soil to grass would prove it if any proof was wanting. Let General Cunninghame and Mr. Silver Oliver recollect the instances they shewed me of turnip land, and stubble left without ploughing, and yielding the succeeding summer a full crop of hay. These are such facts as we have not an idea of in England. Nature therefore points out in the clearest manner, the application of the soil in Ireland most suitable to the climate. But this moisture which is so advantageous to grass, is pernicious to corn. The finest corn in Europe and the world is uniformly found in the driest countries; it is the weight of wheat which points out its goodness; which lessens per measure gradually from Barbary to Poland. The wheat of Ireland has no weight compared with that of dry countries; and I have on another occasion observed that there is not a sample of a good colour in the whole kingdom. The crops are full of grass and weeds, even in the best management, and the harvests are so wet and tedious as greatly to damage the produce; but at the same time, and for the same reason, cattle of all sorts look well, never failing of a full bite of excellent grass: the very driest summers do not affect the verdure as in England. I do not make these observations, in order to conclude that tillage will not do in Ireland. I know it may be made to do; but I would leave the vibrations from corn to pasturage, and from pasturage to corn, to the cultivators of the land to guide themselves as prices and other circumstances direct, but by no means force an extended tillage at the expence of bounties. WHAT is the tillage gained by this measure? It is that system which formed the agriculture of England two hundred years ago, and forms it yet in the worst of our common fields, but which all our exertions of enclosing and improving are bent to extirpate. 1. Fallow. 2. Wheat; and then spring corn until the soil is exhausted: or else, 1. Fallow. 2. Wheat. 3. Spring corn; and then fallow again. In this course the spring corn goes to horses, &c. the fallow is a dead loss, and the whole national gain the crop of wheat; one year in three yields nothing, and one a trifle, whereas the grass yields a full crop every year. Let it not be imagined, that waste and desart tracts, that wanted cultivation, are only turned to this tillage. Nine-tenths of the change is in the rich sheep walks of Roscommon, Tipperary, Carlow, and Kilkenny. I have already proved this fact; the question therefore is reduced to this: ought you to turn some of the finest pastures in the world, and which in Ireland yielded twenty shillings an acre, into the most execrable tillage that is to be found onthe face of the globe? The comparison is not between good grass and good tillage; it is good
grass against bad
tillage. The tables I inserted prove, that Ireland has lost fifty-three thousand pounds a year for seven years in the produce of cows and bullocks, and one hundred and six thousand pounds in that of sheep; this is a prodigious loss, but it is not the whole, there is the loss of labour on above fifty thousand stones of woollen yarn annually, which is a great drawback from the superior population supposed, perhaps falsely, to flow from tillage. When these circumstances are therefore well considered, the nation will not, I apprehend, be thought to have gained by having converted her rich sheep walks, which yielded so amply in wool, and in the labour which is annexed to wool, into so execrable a tillage as is universally introduced. ANOTHER circumstance of this measure is, that of sacrificing all the ports of the kingdom to Dublin; the natural trade, which ought to take a variety of different little channels, proportioned to vicinity, was by this system violently drawn away to the capital; a very ill situated capital, the increase of which, at the expence of the out ports, was by no means a national advantage. A question naturally arises from the premises before; should the bounty be repealed? Absurd as it is, I am free to declare, I think not at once. Upon the credit of the measure great sums have been laid out in raising mills, most in situations which render them dependant on this forced trade for work. Great loss would accrue in this to individuals, and the public faith rather injured. The following table will shew that this is not a slight consideration. The principal MILLS of IRELAND, from June 1773 to June 1774. THE most distant mill from Dublin is that of Barnahely, Corke, one hundred and thirty miles. A prodigious number of men and horses would be thrown at once out of employment, which would have bad effects; and a sudden diversion of that supply, which has now flowed to Dublin for so many years, would certainly have very ill consequences. The policy therefore to be embraced is this; lower the present bounty to the simple expence of the carriage, and no more; and counteract it by raising the bounty on the carriage of corn coastwise, until it rivalled and gradually put down the land carriage. Perhaps it might be necessary to accompany this measure with a land carriage bounty from the mill to the nearest exporting port, the Dublin bounty would therefore stand in order to prevent the evil of a sudden change, but when the other bounties had got so far into effect, as to lessen the old one considerably, then it should be totally discontinued; and it would then certainly be proper for the other bounties (having performed their office) to be discontinued also. The present system is so undoubtedly absurd, that the rival bounties should be raised higher and higher until they had turned the commerce into the natural channel; an expression which I am sensible implies an apparent absurdity, for a natural channel of commerce does not want such bounties, but a bad proceeding has made it so exceedingly crooked, that a mere repeal, leaving the trade to itself, might not do. You must undo by art the mischief which art has done; the commercial capital in Ireland is too small to bear any violence, UNITED with the conduct I have ventured to recommend, in case the tillage system was persisted in, it would be very well worth the attention of parliament, to annex such conditions to the payment of any new bounties, as might have the effect of securing a good tillage instead of a bad one. If it was found practicable, which I should think it might be, no public money should ever be given for barley, here, or oats, that did not succeed turnips; nor for wheat, or rye, that did not follow beans, clover, or potatoes; by this means the nation would have the satisfaction of knowing, that if the plough was introduced in valuable pasture land, it would at least be in a good system. BEFORE I conclude this subject, it may be proper to observe a circumstance, which however ill it may be received in England, has, and ought to have weight in Ireland. The revenue of that kingdom is under some disadvantages which England is free from; the hereditary revenue is claimed in property
by the crown; a great pension list is charged on it, and much of the amount paid out of the kingdom; a large part of the military establishment is taken out of the kingdom, and of late years the nation has run very much in debt: in such a situation of affairs, it is thought wise and prudent to secure the payment of such a sum as fifty or sixty thousand pounds a year towards the internal improvement of the kingdom. Nobody can deny there being much good sense in this reasoning; but the argument is applicable to a well founded measure, as strongly as it is to an absurd one; and I should farther observe, that if this or any bounty is the means of running the nation so much in debt that new taxes are necessarily the consequence, this idea is then visionary; the people do not secure an advantage but a burthen. I cannot here avoid a comparison of expending rationally so large a sum of the public money annually, or in a measure at best so very doubtful; for indulge the prejudices of gentlemen, and suppose for a moment, that all the proofs I have given do not amount to an absolute condemnation, they certainly, even then, give it the most dubious completion that ever measure had. But suppose from the beginning, the money, which has been thus advanced, had been given in premiums of £10 per acre, on all land absolutely waste, which was brought in and reclaimed. That sum I shewed on another occasion, will build excellent dwellings, fence, plant, drain, pare and burn lime, plough, sow and complete an acre; the premium would therefore pay the whole, and leave to the proprietor no other business than to take the trouble of seeing the conditions of the premium complied with. The following table will shew what the effects of such a premium would have been, calculating the annual produce at four pounds an acre, which is much under what it ought to be. The first column shews the sums paid as bounty, the next the number of acres that sum would have improved at ten pounds per acre, and the third the produce at four pounds per acre, waiting three years at first to give time for operations. FROM hence we find, that at the end of the year 1777, there would have been 42,433 acres improved in the complete and masterly manner ten pounds an acre effects, the annual produce of which would be at four pounds an acre, £169,732 all absolute and undoubted profit to the kingdom: there would have been received in this manner no less than £845,000. If the lands were thrown as they ought to be into the course of— 1. turnips; 2. barley; 3. clover; 4. wheat; and reckoning the barley at ten barrels, and the wheat at six, there would now be a produce every
year of 63,649 barrels of wheat, and 186,082 of barley; and this from only half the land; the other half in turnips and clover would undoubtedly keep ten sheep the year through, and yield fifty pounds of wool, or in the whole 106,080 sheep and 33,150 stones of wool, with all the employment and population which would result from such excellent tillage, building, fencing, manuring, and spinning. How different this effect from having in the last seven years lost above a million sterling by the inland carriage; in that period the bounty has just trebled; if it goes on so it will be one hundred and eighty thousand pounds a year in seven years more, and by that time there will be neither sheep nor cows left in the kingdom; but suppose it to stand at sixty thousand pounds a year, that sum in seven years, applied in a bounty on cultivating wastes, would improve forty-two thousand acres, and consequently be attended with all the effects which would have flowed from a similar number, the past bounty would have improved. I have now done with this measure; my English reader will, I hope, pardon so long a detail, which I should not have gone into, had I found the facts known in Ireland, or any just conclusions drawn from ideal ones; but in the variety of conversations I have had in that kingdom with all descriptions of men, I found not one who was acquainted with the facts upon which the merit of the measure could alone be decided. It is for their use that I have collected them from very voluminous manuscripts. ANOTHER measure relative to corn, which is in execution in Ireland, is a parliamentary bounty on corn preserved on stands, that is stacked on stone pillars, capped to prevent the depredations of rats and mice. I have been assured that very great abuses are found in the claims; if these are obviated, the measure seems not objectable in a country where little is done without some public encouragement. The following are the payments in consequence of this bounty. IT would be a proper condition to annex to this bounty, that it be given only to corn preserved as required, and threshed on boarded floors; the samples of Irish wheat are exceedingly damaged by clay floors; an English miller knows the moment he takes a sample in his hand if it came off a clay floor, and it is a deduction in the value. The floors should be of deal plank two inches thick, and laid on joists two or three feet from the ground, for a free current of air to preserve them from rotting. 1
MS. Communicated by the Right Hon. John Beresford, first commissioner of the revenue in Ireland. 2
MS. communicated by the Right Hon. Isaac Barre. 3
THE Dublin Society were not very accurate, when in their petition to parliament they set forth, that in two year preceding 1771 the import amounted to upwards
of £600.000. 4
DRAWN from the totals of the export tables in the MS. communicated by Colonel Bane. 5
Flour included. 6
TAKEN from the Journals of the House of Commons. In 1778, the total payment was £77,533 and in 1779, £67,864 besides £2,500 for coastways, a new bounty. 7
THE first seven years from the commons journals, the last fourteen from the parliamentary records of import and export. MS. 8
MS. Communicated by Cornelius Bolton, Esq., member for that city. 9
THE quantities taken from the Parliament Records of Import and Export, MS. and the value added. 10
Unsettled, but very high.—The pack of bay yarn is taken to contain 2100 skains. 11
Communicated with the preceding table by Mr. Joshua Pine, in the yarn trade. The custom-house price of wool is 15s., woollen yarn, 17s., and worsted yarn, £1 13s. 4d. 12
Journals of the House of Commons. 13
Parliament Record of Export and Import, MS. 14
Waterford price. 15
Custom House price. 16
Supposed at that rate for want of authority. 17
In 1774 we imported to the value of £1,023,000 and in 1775 to that of 1,265,562. 18
MS. Communicated by — — Nevill, Esq; member for Wexford. 19
JUNE 1. I768. 7th George III Chap. 24. 20
MS. Account of public premiums communicated by the Right Hon. John Forster, member for the county of Louth. 21
MS. Communicated by —— Nevill, Esq; member for Wexford. 22
The reason of the sums being the same for two years throughout, is their being returned every second year to parliament.SECTION XVIII.
50 cwt.
or
40 stone
Flour
3d. per mile
ditto
—
ditto
Malt
2½d ditto
ditto
—
ditto
Wheat
1½d ditto
ditto
—
ditto
Oats
1d. ditto
ditto
—
ditto
Bere
1½d. ditto
ditto
—
ditto
Barley
1½d. ditto
IMPORT OF CORN AND FLOUR.
Average from 1744 to 1749, Qrs.
£.
of Barley and Malt,
51,023
Value
51,023
Ditto, Wheat,
20,492
Value
44,238
Cwt.
£.
Ditto, Flour,
37,368
Value
18,684
Average from 1750 to 1756,Qrs.
£.
of Barley and Malt,
73,027
Value
73,027
Ditto, Wheat,
28,994
Value
43,491
Cwt.
£.
Ditto, Flour,
72,196
Value
36,098
Average from 1757 to 1763,Qrs.
£.
of Barley and Malt,
35,742
Value
35,743
Ditto, Wheat,
15,741
Value
23,612
Cwt.
£.
Ditto, Flour,
46,481
Value
23,382
Average from 1764 to 1770,Qrs.
£.
of Barley and Malt,
28,205
Value
29,643
Ditto, Wheat,
21,059
Value
34,698
Cwt.
£.
Ditto, Flour,
62,856
Value
32,667
Average from 1771 to 1777,Qrs.
£.
of Barley and Malt,
19,538
Value
23,330
Ditto, Wheat,
12,402
Value
25,242
Cwt.
£.
Ditto, Flour,
47,697
Value
28,4461
BARLEY AND MALT.—
Qrs.
£.
Average import of the first period,
51,023
—
51,023
Second ditto,
73,027
—
73,027
Third ditto,
35,742
—
35,743
Fourth ditto,
28,205
—
29,643
Fifth ditto,
19,538
—
23,330
WHEAT.—
Qrs.
£.
Average of the first period,
20,492
—
44,238
Second ditto,
28,994
—
43,491
Third ditto,
15,741
—
23,612
Fourth ditto,
21,059
—
34,698
Fifth ditto,
12,402
—
25,242
FLOUR.—
Cwt.
£.
Average of the first period,
37,368
—
18,684
Second ditto,
72,196
—
36,098
Third ditto,
46,481
—
23,382
Fourth ditto,
62,856
—
32,667
Fifth ditto,
47,697
—
28,446
£
Average value of the three commodities
in the three first periods,116,436
Ditto of the two last,
71,013
The import in the last fourteen years is less
than in the preceding twenty, by45,423
Import of the fourth period,97,008
Ditto of the fifth, being the period in which
the bounty hath taken full effect,77,018
Difference,19,990
Average from 1757 to 1763,
Bar.
£.
of Wheat Meal,
18
Value
22
Ditto, Oatmeal,
2,545
Value
848
Qrs.
£.
Ditto, Beans and Pease,
414
Value
373
Ditto, Oats,
883
Value
529
Average from 1764 to 1770, Bar.
£.
of Wheat Meal,
2,355
Value
3,546
Ditto, Oatmeal,
202
Value
67
Qrs.
£.
Ditto, Beans and Pease,
610
Value
566
Ditto, Oats,
692
Value
416
Average from 1771 to 1777, Bar.
£.
of Wheat Meal,
1,492
Value
2,238
Ditto, Oatmeal,
4,695
Value
1,644
Qrs.
£.
Ditto, Beans and Pease,
1,757
Value
2,067
Ditto, Oats,
425
Value
3032
£.
Value of the import per annum of these
articles in the last seven years,6,252
Ditto in the preceding seven years,
4,595
Increase,
1,657
£
£
In the year 1757
136,860
In the year 1764
126,346
1758
121,662
1765
99,190
1759
27,058
1766
103,898
1760
55,694
1767
133,608
1761
49,629
1768
42,297
1762
89,919
1769
18,776
1763
109,765
1770
3
187,119
Average of 7 years,
84,369
Average of 7 years,
101,604
£
£
In the year 1771
265,897
In the year 1775
29,371
1772
91,141
1776
42,788
1773
22,780
1777
105,559
1774
25,348
0
0
Average of 7 years,
84,697
Average Value of all the Corn exported from 1757
to 1763.CORN.
£.
£.
Barley,
—
2,835
Oats,
—
4,097
Beans,
—
451
Pease,
—
38
Malt,
—
451
Rye,
—
73
Meslin,
—
[?]
Wheat,
—
1,007
Average from 1757 to 1763, FLOUR and MEAL.
£.
£.
Flour,
—
[?]
Oatmeal,
—
5,576
Groat,
—
156
Wheat,
—
64
Totals, 14,894
Average from 1764 to 1770.
CORN.
£.
£.
Barley,
—
4,161
Oats,
—
11,490
Beans,
—
416
Pease,
—
142
Malt,
—
1,405
Rye,
—
34
Meslin,
—
9
Wheat,
—
2,720
Average from 1764 to 1770, FLOUR and MEAL.
£.
£.
Flour,
—
1,929
Oatmeal,
—
13,890
Groat,
—
62
Wheat,
—
37
Totals, 36,299
Average from 1771 to 1777.
CORN.
£.
£.
Barley,
—
5,932
Oats,
—
25,971
Beans,
—
590
Pease,
—
143
Malt,
—
253
Rye,
—
57
Meslin,
—
[?]
Wheat,
—
10,432
Average from 1771 to 1777, FLOUR and MEAL.
£.
£.
Flour,
—
4,634
Oatmeal,
—
17,075
Groat,
—
48
Wheat,
—
19
Totals, 64,8714
£.
Exported in the last seven years, per ann.
64,871
Ditto in the seven preceding
36,299
Increase
—
28,572
£.
s.
d.
Exported in the first 7 years, per ann.
2,692
5
0
———— second ditto,
3,978
2
0
———— last ditto,
7,550
9
0
The last period greater than preceding by
3,572
7
0
£.
Decrease in the import of the last 7 years
16,907
Increase in the export from Dublin —
3,572
Total gain per annum according to this
account in the last seven years years20,479
Average from 1757 to 1763.
£.
£.
Import,
—
84,369
Balance.
Profit,
654
Export,
—
14,894
Balance.
Loss,
70,129
Average from 1764 to 1770.
£.
£.
Import,
—
101,604
Balance.
Profit,
11,533
Export,
—
36,299
Balance.
Loss,
76,838
Average from 1771 to 1777.
£.
£.
Import,
—
83,270
Balance.
Profit,
26,746
Export,
—
64,871
Balance.
Loss,
45,144
£.
Loss per annum in the middle seven years,
76,838
Gain ditto, — — — —,
11,533
Neat loss per annum, —,65,305
Loss per annum in the last seven years,45,144
Gain ditto, — — —
26,746
Neat loss per annum, — —18,398
1762.
1763.
£.
£.
Totals.
4,940
5,096
1,730,869 ft.
1,592,418 ft.
1764.
1765.
£.
£.
Totals.
5,483
6,660
1,622,933 ft.
1,409,726 ft.
1766.
1767.
£.
£.
Totals.
9,212
6,074
1,464,296 ft.5
945,289 ft.5
1768.
1769.
£.
£.
Totals.
13,675
25,225
2,148,805 ft.5
2,608,910 ft.
107,986 Ct.
1770.
1771.
£.
£.
Totals.
18,706
19,290
1,920,978 ft.
79,350 Ct.
1,641,867 ft.
87,965 Ct.
1772.
1773.
£.
£.
Totals.
39,560
44,465
3,146,960 ft.
153,139 Ct.
3,263,199 ft.
175,177 Ct.
1774.
1775.
£.
£.
Totals.
49,674
53,889
3,553,996 ft.
190,346 Ct.
3,211,214 ft.
213,885 Ct.
1776.
1777.
£.
£.
Totals.
60,745
61,786
3,622,076 ft.
255,256 Ct.
3,240,692 ft.
317,753 Ct.6
Total
payment
£.
Total
payment
£.
1764
—
5,483
1771
—
19,290
1765
—
6,660
1772
—
39,560
1766
—
9,212
1773
—
44,465
1767
—
6,074
1774
—
49,674
1768
—
13,675
1775
—
53,889
1769
—
25,225
1776
—
60,745
1770
—
18,706
1777
—
61,786
Paid in 7 years85,038
Paid in 7 years329,413
Which is, per
annum12,148
Which is, per
annum47,059
Counties.
1762
£.
1777
£.Kilkenny,
—
2,079
—
20,816
Tipperary,
—
191
—
9,862
Carlow,
—
160
—
2,479
Meath,
—
506
—
4,594
Kildare,
—
748
—
3,485
King's,
—
447
—
3,161
Wexford,
—
33
—
4,952
Queen's,
—
651
—
3,161
Roscommon
—
12
—
1,740
from 1753 to 1777.7
Barrels of beef
162,034
No. hides
142,033
Ct. butter
203,569
Ct. tallow
22,118
Average from 1764 to 1770.Barrels of beef
200,799
Ct. tallow
49,976
Ct. butter
201,510
Cows, bulls,
and horses2,127
Ct. candles
4,284
No. hides
124,604
Ct. cheese
3,341
Average from 1771 to 1777.Barrels of beef
195,605
Ct. tallow
44,919
Ct. butter
267,212
Cows, bulls,
and horses4,040
Ct. candles
2,280
No. hides
121,963
Ct. cheese
2,122
hundred beef per hundred weight.
£.
s.
d.
Year
1756
—
0
12
3
1757
—
0
11
6
1758
—
0
12
0
1759
—
0
11
6
1760
—
0
12
6
1761
—
0
12
6
1762
—
0
12
0
1763
—
0
13
0
1764
—
0
13
6
1765
—
0
14
0
1766
—
0
16
0
1767
—
0
17
0
1768
—
0
13
0
1769
—
0
15
0
1770
—
0
16
0
1771
—
0
16
6
1772
—
0
16
0
1773
—
0
16
6
1774
—
0
18
0
1775
—
0
18
0
1776
—
1
0
0
Butter per Cwt.
Tallow per Cwt.
Candles per Cwt.
Pork per barrel.
s.
s.
d.
s.
s.
d.
s.
s.
d.
s.
s.
d.
In the year
1764
43
to
36
0
31
to
30
0
41
to
40
0
40
to
39
0
1765
36
—
38
0
39
—
40
0
40
—
41
0
38
—
40
0
1766
38
—
36
0
42
—
41
0
47
—
48
0
38
—
39
0
1767
47
—
38
0
43
—
44
0
49
—
50
0
43
—
45
0
1768
38
—
42
6
44
—
43
0
51
—
52
0
45
—
48
6
1769
42
—
53
0
44
—
45
0
54
—
53
0
42
—
38
0
1770
45
—
48
6
42
—
40
0
54
—
53
0
41
—
45
0
1771
57
—
48
0
44
—
45
0
53
—
54
0
44
—
46
0
1772
54
—
48
0
46
—
52
0
54
—
50
0
53
—
54
0
1773
56
—
44
0
44
—
42
0
51
—
52
0
58
—
60
0
1774
50
—
40
0
40
—
43
0
54
—
55
0
42
—
45
0
1775
53
—
44
0
40
—
41
0
50
—
51
0
45
—
42
0
1776
53
—
43
0
41
—
40
0
50
—
51
0
47
—
49
0
1777
58
—
55
0
41
—
43
0
51
—
52
0
66
—
70
0
Average,
—
45
6
44
6
50
0
46
6
Years
£.
s.
d.
1756
1
7
0
1757
1
7
0
1758
1
2
0
1759
1
1
0
1760
1
0
6
1761
1
2
6
1762
1
2
0
1763
0
19
6
1764
0
18
6
1765
1
4
0
1766
1
5
0
1767
1
6
0
1768
1
8
6
1769
1
11
0
1770
1
8
0
1771
1
4
0
1772
1
1
0
1773
1
3
0
1774
1
10
0
1775
1
13
0
1776
1
14
0
First Period.
Per ann.
£.Export of beef from 1753 to 1759. 162,034
barrels, at £1. 12s.
259,254
Ditto butter, 203,569 cwt. at £2. 5s. 6d.
463,119
Ditto hides, 142,033, at £1. 8s.
198,845
Ditto tallow 22,118 cwt. at £2. 4s. 6d.
49,211
Average export of the first seven years,
970,429
Second Period.
Beef from 1764 to 1770, 200,799 barrels, at
£1. 12s.
321,277
Butter, 281,510 cwt. at £2. 5s. 6d.
640,434
Candles, 4284 cwt. at £2. 10s.
10,710
Hides, 124,604, at £1. 8s.
174,445
Tallow 49,976 cwt. at £2. 4s. 6d.
111,196
Live stock, 1,127, at £5.
10,635
Cheese, 3,341 cwt. at £1.
3,341
Average export of the second seven years,
1,272,038
Third Period.
Beef from 1771 to 1777, 195,605 barrels, at
£1. 12s.
312,967
Butter, 267,212 cwt. at £2. 5s. 6d.
607,907
Candles, 2,280 cwt. at £2. 10s.
5,016
Hides, 121,963, at £1. 8s.
170,747
Tallow 44,919 cwt. at £2. 4s. 6d.
99,943
Live stock, 4,040, at £5.
20,200
Cheese, 2,122 cwt. at £1.
2,122
Average export of the last seven years,
1,218,902
Second period greater than the first by
301,609Second period greater than the last by
53,136
Average from 1764 to 1770.
Wool
18,976
stone at 14s. 0d. per,
£13,283
Woollen yarn
8,458
—— at 17s. 6d. per,
£7,399
Worsted yarn
142,889
—— at 40s. 0d. per,
£285,779
Total
170,038
stones.
Total value
£306,461
Average from 1771 to 1777.Wool
1,415
stone at 14s. 0d. per,
£990
Woollen yarn
1,459
—— at 17s. 6d, per,
£1,301
Worsted yarn
99,060
—— at 40s. 0d, per,
£198,121
Total
101,934
stones.
Total value
200,412.9
Wool.
stones.
Yarn.
stones.Year
1687
256,592
3,668
1697
217,678
13,480
1700
336,292
26,617
1701
302,812
23,390
1702
315,473
43,148
1703
360,862
36,873
1711
310,136
55,273
1712
263,946
60,108
1713
171,871
68,548
1714
147,153
58,147
Wool per stone.
Bay yarn
per pack.
s.
d.
£
s.
d.
Year
1764
11
0
26
5
0
1765
10
0
24
13
6
1766
11
0
25
4
0
1767
13
0
27
6
0
1768
13
6
26
5
0
1769
13
6
26
15
6
1770
14
0
26
15
6
1771
14
0
26
15
6
1772
10
0
28
7
0
1773
10
0
27
6
0
1774
14
0
25
4
0
1775
16
0
29
8
0
1776
16
6
30
9
0
1777
17
6
30
9
0
Average is nearly
14
0
27
4
5
£
Exported value in the first period,
306,462
Ditto in the last,
200,413
Decrease,
106,049Average from 1753 to 1759.
Export
of
Pork
30,54212
barrels.
Average from 1764 to 1770.Export
of
Pork
41,649
barrels.
———
—
Bacon
7,881
flitches.
———
—
Lard
1,869
Cwt.
———
—
Bread
7,197
Cwt.
Average from 1771 to 1777.Export
of
Pork
55,240
barrels.
———
—
Bacon
19,125
flitches.
———
—
Lard
2,356
Cwt.
———
—
Bread
10,062
Cwt.
———
—
Hogs
62413
Export of pork per annum, from 1764 to 1770,
41,649 barrels, at £2 6s. 6d. per barrel14
,£
96,833
Bacon, 788 cwt. at 15s. per cwt.15
5,910
Lard, 1869 cwt. at £1 per cwt.15
1,869
Bread, 7197 cwt. at 10s. per cwt.
3,598
Hogs, 223, at 15s. a piece,16
166
Average export of seven years,
108,376
Export of pork per annum, from 1771 to 1777,
55,240 barrels, at £2 6s. 6d. per barrel,
£128,435
Bacon, 19,125 at 15s. per cwt.
14,343
Lard, 2356 cwt. at £1 per cwt.
2,356
Bread, 10,062 cwt. at 10s. per cwt.
5,031
Hogs, 624, at 15s. a piece,
468
Average exports of the last seven years,
150,633
Increase in the last seven years,
42,255Dr.
Bounty on the Inland Carriage of Corn.
Cr.
£.
£.
To payments of public
money on the average
of the last 7 years,47,059
By decrease in the
import of corn
&c.16,907
To decrease in the
export of beef,
butter, &c.53,136
By increase in the
export of corn,
3,570To decrease in the
export of wool and
yarn,106,049
By increase in the
export of pork
hogs, bread, &c.62,732
Balance against the
bounty,143,510
206,244
206,24434,598 barrels are 51,897 cwt. which
at 6 cwt. per horse would take
for one day,
8,649 horses.
From Wexford to Dublin and back
takes seven days, or —
60,546 horses.
One man to two horses, —
30,273 men.
£.
s.
d.
The horses at 16d. a day,
4,306
8
0
Men, at 9d. a day,
4,306
8
0
Seven days men and horses,
5,171
12
9
The freight of which to Dublin at 8s.
a ton would be,
1,037
12
0
Saving by sea,18
4,134
0
9
Average of last 7 years.
Wheat and Wheat Meal
3,508
barrels.
Bere and barley
49,178
Malt
19,457
Flour
320
Oats and Oatmeal
11,837
Total
84,30121
Stones 3,097,143 Cwt. 199,074 3,097,143
Stones of corn,
199,074,
Cwt. of Flour,
84,301
Barrels of both coastways.
Will make in barrels, ——
221,224
The 199,074 Cwt. of flour may be called in
barrels of wheat, ——180,000
Add the above barrels coastways, ——
84,301
Total,
485,525
Cwt.
Marlefield,
—
Stephen Moore, Esq.
—
15,382
Slane,
—
D. Jebb, Esq.; and Co.
—
11,070
Anner,
—
Mr. J. Grub,
—
10,395
Rathnally,
—
J. Nicholson, Esq.
—
9,870
Lodge,
—
Richard Mercer, Esq.
—
9,826
Kilkarn,
—
Wade and Williams
—
9,496
Carrick,
—
D. Tighie, Esq.
—
6,996
Archer's Grove,
—
Mr. W Ratican,
—
5,503
Lock,
—
Mr. H. Bready,
—
5,446
Ballykilcavan,
—
Doyle and Hoskins,
—
5,396
Tyrone,
—
H. O'Brien, Esq.
—
4,967
Newtown Barry,
—
Hon. B. Barry,
—
4,574
Sums.
Acres.
Produce.
£.
£.
In the year
1762
4,940
494
1763
5,096
509
1764
5,483
548
1765
6,660
666
8,788
1766
9,212
912
12,436
1767
6,074
607
14,864
1768
13,675
1,367
20,332
1769
25,225
2,522
30,420
1770
18,706
1,870
37,900
1771
19,290
1,929
45,616
1772
39,560
3,956
61,440
1773
44,465
4,446
79,224
1774
49,674
4,967
99,092
1775
53,889
5,388
120,644
1776
60,745
6,074
144,940
1777
61,786
6,178
169,732
42,433
845,428
£.
£.
In the year
1766
891
In the year
1772
5,487
1767
891
1773
5,487
1768
3,442
1774
6,565
1769
3,442
1775
6,565
1770
4,266
1776
6,866
1771
4,266
1777
6,86622
4d. per Cwt. corn of Irish growth by water coastways to Dublin, southward between Wicklow and the Tuscar; north between Drogheda or Carrickfergus.
5d. per Cwt. if southward of Tuscar Or
north Carrickfergus.
4d. per Cwt. southward of Cooley point to Newry, Belfast or Londonderry.
Continued to 24th June, 1771.
Arthur Young, A Tour in Ireland, made in the years 1776, 1777, and 1778 (London: T. Cadell, 1780)