The Sun.
London, England, 1840-09-02 00:00:00

exceeds 735. per quarter, or until the good and sound
qualities shall have advanced so far above 735. as to
equalise in value and quantity the unsound and unwhole-
some article upon which the hand-loom weaver and the
Devonshire peasant are compelled, by the fear of famine
and the keen cravings of hunger to prolong a miserable
and hopeless existence.
In order to convey our meaning more clearly, we
have extracted the highest and lowest prices published
in the Gazette for the twelve weeks ending the 7th of
August, and we have also given the difference upon
each in a third column :

LOWEST. HIGHEST. DIFFERENCE.
s. d. s. d. s. d.
May 22... 48 5 83 10 35 5
29... 44 1 SO 1 36 0
June 5... 43 11 77 9 33 10
12... 49 5 77 11 28 6
19... 41 4 77 7 36 3
26... 31 3 78 1 26 10
July 3... 48 1 78 6 30 5
10... 47 5 78 4 30 11
17... 52 0 80 11 28 11
24... 46 9 84 1 37 4
31... 47 4 83 1 37 9
Aug. 7... 52 4 84 6 32 2

394 4

It will appear from the above, that on May 22, the
lowest price for wheat was 48s. 3d., and the highest
83s. 10d., and that consequently there was a differ-
rence to the amount of 355. sd. a quarter ; that this
difference has been very great throughout the whole
period, and on the average of the twelve weeks is equal
to 325. 1O rd., and this, be it understood, is independent
of the local differences to which we have before re-
ferred ; and yet we have been told, over and over
again, that this system above all others tends to pro-
duce equality of prices.
If we take the two prices for the first week upon
the list, and suppose the quantity sold equal in each in-
stance, we shall find that they give a mean of 665.1 d.,
at which average fore.gn wheat might be introduced
on the payment of the trifling sum of only 28s. Bd. per
quarter.
The real, or the Gazette average, for the same week
was 635., the quantity sold above 665. id.. having
slightly exceeded that below, and the duty until the
fictitious sales were made has remained at, or above,
16s. Bd. If therefore, the last year's produce had been
a little worse than it was in quality, not a single grain
of foreign wheat could by any possibility, except fraud
in the retnros, have fot.sid its way into consumption la
this country.
It is clear from what is here stated, that it is quite
as necessary, for the sake of properly calculating the
averages, that the quantity in all cases should be cor-
rectly ascertained and given and that the returns should
and ought to be made at the market nearest the place
where the grain is consumed, since the freight and
carriage to such market from a distance not unfre-
quently forms a serious charge in the cost to the buyer.
How far these desiderata are secured by the present
system we shall presently show.
The quantity of wheat required for one purpose or
another in this country amounts to upwards of
16,000,000 quarters per annum ; and it is therefore
certain, that no return containing less annually than two
thirds of that quantity can be fairly said to measure or
test with anything approximating to accuracy, the com-
mercial transactions in this article, and yet the whole of
the returns in any one year, instead of amounting to
two-thirds, scarcely reach iaae-fourth, and of this one-
fourth nearly one•third may be fairly stated to appear
twice in the averages, in consequence of its being trans-
ferred fiom one market to another, and there re-sold.
The wisdom of that system which assumes that less
than one-fourth ought to represent the whole, is so
obvious as to require no comment.
It is well known, that in the manufacturing and other
populous districts the inhabitants consume a much
greater quantity of wheaten bread than in the agricul-
tural districts ; and therefore the returns from suds
places ought to bear some resemblance to the truth of
this. But no ; the returns from Manchester during the
last twelve weeks amount to 1,5794 quarters, whilst
the return for Lincoln for the last single week of the
twelve amounts to 1,9551 I. The whole of the returns
for the county of Chester for the same week amount to
the large sum of 303 a quarters, or about .52 quarters
less than from the city of Oxford for the same period.
Whilst the entire purchases for North and South \Vales
for one week amount to 406 quarters, Worcester figures
to the tune of 694 Bury, Rochdale, Ashton-under-
Lyne, Blackburn, and Stockport are omitted altoge-
ther, and so are Halifax, Bradford, &c., in Yorkshire.
But the whole thing is a burlesque from beginning to
end, and could never have been devised but for the
1 purposes of deception.