The Sun.
London, England, 1803-06-25 00:00:00

EXCISE BILL.

The Order, of the Day being read for going into
a Committee on the Additional Excise Duty Bill,

Mr. PLUMMER said, as he approved of some
of Duties and disapproved of others, he wished,
that instead of their being all in one Bill,_ they
might he.divided into different Bills, and then the
House could, decide distinetly upon each. This was
opposed hi the CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER
and after a short conversation it was negatived.
The House having resolved itself into a Com-
mittee upon the Bill,
The CHANCELLOR qf the EXCHEQUER
.said, it might be some convenience if he stated
some of the alterations he meant to propose; and
which he hoped would obviate some of the objec-
tions which had been made from very respeetahle
quarters, against this measure.—Soon after the Union
between England and Scotland, the Duty payable
on Malt in Scotland was only half what it was in
England ; at that time Malt was not only made from
Barley in Scotland, but from Bear anti Bigg. This
'disproportion between the duties in the't wo Court-
tries continued till, last Session of Parliament, when
an additional duty was laid on Malt equally in both
Countries.---A: great deal of uneasiness* was oc-
casioned inScottend by this duty, which was much
increased by the circumstance of theßarlcy harvest
being very had last, year in „Scotland : The con-
sequence of which was, that a large quantity of
Barley was imported from England, where the
!threes; had been uncommonly abundant. Many
people attributed this importation of Barley into that
Country as the effete of the additional duty which had
been laid on, whereas in fad it arose from the badness
of the weather. He admitted that it would not be
right to lay the suite duty upon Malt, made from
bear and bigg, in Scotland, as upon Malt made
from barley, became the fcirmer was of an loferior
quality. With respect, to the barley of Scotland*
he thought the new duty cm it to be the same as
in England. He should therefbre propose, that the
dUty upon malt made from bear and bigg in Sent-
land, should be one-third less than upon Malt made
from barley, that is to say, that it should 'be one
shilling and fourlpence, instead' of two shit.
lings: He hoped the House would agree to this
proposition this Session, and that early in the
,next
Session, a Committee might be appointed.to inquire
into the different degrees of value between the bar.
ley of England, and, the barley and bear for bigg of
Scotland. At present, therefore, he should propose
to' pass the Bill, bearing an equal duty upon barley
in the two countries, making rh; distinOton he had
mentioned k the case of bear attd bigg.
Si!
.74mAs ,ST.C4AIR ERSKINE said, he
was aware of rhe unpleasantness} of contending at a
time like ;he present for what appears to be a, local
exemption. He begged however to state some rea-
sons which appeared' to him tdehew that the Duty
•

,1

•
ought not' to be laid equally on tt..e Bark)? of Eng.
land and 'Scotlatiol.: Soon after the Union, the duty
upon Malt in Scotland was fixed' at one half of the
. duty upon Malt in England.. At that time Malt
Was made in Scotland from bear and bigg. Barley •
was afterwards introduced into Scotland, bin it was
always admitted that it was inferior to English bar-
lei);poppinio
,rarttthel?liil
utyhati always continued in the vitae
d
lastlaltyiena!'hoit'theCnoutinletrritew. was
sTble
an
equal duty' upon N e
flonourable- Baronet then went into a very a
and detailed argument, and contended, from a va-
riety of fads, that the inferiority of Scotch bar-
ley to that of English was so obvious, that
if the Duty was laid equally urn the Malt
in both Countries, that the people of Scotland woul4
be under the necessity of importing all their barley
from England, and that the cultivation of that grain
must be discontinued in Scotland. All he contended
for_ was,that as there was an acknowledged inferiority
in the grain of Scotland, there ought to be a pro.
portionable deduelion in- the price. The -CHAN-
CELLOR of the EXCHEQUER had 'stated that it
would be piooosed to appoint a Committee to in-
quire into this subje4l—if such a Committee was
appointed, he had no doubt but the statement hell'4
made •would he fully substantiated. ,He 'was aware
'that it was impossible at this period of the,SessioN
to go into the proposed Committee of Inquiry, lid
.was therefore willing; in. party to accept the pla
,position tvlsich had been made by the CHANOI.•
the EXCHEQUER. He. stated, that. the
mode in. which he ascertained the. differcii.ce.
between the English and the Scotch 11 uleys."l/
by combating the different :prices wilith 04
'Lure when. they
.met in the same market. VI
price of too quarters of English Barley Was equ"
to
.134. quarters of Scotch Barley, and' to •i. 1.1 quar7-
ters of .and Bigg : :he concluded with ,feelarifii
that it was by. tfo means his wish thit
ihota nOr Vear -fief prOportion of the general lrat'•
thens i.._he was only anxious that she _should out pY
inure than her short:.
Mr.-CORRY, in a speech of very great ability,
combated -the arguments of the-Hon. &Ironer, and,
contended that the disadvantage was not. So Vest
on the pact of Scotland as he had represented ; lie
entered into a variety of calculations to thew that
upon the Hon. 'Baronet's own statement, the anon'."
ance made on the Distilleries was greater than It,
ought to, be. He was far from wishing that Scot-
land should be taxed beyond her fair pr3portioni
because he felt, as he was sure every Member .
that House did, a most lively interest in the tv.4tre
'of that part of the United Kingdom, he only miint
to contend that there was not 'that dispropotti?.."
against Scotland which had been represente‘b y •
Sir JA.S. Sr. CLAIR -ERSKINE and Nir. CO.". T•
explained.
Lord A. II 111 I LtON said, he had been Called
upon by his Constituents to endeavour to oht.lie Lh.o
repeal of the Duty of last year which they coo:::
dared as highly injurious to ;heir, interesta,
then went over nearly the same grounds of
•
imvleaentnisotipnansosSrtinhraajrtaiuesynwEsitiK INK, and expressed
dune,
• CHANCELLL'iIIodOn
replied
At o.
Itill:Ntatrigziuolirt7:l4Raelse: cf hd°ll:s,sSgcai°:tvdn4"itaisAnt. ERs r vii
'l(hat. he ;11111c'n;:ill:oi
tohj.a.Nt
ct,lrifeorelk.
.w.atsi'eas owl IlitteY Pr°""
th
-•.
I:rptosS. osilifflSimtytola:,adri':sgoitrihterinep:;.CasaTtellny'litnteine ttubc;)'''''uzin'ttY
ite :,amp
the proposed inquiry this -Fessien,
was time
onlyhe 117egoig,oesde,(.1itt'asnstalsc;Glet.ona:rie:Cil, enlrlde;:att
Mr. WM. DUNDAS wished that 'this /SCI r.
s-
sion had been sparekl, particularly as it WAs t" .
stood;that there ..ix•as.. 16 be a 'Committee of tn.
be quirt'ix
tatpepro itnotetv%l.naeitxtitti
as
eta t.i.cllifomutigi:dl;l,ett
.gree dissatisfadion, at the additional duty i.tr:
Ilpivpiorten:es.dki 0;1;1 twa:Staletisb:tslir:une'reiwb7siutreelic :vitlestriaen:::::::eua first
ll cons,
derition of the subjett, that opinion was • alter 11
barleyV regard
int'totohe great qaantitY of En, w., •
S year, is f the
in hiss to be attributed
ed'toi'tishet
s op
season, and by no means to the duty which Wasoi
posed. He said there was not that inferiority
Barley of Scotia,-,l that had been represeoted,
he knew that very lately some Barley of Ea"
thian was sold at 17s. 61. a boll, while the i
NotPi.le
Batley was 'selling at 19;. 6.1.' Ujion the- w)l°lc'
thought it would be better to Watt until the Wilmi
Sublet had been investigated by a CoMmitte' 3,i,
nett to discuis it now, when "they hadno etir°

tenon
aertt AoulpgAiutStii‘e their.
triltEl
lt :ft, itkticrlguglmleOt ntalfr:Leri':laisd,noitAcct tritc;llicv 1";
the Union- upon the subjekl, yet that it "c ll°
understotxl that there was to be a distinetion h''
tween England rind Scotland, in the du u; ""
Malt.l.. i-aa very soon after the Union, Ill; '
duty had been fixed in Scotland at one hell ci
what it. Was in England, and that' clisproptii)"
had continued so long, that thy began io considl f
it as a mager of right that it should continue.; he 'l'; i
not say that this was his opinion. but lw thoug.ll`
the Legislature ought to have.gone into an ingioilt
upon the subjeft before they laid an equal (MY 1;15,
Sessions. It certainitwas necessary that an incl'r::; I
should be instituted, to set the minds of reoPle le
rest upon this subjen, because it never could b .
settled by discussions in that House, on which het'` 1
tlemen generally spoke from the statements wil!,.t I
composed
dee
were furnished to them. lie would with P'-'""
the United Parliament lud aeled not only
entirelylea vethe'ofin Englishves ig lt i(Gmentotlet'ille(n,:vilinehei (A:Luc:l.!'
tice but with liberality towards ScotlAnd.
C-11"irirl'
I
After. some further conversation the ici
put the, question with respen to filling up tlw bl3Il ,
Inc the amount of the duty with :Ai. would 't
Air. PLUMMER said, that this addition .„,
M
make the whole duty on alt 3.p. Bd. per
tg ag l
. i1.1'14
which was a greater duty; he conceived, ad
Landed Interest could bear, he thetefore Inu''c
Amendment to substitute IN.
A conversation of s.ome leq,th "'l'd* - ,a of
The SECRETARY 41 WAR spoke in Lori t ),;.>
t.....;.. Amendment, Though he said kke could "' `t

fi

. gtade the lowest man In the Country, tIY supposing
that such an individual did not feel disposed to eon_
tribute-liberally to the support of the Government
in the present Contest in which we were engaged ;
yet he could not but think that the .Test on Barley
and
sMalt would be•carried by the present measure to
too great an extent, and he was informed by very
respettable Constituents, that it would be too heavy
for them to bear. •
The CHANCELLORS' the EXCHEQUER said,
he was afraid if the Committee adopted the Propo.
sition of his Hon. Friend, which he hoped they
would not, they must forego the means of prose-
, euting the just War in which we were engaged, to
the amount of 2,7oo,000.1.• for if they abandoned
a moiety of it, the remainder would go into the
Pockets of the Brewers, in consequence of the rise
which would unavoidably take place in the price of
beer. He would therefore rather forego the whole,
than
.reduce the duty in the manner proposed, which
would be of no advantage to the•Publie, who would
have to pay to the amount of the whole duty. They
must in this consent to the whole duty proposed,
or abandon it-altogether, .or else impose a great
hardship and severity on the Brewer, by fixing a
maximum on the ptice of beer, which would only
tend to lower the quality of the beer. He knew,
of no tax so little liable to objedion which
would, produte the same amount. If they meant to
raised great part of the Supplies within the year,
they' must tax the whole of the -property of the
Country, and unless they made up their. minds that
we should spew ourselves capable of supporting a
Protraded contest, it would be better to make peace
upon any terms that the Government of Ftunee
chose to dictate.
Sir Roll ear BuxTott suggested a tax upon Coon.
try Bank Notes instead of the present.
Mr. PANSITT,ART said a tax upon Country
Bank Notts would not prOduce a tenth part of the
sum proposed by the present duty, as a Stamp Duty,
to the amount of 300,0001. would put a stop to
their eirculatiOn. Adverting to something that had
been said respecting the stock on hand of the Malt.
stets, he said that the first instalment of the duty
tm,that stock, was to be paid on the 25th of Sep.
tember, the second on the 26th of OttAer, she
third on the 25. th of becanbcr, and the fourth on
the 16th of January, 1804.
Mr. Gun suggested the propriety of making
the first instalment smaller, and giving the Malt.
MIS more time to pay the duty.
The CHANCELLOR of• the EXCHEQUER
said; he was inclined to adopt the
,suggestion of
the Hon. Gentleman. There would, however, be
time to consider it between this :and the Report
When any provision might be proposed relative to
that sob eft.
Mr. WR 1
VAAL HA RVE if, Mr. PATIASOIiand •
ISOM! colter M,•mbers took.a part in the discussion.
The t ~nmi t tee at length divided on the Amend-
inenti--F..,r it t.t

- -
Against it s. v 6:
Nl,jority •--50
the tiouse having resumed, the •
Report was or.
‘letti! to be received on Monday.
The Customs Consolidation Bill was read a third
time and passed.
Mr. CURRY moved for a Committee of the whale
Noose an Monday, on so much of the Afts of the
42(1 G. 111. and of the preierit Session as related
to the duty on Saltpetre in Ireland. Ordered.
The Excise Consolidation Bill was read a third
tittle and passed. The other Orders of the Day
Were disposed 0f..,--Adjourned at half past eleven
till Mondays