The Sun.
London, England, 1821-04-20 00:00:00

The REPRESENTATION of the NOBLEAIEN, GEN-
TLEMEN, PROPRIETORS' and TENANTRY,
within the COUNTY of HADDINGTON, connected
with the United EAST LOTHIAN AGRICULTURAL.
SOCIETY,
HUMBLY SHEWE'ill—That your Memorialists approach
your LordshiPs, as the regular channel of communication with
his Majesty's Government, most respectfully to state the in-
creasing evils which. so deeply affect them, as proprietors and
cultivators of the soil; and humbly to suggest such measures,
as, if enacted by Parliament, would, in their opinion, tend
materially to alleviate their situation, to afford a more steady
protection -to agriculture,- n_od to infuse a spirit of enterprize,
calculated to promote the prosperity of the country at large.—
Your Memorialists neither wish nor expect a monopoly in the
growth of corn, beyond what sound policy requires. They
know that their prosperity is intimately connected with the
prosperity of the manufacturing and the mercantile part of the
community; but they also belieVe, that 'all classes would be.
much more benefitted by encouraging the agriculture of our
own country, than' by importing corn from abroad.—Your.
Memorialists ask only protection
_proportioned to the extent of'.
public burdens necessarily imposed upon them, and to the dis-
advantage which they have to contend with more than other
countries, in point` of climate. To their skill and industry, and
to the security derived from an equal Government, they trust
for every other superiority.—This protection they have every
reason to believe his Majesty's Government and Parliament
intended they should receive, when the 55 Geo. 111., c. 215,
was passed into a law and depending upon this law for se-
curing to them prices for corn somewhat near to the rates at'
which the importation of foreign grain is permitted, many of
the Memorialists entered into extensive farming concerns, and
expended immense sums in improving and enriching the soil.—
But the evasion of this Act has cruelly disappointed their hopes,
and prevented them from realizing any thing 'like the prices
found necessary, after the fullest investigation by Parliament,
for protecting Agriculture.—The capital necessary for con-
ducting farming operations is rapidly diminishing, and the soil
is in too many instances either deteriorated or neglected.
The failure of this Act your Memorialists consider to be
owing,
t Firs, To the limited manner in which the average prices for
regulating the importation of corn is. taken, and to the incorrect
method in which these averages are struck in the twelve mari-
time districts..

Your Memorialists stated to Parliament last session, the
hardships which they conceived had resulted to Agriculture
from these causes. By a recent Report from a Select Commit-
tee of the Commons House of Parliament, on petitions com-
plaining of Agricultural distress, they find that " there are
circumstances arising from the mode of computing the average
ruling price, which afford ?great and obvious facilities to fraud,
without violating the spirit of the law,"--and, " that the.
greatest neglect and inattention have universally prevailed in
taking these averages." A striking illustration of the accuracy
of these conclusions occurred last August, when the importa-
tion of oats was unexpectedly allowed, by interested individuals
purchasing small quantities of oats at high prices, in some of,
the northern districts, owing to whichi more than a million
quarters of this article were thrown into the market, which
being above the consumption, the price has been reduced much
below what will remunerate the rower. By the existinsCorn
Laws, the returns for ascertairung. the averages are only re-
ceived from the Factors or Dealers in grain, to the exclusion of
the sellers. These returns are taken from one hundred and
thirty-nine towns, comprised within the twelve maritime dis-
tricts, and are frequently made up from sales of only a few
quarters of corn ; each of these returns constitute a distinct re-
turn in money, and thereby affect the average of the particular
district as extensively as the largest and the most regular sale.
Your Memorialists conceive that considerable weekly sales must
be made in each of these towns, and that it would only be rea-
sonable that no return should be entered that does not exceed
one hundred quarters, and that a penalty of five hundred pounds
should be imposed upon every false return, and that the average
prices in money should not be taken in every town or district,
but that the whole returns of quantities and prices in the twelve
maritime districts ought to be calculated and added together,
and an average price taken therefrom.
Second, That for six weeks preceding the 15th August,
when one of the quarterly averages is struck, the quantity of
grain on hand is generally small from the nearness of 'harvest,
and of course the price is usually higher than at other periods
of the season. The condition is also better, and consequently
the value is greater : therefore, to afford an equitable protec
tion, the period should either be changed, or the rates for this
quarter increased ;—an importation immediately after harvest
being always most prejudicial to the home grower, as it is then
lie takes the largest supply to market.
Third? That as . the law fbr warehousing foreign corn, when
not admitted for home consumption, does not contain sufficient
provision ,or preventing such corn from being clandestinel-y
sold in the home market, your Memorialists trust, thatsuch
regulations and penalties will be enacted, and such a duty im-
posed, however small, upon the corn so warehoused, as to make
it an object, of revenue, sufficient to ensure the attention of the
proper officers, and to prevent the evasion of the law. •
ourth, Your Memorialists have also to submit to your
Lordships' consideration, that as the growth of corn is nursed
by the breeding and fattening of cattle and sheep, the present
very inconsiderable duties upon the importation of tallow and
hides should be increased to one-third, or at least to one-fourth
of the actual value of these articles.

Fifth,—The Memorialists have likewise to complain of local
and unexpected hardships. The Malt Duty, which, in conse-
quence of the acknowledged inferiority of Scotch to English
barley, had been lower in the one country than in the other,
almost ever since the Union, was unexpectedly raised to within
a mere trifle of the English duty, immediately after the rising
of Parliament in 1819. This measure has caused a stagnation
in the sale of Scotch, and a very extensive importation of Eng-
lish barley ; and taken in connection with the restricted nature
of the intercourse in spirits with England, by which Scotland is
,placed upon a footing so very different from Ireland, that whilst
the Irish have an unrestrained toleration to export spirits to Eng-
land, the manufacture of spirits in Scotland for the English
market is regulated in such a manner as in a great measure to
exclude the use of Scotch or inferior barley, and to prevent the
manufacture of spirits of a good quality ; thereby encouraging
foreign or contraband trade, and rendering the distillation for
England a complete monopoly, alike hurtful to agriculture
and injurious to the public revenue.
In conclusion, your Methorialists feel extremely diffident in
offering any remarks of a general nature to your Lordships,
from the conviction of their inability to advise, and from a firm
reliance upon the inclination and the wisdom of his Majesty's
Government, to adopt such immediate and energetic measures
as the necessity and extent of their sufferings demand ; for it is
not the reduction of rent, nor the total abandonment of the pro-
prietors' right,that will make up the differencebetwixt the present
selling prices of grain, and the rates at which the importation of
foreign corn is permitted ;. or, in plainer terms, that will reim-
burse the home grower of corn ,for the expence of cultivation,
without the- payment of any rent ; the consequences of such a
situation are, fortunately, yet but partially felt; but unless re-
lief is speedily given, it is obvious that the expenditure of the
landlord must be reduced, the manufacturer must remain ure-
employed, the revenue must be diminished, agriculture itself
must languish, and in the course of a few years, a famine may
ensue, from the neglect of not administering timely assistance
to the great body and bulwark of the nation—the cultivators of
the soil.

-Your Memorialists have seen a stimulusgiven to our fisheries
and to our commerce, by public encouragement and bounties.
In how far it may be practicable to apply the fostering aim of
Government to their case, they do not pretend to say; but they
rely with the utmost confidence upon their statement being
taken into serious and dispassionate consideration, and such
protection .given as his Majesty's Covernment are enabled to
grant, and the extensive nature of- the evils with which they
have to contend, so eminently demand. - - . • -
Signed by me, as President of . this Society, in conformity
with the instructions of a. general meeting held at
liaddington,- the 22d December, 1820,
• TWE4DA LE. ,
Whitehall Treasury Chambers, March 1021: . •
S. It. LUSLUNGTON.