The Sun.
London, England, 1804-05-25 00:00:00

CORN L:1113,

Tor. Corn Corrimittee in the House of Cannons,
itastrotted to examine the Aft of the 3ist of the King,
have made the following Report, viz.
That, in pursuance of the InstruAlons which they
received, proceeded to examine the Aa of the 31st
of the King, and to take, from the best information
they could obtain, a comparative view of the price
of labour, and of the unavoidable expences incident
to the Farmer, in the year 1791, and to the Farmer
at this present time ; as the best criterion by which
they might judge of what ought to be the price of
the different species of grain, so as to allow to the
grower such a fair and reasonable profit as may in.
duce him to purtre that line of husbandry which will
the most contribute to the produCtion of such an
ample supply of the different kinds of Corn and
Grain, as may be sufficient for the consumption of
the kingdom. The .certainty of this supply cannot
be obtained without a considerable surOus, in plen-
tiful years, above the demand of the home marker,
it therefore becomes necessary that the grower
should have such a ready sale for that surplus by
Exportation, and Bounty if requisite, as may re-
move all apprehension of his not being able to ob-
tain, from a glut of the commodity at the home
market, such a price for that surplus as will,afford
him an equitable profit on his labour and industry,
and capital employed in its production. It appears,
then, to your Committee, that the only mode by
which an ample. and plentiful supply can justly be
expected, is to secure a certain and uniform fair and
reasonable price to the Farmer.
It appearS.trqotir Committee, That the Aa pass-
ed in 1791, giving a. power to the King and Coun-
cil, when Parliament 'is not sitting, of prohibiting
the exportation of Corn, if the average price there-
of, taken from the return of the whole kingdom, is
higher than the price.at or above which Foreign Corn
of the same sort is allowed to he imported at 'the low
duties ; and to permit generally for three months
certain, the importation of such sort on the lowest
duties then payable, ought never to be exercised but
on a strong and uncontrovertible necessity ; as it
may, if used upon light and insufficient ground, ope.
rate as a great discouragement to the growth and
prodution of Corn in thiS Kingdom, by rendering
the market uncertain, by making the Export Trade
liable to he stopped, and by enabling a general im-
port of Foreign Corn to be poured into the king-
dom for the term of three months, at so small a va.
riation and advance of price intthe home market, as
may perhaps be expressly occasioned, by particular
combinations, for the very purpose of producing
that effect.

Your Committee are cautious of recommending a
repeal of that part of the Ad, lest a necessity gar
the exercise of that power might possibly arise,
thinking it better, under such circumstances, Chit it
should he exercised according to law, than in oppo-
sition to it.' But, in full confidence, that when due
encouragement is given to the Aviculture of the
Country, and the Crown and Waste L olds brought
into cultivation, that the produd 'of the growth of
Corn in Great Britain, will afford such a regular and
ample supply for the consumption of the kingdom,
as to admit the repeal of that power given to His
Majesty's Privy Council, without the danger of any
detriment arising therefrom to the. Public,
It further appears to your Committee, that the
Tables in the said At of the 31st of the King, for
regulating the prices at which the ports for exporta.
tion are to be open, with or without bounty, and at
which the importation of foreign COrn is to be ad-
mitted, on the low duties generally, into the King-
dom, require very material alteration. This alter.
ation seems to be demanded by the advance in. the
price of labour, and all other expences to which the .
Farmer is now subject, beyond what he was liable to
at the time when those regulations were established.

Your Committee therefore recommend the Tables
hereto annexed to be adopted, instead of those in
the Aa of the 31st of the King, as more fitted to
the circumstances of the present.times.
It appears further to your Committee, that the
aggregate average prices of the twelve Maritime
Distrids, is the proper rule by which the Tables
for regulating the Export and Import of Corn to and
from this kingdom ought to be governed.
And it appears further to your Committee, that
no Corn should, be imported into any one Distria;
where the price of Corn taken at the two last pre-
ceding market days is below the aggregate average
prices of the twelve Maritime Districts, at which
Corn is allowed to be imported into the kingdom.
The objet of your ComrWttee, in fixing the price
at which the Ports shall be open for the general Im.
portation of Coro, so much higher than the price at
which it is permitted to be exported, is to prevent
Corn from being imported into one part of the king-
dom, and exported from another, at the same time ;
and, by facilitating the means of conveying the Sur.
plus to a Foreign Market, to give that encourage_
ment to the grower which may ultimately produce
such an ample supply as shall render the Importation
of Foreign Corn unnecessary. In this hope, your
Committee are the more sanguine, from observing
by the Corn Returns, that in the course of years
when the Regulations were most favourable to the
growers, and when the least check was put upon the
Export Trade, the Export of Corn from this kingdom
for more than 6o years in succession, produced annual-
ly six or seven hundred thousand pounds; leaving be-
sides, at a regular and moderate price, an ample sufi.
ciency for the home consumption; and your Com-
mittee have on the other hand observed, that as
the Restrictions under the saws began more and
more to bear hard upon the grower, and to check
and stop the Export Trade, the importation has in-
creased, and in the last thirteen years alone has
amounted to the enormous sum of Thirty Millions,
whilst the whole advantage of the Export Trade
has been lost to this Kingdom.