The Sun.
London, England, 1842-01-18 00:00:00

ABERDEEN.,Y

Mr. WILSON, from Aberdeen, showed by a table of imports
at Aberdeen, that the imports in British vessels were decreas-
ing, while the imports in toreign vessels were increasing:_
IMPORTS AT ABERDEEN BY BRITISH VEsSELs.
Vessels. Tons.
1834 90 14,697
1840
imrouTs air FORKIGN VESSELS
Vessels. Tons.
1834
1840 l2O ............. .....8,250
How did it happen that foreigners were able to carry on lower
terms, but in consequence of the cheapness of their food ? As
it took 30s. to purchase in this country the same quantity of
wheat which could be bought in Hamburgh at 125., and that
while beef was tkl. here, it was only 21 .jd. to 3d. there at far-
thest. Another disadvantage under which the shipping interest
of this country was placed, was, that they were forced to pur-
chase wood from the landlords in England, or be content with
the rotten fir of Scotland, as they could not import the superior
timber of the Baltic. He held it to be quite clear, that except
the timber duties were repealed, their shipping interest would
go to ruin.—( hear.) The number of vessels, British and
Foreign, which had left Aberdeen in ballast from 1834 was as
follows :
British vessels left Aberdeen and Peterhead in ballast.
Vessels. Tons.
1834
1840 ... lO5 ... ....
Foreign vessels which left Aberdeen and Peterhead in ballast
during the same period.
Vessels.

Tons.

1834
1840 ............. ..... 75
In Aberdeen vessels were supplied with ballast,lwith the sand
dredged out of the harbour, and the returns of vessels which
had left that port in ballast showed perhaps more clearly than
any other thing could do the decrease in their export trade.
The following was a statement of their exports to America be-
ginning with 1834 :-
1834
1840
Thus was their small export trade going to destruction.
Within the last two months two mills had stopped, one of these
employing 500 and the other 300 hands, and such a state of
things could not continue without having its due effect upon
all, in the tdightest degree interested in the matter. Another
thing he might remark was that the Custom Duties at Aber-
deen
had gone on increasing for many years, and he had
learned from the Comptroller, just before he left, that last
year there was a decrease for tho first time of '2.000/. Again
monopolies were fast increasing their paupers. From a list of
the paupers in the Parish of St. Nicholas for the last sixty
years, it appeared that in 1780 there wete 420, at an expense
of 560/, and in 1840, 1,600, at 4,6001. The assess •
ment in Aberdeen for the poor, up to 1824, had been volun-
tary, but since they had been legally assessed, and it had in-
creased from 4d, to Is. 81. per pound, and from the centre to
the circumference of the parish, there was an excitement upon
the subject which threatened, as in England, in the end to
send them back tai the landlords.—(Cheers.) He had analysed
the poor's roll, anti he lad found that fully one-half of the
poor paupers were from
SAL TCOA f the country yar
Sishes.
The state of this int„ality is principally affected by the con-
dition Of the hand-loom weavers, who constitute a great pro-
portion of the population if this village, and of the adjoining
villages of Stevenston and ,Ardms3ll.