The Sun.
London, England, 1808-05-28 00:00:00

DISTILLERIES.
On the motion .if Lord BINNING, the Report of
the Cnrnmittee respeairtg the use Stigar in Distil-
leries was• brought up, and the House having.re-
. LolvA into a Committee for the re-commitment of
the two first Resolutions, Mr. Wharton in the Chair.
On the first jtesolution being then read,
Mr. Coze repeated his former objeaions to the
measure, and contended thpt the apprehension of
.scarcity was unfounded, and had arisen from the
condn& of the West India Merchants and the
cassion of this subje&. lie denied that the last har-
vist was short, and stated as a proof of that, that the
price of corn was not higher than was necessary to
aXprd a fair profit to the farmer. He contended.,
that if this measure were to be continued for only
fwo years, there would not, be produced the sante
quantity of
m bread. corn ;. that the Right Hon. Gen-
tleman would beresponsible for all the eonsequen-
ces ; and would, be the first Minister to prevent by
'\ hia measures the poor-from being able to procure
bread. He should therefore object to the measure:
in every stage.
Mr. HILIBERT contended, that it was neither the,
growers of corn, nor the growers. of sugar, that were.
particularly concerned in this question. The con-.
sumers of corn, the tnanufaaurers, and all who wish-
ed well to the country, were the persons most con-
=mad ; and is the
,supply which the country., had
- Sr.nn. importation .for some .years past, is now
stop-
ped, it was then more necessary to take measures to
.provide for making up that supply. The agriculture,
of the country was not adequate to make up for that
deficieucy, and therefore there could be no reasona-
, hie ob,jeklion to the introduttion of some part of it
front the \Vest Indies. . • . •

Sir JASIES HALL had much to say upon the sub:
ied, but had been anticipated by. the Chancellor of,
the Exchequer for Ireland, in whops sentiments lie.
entirely,concurred, But there was one ground par-
ticularly upon. which be objetled to the measure, be-
cause it would be a dangerous precedent, and lay the
ground, of resortibg to so injurious. a measure under
circumstances. He Must dt'sapprove of any
measure generally 4 which would discourage the,
grey t it of a necessary of life, to encourage the growth
of a mere luxury.
:Mr. W. Smera was extremely sorry to differ upon.
this subjeet from the Hon. Gentleman who begat
this discussion, withewhom be was very much in the
habit of agreeing., No man could doubt, the exist-
trice of partial scarcity. He had docuMents receiV-
ett earlier than the discussion of the qtrestiertuiproVe
that linci which from their strength he'dtd not
think prudent to' read. These accounts" he had re-..
ceived from parts of Scotland, with which lie was
cennefted. The late crop of barley was short, and.
riieugh there was no scarcity of wheat,' there was a
Acip-city of barley, and a universal scarcity of oats inn.
the country, as might be calleCled from the price of
oats in the market, which is . now lorty.4iine and
fifty shillings. He therefore did not objeEt
.to Ate
Pesolut ion before the Committee, not because it goes
tee far, but drat it was nothkely teproduee the good
pfteets,that were proposed in its adoption, because.
'by resorting to the measure at the present time, not
sirtgle quarter of corn would be saved for the con-
auniption but some on the -contrary taken from
the consumption; so far as the corn of the present
year was concerned. On this ground, he .should,
rf tio other Gentletnan did, move an alteration in the
Ileselution OD make it commence much earlier in its
operation. He also obje&ed to that part of the Reso-
letion which would impose upon Ministers the ne-
Cete,ity of a positive measure, which might excite
:linni in the country,-by extending` the prohibition
after the first of Weber, if the harvest should not
he-abundant. He should prefer extending the pro-
bibitiou te'the Ist of January, the Ist of March, or
even the t a of July, if' necessary, next year, leaving
to Mini,ters, if the next crop should be abundant,
to 'open 111. distilleries by proclamation, an at which
would give the.cohntry• universal satisfathon. He
i.vryultl therviore give to the West Indies this tempo-
rary' relief, but he would not give to them the slight.!
est tepee of being repeated, because he would not,
ieeltur.lieterestrof the country to be
.rermai,:n4 itivadee. he Hon. Gentleman con.;
Lk!, y ing as an amendment, that the l Oth of
jitno s.rould b substituted for the Ist of July, as the
eiiod w lien toe prohibition of the use of coin in
if should eommenee.
On thee qua Con be:ne put ott the Amendment,
LU. YUKKE condennieu the interference of Par•
liameot ith the agriculture of the country. Great
trilein d Ireland must be able to eroduee suffix
cient fir their coesumption, if their agriculture was
eat' to be, :riterfered with by itnpolitid measures of
this description. The.shutting of bier ports of the
Ceeinent against-us would amount to a bounty on
luiproven,ent and extension of agriculture, not only
with roped to corn,-hut to the cultivation of hemp.
mvasure he considered a dangerous experie-
mem, 'and agreed, with the Hon. Gentleenan who
laht, that no hope should be held out to the
West /infix. Nletchants, that this measure sjiould
ever apiin be resorted to. He did not' see why a
certain sum may riot be lint to the West Indies
upon athquate security, to enable the propiletors to
turn their lands to the produUion of other articles.
lie would even prefer,- rather than break in upon
a grand' principle, to grant a sum to his Ma-'
jet,ty to enable "him to purchase a quantity -of the
redundant' sugar for ..the relief of the West Judie
Merchants.
Mr. DAVIES GIDDY considered it of the highest
importance to encourage agriculture by exportation,
consumption in breweries add distilleries,' and in
every possiblemode. He was, however, of opinion,
that in ticnes Of' necessity' the Legislature• had a
right to interfere and prevent every other consutup •
thaw of corn, in order to save it for human food';
but Whilst he adulated this right, he contended as
Strongly, that nothing would legitimately give that
right but the deficiency of huinen food; The rea-
sun ,why he thought' that agriculture ought to be
eneoureged, was becaese nothing toisild make a coun-
try so truly great, as to renar it independent Itir
itlitieles of necessity of any -other eetion.
never,- therefore, consent 'to any interference • with
Cite ogriculture of the Country fur any object. of e 4
Unlit interests.' . .„
'Mr. AM ye•asserted, and vindicated some of
irefermer statements resie.taing.' the' motives of his
oppo,,tiOnW this ineasUre, airci argued at. coo`sidei-
able length at support of it,. ' ;
NU, AwitettsnoweE argued, that some means
devited'reetirking.orf 86n-idol` the Hann-
dant ~took sogai';'' irthe etre& 'of .the'Tneititite
Atla:(1 he to`'lnjure the t”, r, Geeltle;•


man would consent' to it, but the objett of the
measure was, to prevent the consequences of it scar-
city if the next crup should not boa good one. • ,
Sir Jon N SEBRIGHT could not avoid entering his
protest against this measure, and declared, that
though he was one of the landed interest,be did not
objed to this measure on any .narrow -view, but
from the danger that it was fraught with injury to
the agriculture of the country.
'Mr. 1-1. IiASC ELLES recalled the Committee to the
real question before them. The Resolution under
consideration was, whether the use of corn in dis-
tilleries, from the first of July to the first of 06:toiler
should be prohibited. During that period the dis-
tilleries usually were stopped, so that no injury could
be done thereby to the landed interest. He could
not see why the measure should not be resorted- to,
vesting in his Majesty's Ministers a discretion' as
to'the continuance of the 'prohibition, beCause they
would be bound to take into their consideration the
nature of the harvest and the prices of corn, and
would ',be responsible for the exercise of 'that dis-
cretion.

Lord BINNING agreed to the. Amendment made
by .his Hon. Friend (Mr: Wm. Smith).
Mr. PORTMAN enumerated the inconveniencies
that would be suffered by distillers, if the use of
cern', were to be prohibited in distilleries on the
ist of July, both in consequence of the quantity of
corn they had on hand ground, as because of the
loss they would sustain from the cattle, which were
now ted.upon grains iu warm houses, being exposed
to the effeCts of the open air.
• •
Mr. :WHITBREAD wished merely to state the
ground of the vote which he meant to give. He
should certainly support the amendment of his Hon.
Friend, because he thought, that if any died at all
were to be expeeted from the measure, it must be
by adopting the • Amendment. But .as he was an
enemy to the measure in any shape, he should feel
himself bound to oppose the Resolution in chief.
Mr. CoKu declared his intention to follow the
example of his Hon. Friend, and to vote for the
AMendment, and against the Resolution;
. The gallery was, then cleared, after which strangers
were nut re-admitted ; but we understood, that
the Amendment was carried, which fixed the iuth
of June•as the immediate period of prohibition,
and the Ist of December, as the remote period;
after a .division, on which the numbers were;
For thelimentimclit ' • - 89
AgLinSt it • 71
After which, and some discussion, we learned
that the pericid of the commencement of the prohi-
bition was fixed for the ibth of June for Scotlaud,
and the 'zoth for Ireland. The two first Resolutions
were then reported, and a Bill ordered pursuant
thereto; and the third Resolution was ordered to be
referred to the Committee of Supply.—Atter which
1101140 atijOUlllitd at Three o'clock to Monday.