Star.
London, England, 1830-09-09 00:00:00

REVENUE OP THE cumasNr QUANTE&

In the portion of the current quarter that has elapsed, there is, coin.
pared with the corresponding period of the year 18:19, a very consider-
able deficit, and there seems to be good reason to suppose that deficit will
go on increasing to the end of the current quarter, which will be on the
10th of October. The present deficit amounts to rather more
than 700,0001. and the deficit on the entire quarter will probably
amount to 1,009,0001.—The decrease has been principally confined
to the three heads of Deer, Mal:, and Hops, and can, in etch
'of the three articles specified, be satisfactorily accounted for, without
giving any reason for gloomy anticipations. On the contrary, we h.ive
every indication of a sound and prosperous state of the great and hail-
ing branches of national and commercial industry. Ist, Brea.—By
the act which repeals the beer tax, the brewer Is permitted to make bets
without payment of duty, provided it is warehoused under the Excise
lock, and not sold for consumption until after October 10. The brewers
have of course availed themselves of this privilege, and in fact there is
not at this moment any revenue derived from the manufacture of beer.
2d. Mar.r.—The revenue from malt is payable upon manufacture, and
not upon consumption. Now the barley harvest of the last year was t.o.
toriously deficient, and the whole produce was manufactured into malt
before the commencement of the current quarter ; and the produce of
the present harvest (which is a late harvest) has not yet been tnanu.
factured by the masters. The brewers, therefore, are using out
the stock of malt on hand, on which duty bad been previously paid.
The obvious and necessary Inference, therefore, is, that there
must be a considerable deficit in the present Quarter under the head of
malt duty. 3d, Hors.—The duty on Hops depends entirely on the
productiveness of the hop-gathering. This is defective, and the amount
of duty of course shows a corrnpontling deficiency. There are two
other heads in which there is a fsllir.g off—Tea and Foreign Corn.
It will he sufficient to remark, that the first (Tea) is an ad adore.,
duty, and that in the present year the consumption has increased,
but the prices at the India sales (which prices regulate the amount of
duty) were lower. In Corn the comparative prices of this year and the
last, and the consequent difference in the duty, explain the deficit.
The revenue of the current quarter exhibits an increase under
the important heads of_ Soap, candles, starch, printed cottons,
and spirits. It will be obvious that each of these articles is one
of general consumption, and (unless, perhaps, in the case
of spirits) of prime necessity. The increase, therefore, shows an aug.
mentation in the general diffusion of comforts in society at large. It
is important co remark, that the Customs generally exhibit a slow, gra-
dual, and therefore probably permanent tendency to improvement—not
a violent overflow upon any particular mercantile commodity, which
only indicates an unsafe and unnatural burst of ill-judged speculation,
but too commonly followed by a disastrous re-action.-7lntes.