The Sun.
London, England, 1803-03-29 00:00:00

SALT.

General gASCOYN4 rose, for the purpose, he
said,' of inoving, pursuant to notice, for leave to
bring in a Bill to equalize by weight the Bushel
all Salt imported into that part of the. United King.
don), called ,Ireland. He entered muChatlarge into
• the History of the P.:!gulatiott Of this Article from
the Statute of the 4.th of Anoe, C. i 4, down to the
present moment, and observed that his objet was,
in point of fact, to lower the Duty Upon English
Salt 'imported mro Ircloid, by equalizing the Duty
upon all Salt imported into that Country—ohat was
the area of his' otion. At:present all Salt im.
ported into Ireland liore a certaiu Duty per Bushel,
but them was, however, an essen:ial difference in
the Duty of the diffctent i,orts of Salt imported it- to
Ireland, and that difference prose from the difference
Of quantity which the, Bushels contained, .The salt
which.was impoited into Ireland from Portugal and
Spain, which was commonly called Bay Slit, con.
tamed 84.1.0un1i weight in the Bushel ; whereas the
Salt which, was imported from this Country into
Ireland contained
,no more than 5G pounds weight
to the Bushel, and yet- the Duty Was the same on
both ; his vbjea WAN to make the duties equal in
each, and he argind upoO the polii:•-v of so doing,
Etc said:it•wonia ww,rthe.prize of English Salt
itt Itelatid, which was a very great olqed, aud
which the People Of that Country would receive
as a great boon. He reminded the CtrANc EfLoit,
of the EC.firc,r..TEit of England of his promise
to diminish the Duty 'tiro,. Salt soon after he came
into dice, and observed that it was a promise
williCh was received with great joy oil over the
Country here and in Ireland ; he maintained it
was politic to do so, on accemit of the itOportance
of- this at tick to various iiranrhes of our Menu-
fadures and. Trades in. the curing of: Provisions,
Ste. and most par!iculatly to the Trada of Ire-
land ; and be maintained, that if the objed Of his
'Motion was ‘cartied into effed, the defalcation
which it wlitild occasion in the Revenue would
not, be more than 1„,topool. a year, a Sam which
the fertility of the mind of the CRAM:W.OR of
the ExoHequeß would too easily supply to make
this an objeCtion to the •Motion,—!-He was now
`only* asking, that British Salt should not he made
to pay more on its, being imported into Ireland
than Spanish Salt paid '; that we should in this
reaped be put epan a footing with the most fa.
voured natioo. Ile to 'iintatn,4l: that. Bay Salt had
been considered, cvcr once the Ad of Parliament,
as White `Salt, and there shOuld be no distiodion
in the Duty ;---whereas at present the Bushel of
Bay Salt, which eonwined 84 pounds weight, and
which came from !,-;,‘aio, paid no more,-Duty than
the. British Salt, I contained only 54 pounds,
weight in the Bushel ; he wished to klo away
this distiqtion, lty whielt he -HIM mach more .Bri.
tisli Salt would he imported into Ireland ,than thete
had been of late ; anti he complained that this
part of our Tratte, p3rticularly at Liverpool, had
greatly fallen off within the last three years. He
complained also of the effed of Smuggling ; he
said this .measure wound lower the, price..of that
article in Ireland, and be of great advantage to
the lower classes in Ireland, for they paid the
same Duty on that article as the higher classes,'
and consumed more in proportion to their wants,
.40ittlie they subsisted tuote on salt provisions

, •

{';

man
.cite nigher daises: lie easy nn relsnO _
continuing tit! present buty_ oft 13alt
ed into Ireland fro:n Spain, ah n favour t,.
Spiin, for Spain, wait no Ally of our,, and
was, not unlikely soon iri bet't)tne
.an
and in the present state of ,things might fitly ritou4h
be called our natural Enemy:. He argued at sonic
length on the propriety of what he was abOtit to
propose, on the good of -ed which he said it uou.ti
produce td Trade, both in Englund „and Ireland,
which would i;e much more than a balance for the
defalcation it toc.mlti create in life Reverne:
observed, that whet. the irist Duty was laitt, nu, the
late CiI4NCELLOR of the EXCH EUER ha.; ia:netu.
ed the necessity of it, and had votrsicieted it nierely.
as a War Tax. Ile considered, the present Chtl;st:
CELLOR of the Exetirctuttt- as pledged in Berne
measure,to assent to the Motion he proposed, fiont
his former promise, and ftom every principle ni pis_
licy as .well as liberality to the People
.of Ireland,
Who labeured under some difficulties which this
;Motion was intetaled.c. remove. Ile then moved,
" That leave be given to bring in .1 Lill to qua.
lize by weight the Bushel of all Salt ;,nrortecl .to
that part of the United Kingdom called Irdattd."
The SPEAKER observed, that as this was a mat.,
ter relating, to Trade, _it was necessary that it
should be referred to a Committee of the whole %
House, before any further proceeding could be had
on the Motion.—The Motinti,being seconded,

It was then moved,. That the said ,Motion
referred to a Committee of the whole Flonw.

Mr. CO R RY took it very comprehensive view
of the subjeet, he explained the regulation of the
statute of Queen Ann, and the distindioo o, teen
the bushel under that ht.liiite, which Contained only.
the weight of 56 pounds of .salt, and that of the
Winchester bushel, which Contained S 4 pounds
weight, in the reign of Icing Charles the Second,
and gave an historical account of the duties upon
this article until they were made perpetual, araf
observed, that. there had been no innovation in
Ireland npon this subjfd, but it was imposed ..here
as it was in England. He explained the whole,
custom in the way of importing this article; atid
observed, that in Ireland, all Bay Salt was entered
as White Salt ; and it was the same in this Couna
try, it paid nevertheless duty only on 8+ pounds
weight to the Bushel. He explained the dOl'arence
in the disposal .of this article between the Customs
and the Excise and then procoeded to observe,
that the Hon. Gentleman had stetted, that the •ex.
port of salt from Liverpool to Ireland had of late
diminished, and he seemed to wish to diminish the
importation of Foreign Salt into Ireland, for the
purpose
,ofinereasing the importation of British
Salt there ; that seemed to be the object of the
Hon. Gentleman by .the Motion now before the
House—lt was to discourage the importation of Fu.
reign Salt, for the purpose of encouraging that of
British manufadure, for Om demand for. the one
must increase in proportion to
.the diminution of
the other. Now, upon this stihjed he :must be
permitted to observe, that Bat'. Salt was nut Only bf
a remarkably strong quality, but it •was such as
Was indispensable to the Provision 'trade of ire.
land ; and, therefore, as long as the Pro v isiton
Trade. of Ireland remained air at this time, the
mode now proppsed by the Gentleman would
not answerthe purpose for Which he intended
his ()Ned •was, to • itierease Trade, hut the mode
proposed would sliminkh it, because it ivuuM
diminish the importation of Bay Salt, and 'lilt aid.
die was aftually necessary in many manuladiures,
anti in the Provision ,Trade it was anually.hidi!..
pcnsable—Bay Salt was very dißreiat in quality
from other Salt ; it was ofa grain much larger, and
Of a quality much stronger, and less` easily
solved-OM any other Salt ; it was therefore ptcoa
liarly fit for packing in the Provision Trade, and
excellently adapted tut provisions for His Majesty's
Navy and; Army it was superior to any other
Salt fur curing provisionsatlesi 'toed to hot ilimatesi
and hail therefore Leen employed the service
of this Couotry iii every part of the world. It
was well known that Ireland depended Mitch on
its ProvisiOn Trade-,' and this was owing in 'some
degree to the quality of the flesh of that Coun.
try, hut still more ro the quality of the 'Bay Silt
they used in curing it, and if that S It was nut used,
the quality, of the cured provisions would be gready
deteriorated, which most soon produce a decay tit
Trade, by which Ireland would lose her ore.emi..
ncticeoin this particular, • as. will as in some other
articles of roanufaeture, for it would lose its
charader in the ,foreign market ; but lie appre-
hended he bad stated 'enough, when he said that
the Provision Trade of Ireland was esseotinl
to the support of ,Flis Majesty's Fleets ;.ht
Armies ; but that was not all : 'There were no
Salt • Springa in 'lreland, nor had they there the
means ultuAnut4auring Salto...a-They Were in-deb:tit
to this "Country for two very inatCri;if'srticlo..,..
Roelt Salt and Coals ; and, even if they could ma.
nufacture the article, there Was much consideration
due tn. the expellee which would attend it in Ire.
land under its disadVantages for freight, co nails. 7
Sinn, Aud a great' many charges on the carrhloc
of Coalto and other articles which must be
from this
.Country before they could inanuf.,,:ti rc
Rock Salt :. so that any measure tending (atol cola
measure evidently and avowedly tended) to doutohh
the importation of Eay or Foreign SAir, wooLf
certainly be injurious to. the Trade, of Irelatal.—
There had been no comphints between the Nrtiiii
amid the Irish Ma'nutanurers upon this siihjeA, C:e
trade hod been carried on without any difiioolty in
this resped; and such had been the I+ol4 of Ira.
land, that they had. alWays used much Foreign
Salt—they had always been obliged to preier Fo-
reign Salt, because., as he
.dart said :already, the a r.
ticic of provision required it. •Now it might he
said, that to lower the price of other S;dt, sso u
not be injurious to the manufaclotes of Ire!.ind
general ; that was a sentence which sounded woi,
hut it was not too lightly to be assume ti It con.
venienCies might tallow this, although they wet;
not obvious to every onto—al'his might be art
dUC:MCnt tci manufaduters to lase the cheapest ;Mi.
cies in curing their prOvisions and in oti;cl- n4.11;u.
ratturrs, and which would nor so well Wilt t er the
purpose, the provisioos would neither so \t'ell sup-
ply His Majesty's Fleets and Armies as ,they tor.,
nicely did,-a-a very important consideration at
do sr and :vortical:4y at the ptcbcl4 time, whcrt.

any da—nger in this respea in particular, nor would
the.charader of the article of- provision be long
Tre;erved in the Foreign Market, another very
important consideration at any time, and still more
so at this' time, when Ireland was succeofully en.
deavouring to enlarge its Commerce. The Hon.
Gentleman complained of the diminution of Exports
from: this Country.' to Ireland, and particularly
in the article of Salt from Liverpool ; that
might be very true, and, .he believed it was
as ..far as the Hon. Gentleman took notice of it.—
There might be a diminution in the exportation from
Liv,:rpool to Ireland', but the general importation
into Ireland had increased, notwithstandingit. had
fir the last two- or three years diminished •, but
that was a very partial way, as he conceived, of
viewing the subje& It should be taken on a fair
average of six years, and if the Hon. Gentleman
took that view of it, he would 'find that this trade
had nor diminished. It was true that the quantity
of pro Visions purchased from Ireland for the last two.
years, had been less than. others upon an average of
the last six years—this was partly owing to the
demands of rile War having ended, and consequent..
ly less provision made up in Ireland, and of course
less salt imported; Pork in particular, the salt for

curing which came from Liverpool, had been much less
demanded for the last three years than in former
times ; and so indeed, had alt demands of late for the
Provisions of Ireland into hot climates. • As .to the
Rock. Salt imported into Ireland, it had been nearly
the same for some years. British White Salt,had
tiiMiniShed considerably, and Salt in the last year
.Lad diminished nearly one-third ; foreign Salt had
also ditninished In much the same proportion: so that
the Hon. Gentleman's apprehension was not well
funded, thai the importation of foreign Salt into
Ireland was the cause of the diminutiim of that of
the British. The diminution had been in not making
tap the same quantity of Provisions' for which the
British Salt %vas wanted. But it' the Hon. Geri.
tleman would take the average of six years, he
would have the coniolation to find the importation of
Salt into Ireland from Liverpool wis'much increased.
Here Mr. Colt RY went over the different importaa
tiotis for this period, to justify this assertion, and
maintained, there had beer) no increase of foreign
itnportation, so .us to stop the demand for the British
Salt ; the general demand fir the provision trade
bad fallen off for the present only, but no doubt
would again revive.— When all these things were
considered, Mr. Coat; v said, the apprehensions of
the Hon. Gentleman respeding the trade between
these two parts of the United Kingdom, would
cease. When the provision trade of Ireland. should
open again (as it soon might) all these apprehensions
would be dispelled, and then there would be an end
to the disadvantage which Ireland at present
laboured under by the" enormous rate of txchauge
which was against it, and which would cease
or diminish rapidly when funds were duly pro.
vided for the payment of its debt. Upon a
101 l consideration of all these things, he was con.
pent that the opulent and respedable people of Li.
-Yerpool would be much too liberal to complain of
the present state of exportation of salt from thence to
Ireland, or to desire their Representative to persist
in the Motion now before the House, for that there
would he no Occasion to come tOr an Ad of Podia.
rnent upon the tubjeet. Here Mr. CORKY, ex-
plained the Sahedole which was now be.fore.. the
House on the subjed of Duties on Salt imported into
Ireland, and then proceeded to observe, that the
t rade 'in this article had been uniformly carried on
for a long rime,
.without any complaint on the part
of the Mantifadurers of this Country, or of
land. He observed,' that he had some. Regula,
tions in contemplation upon this subj:d, and in
which he had no doubt the Honourable Gentle.
man 11,661 be able to give him some valuable as.
fistonce ; bus he submitted, whether it would riot
be more wise or'prudent, . that no measure should be
brought forsitard at present, but that matters should
and as they are, and :that. they should be made
matter of consideration next year, and then, Mr.
Cott xY said, he should come to the discussion of
this important Rubjea with the Honourable Gentle.
Man, or any other Honourable Member who should
chase to take.:Up the matter, . Nothing could give
him greater sitisfadion than a renewed discussion
of Duties in Ireland, upon this or any other topic
On which he possessed. any information, respeding
that part ,of the United Kingdom for which he had.
the honour to act. With resped to smuggling
Salt into Ireland, of which the Hon. Member seem.'
rd to he so apprehensive, he assured ',him there was
lib probability of it whatever, because the attempt
; ffered no profit; there was much 'more probability.
of that article being stnugged from Ireland into this
Country, and that was in reality the case. Upon
this subject, as well as others, he should be happy
to communicate his ideas :to the Han. Gentleman,
and to consult with him ; it was Certainly a tic..
airable thing'to prevent smuggling of Salt from Jte_
land into this Country, a praftice much too pry-
's/Alcor. After making an apology to the House
for detaining it so long on this sulsjcl, he submitted
the propriety of not aeling hastily on it a. for which
reason, :anti without. the slightest disrespeet to the
1-ioo, Gentleman, he should now move the Order of
the Day.,
Sir Wu.ttast Puvrtiq ZY thought the Duties ought to be
equalized.
Colonel Il&owitta, said, that nothing atTiiled the Fool;
of lreland so much., as the Ditty on Salt:; and he under-
hcoccituoil, that the et of the Right Hon. itienticutan's (,Mr.
Colt k r oatemara, went to luld tooool.lo the Duty.
Mr. (...or4 AV, observed its explanation, that his obica was
to rednee. the liushel, anti at the woe: time to reduce the
Duty.
Mr, Ic, it said, that his. Right Itrin, Friend had, given up
his.:ichednie of Irish Duties for this Sisiion in Compliance
von
the wishes of .:everal Gentlemen from Ireland ; and he
therefore, thought, it would be very unfair to take.detached
parts ofit as present for the purpose of arguing upon,' instead
trt o.astrioning the Consideration of the whole -to the ensuing
Su4slOn.
After a toy Words from Colonel N 'test( sa and the Sr.cal-
t'Aas' at W , principally on a point of Order,
ex HAM that his Right Hon. Friend (Mr.
Cos Ay), had had tio intention of proposing an additional
Duty oti Salt. lie was convinced, that, no man wookt
to give a reference to foreign Salt : 1... e only question was,
what was ells 11, 5: means of answering the proposed end
fix itOpcd the IVA L 'Gentleman would nor press the Measure
ar present, as he had not made up his mind upon the subject,
Wrist tie tinder the necessn) of opposing such a Bill at
Inesent in every stage of it.
General G sseovat then expressed a wish to Withdraw
his Motion, which was withdrawn accordingly by leave ofthe
How's!

MILITIA.
on clue c01c5(4414,r the third- re,;(ling of the Miii44 Offi.

on the subiedt, -but in so low a tone of voice that we could
e onlCollea that their general purport was hostile to the Bill.
Colonel BAnwgz.t. briefly defended the Bill.
Mr. KINNAlari wished to know if the restriltion upon the
Lord Lieutenant, preventing him from appointing the Offi-
cers who, under -this Bill; were to fill up the vacancies, to
a higher rank titan Captain, was to be extended to Scotland,
The SECRET AR vat 11/I.a said he intended to propose 4
clause ro that effi:6l.
The Bill was then a third time, and the clause proposed
by the SECR IT AkY at Wort having been read and agreed to,
and ordered to be added to it, the Bill was then passed.
• Tho SJSCALTAitY at WAR moved for leave to bring in a
Bill for increasing the-rates of subsistence to Innkeepers with
rasped to the quartering of Soldiers.—Leave given.
The further consideration of the Report of the Irish Militia
Bill-was postponed to this day fortnight,
Mr. N. VANS /TTAKT moved far art' account of all Rock
Salt and White Salt exported from Great hritain for the three
years ending-the sth of lanuary 170, and for the three years
ending the sth of January 1803, distinguishing each year and
the quantities respedively.—Ordered.
Mr. Cant row, from the Treasury of Ireland, presented
an account of the Ordinary Revenues, and Extraordinary
Revenues'of Ireland, for the year ending the Sth of lanuary
1803.—Ordered to lie on the Table and to be printed.
Mr. Poo rzo, from the Customs, presented an Account
of Balances and Arrears, which was also ordered to lie on the
Table, and to be printed.
• Mr.Ai. EX A !VIER brought up the Report, of the Commit-
tee of Supply, respelling Sir J Amos souot 4ItIZ, and also
the Report of the Committee of Ways and Means, which
were severally read and agreed to,,and Bills ordered.
Mr. ALEX A N ns k also brought up the Report of the Wool-
wich Lands Bill,. which was read and agreed to, and the Bill
ordered to be read .a third time to-morrow.
The House rekolved itself into a Committee on the Ame.
rican Commissioners Bill, when . the Committee reported
progress, and asked leave to sit again to-morrow.—Ordered.
The Committees of Supply and Ways and Means were
postponed till Wednesday. •
Adjourned at Nine o'clock till to-morrow.

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