Star.
London, England, 1822-04-03 00:00:00

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AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

PARLIAMENTARY PAPER.
The Select Committee appointed to Inquire into the allegations
of the several Petitions which have been presented to the
Mouse in the lan and present Sessions of Parliament, com-
plaining of the Ditreseed State of the Apiculture of the
-
United Kingdom, and to.Repoet their Observations thereupon
to the House,
Considered that among all the important objects
referred to them, none could be more deserving of
their earliest attention than an inquiry into any mea-
sure that could be suggested for affording some tem •
porary relief to the distresses of which the numerous
Petitioners with so much reason complain, and which
appear, from the returns of the average prices of corn
during the late weeks a, to be progressively increas-
ing rather than diminishing.
Your Committee do not venture to determine,
whether the present state of the corn-market be owing
to an excess of production, or to what.extent that ex-
cess may reach, beyond the usual and requisite sup-
ply ; or whether the necessities of the occupiers of land
cause an unprecedented eagerness to dispose of their
produce at almost any price: but it appears from an
official retarn, that the quantity of British wheat and
oats (but not of bailey) sold in hlark•lane, between
the Ist of NoVember and the Ist of March' litt, has
very considerably exceeded the quantity sold in the
corresponding months of the twenty preceding years.
Stich an excess of supply beyond demand can have
no other effect than to continue the depression of
price, and increase the accumulation of the stock upon
hand ; while •it is evident, from the present very low
rate of price on the continent of Europe, as compared
with prices in this country, that there is no chance
of resorting to the natural expedient of relieving the
mar ket by exporting any portion of our own corn, even
with the aid of any bounty which would notbe excessive.
Two other modes have therefore been under the
consideration of your Committee ; by the first of which
it was proposed, that one million of Exchequer Bills
should be applied to purchasing, through the agency
of Government, and laying up in store, a certain por-
tion of. wheat grown in the United Kingdom • and
by the second, that facility and encouragement should
be afforded to individuals to deposit a part of their
stock in warehouses, so that they might not be
forced to come into the market simultaneously, and
under the disadvantage of excessive competition, but
might be enabled to wait until the supply, having ap-
proached nearer to the wants of the consumers, might
afford, if not a remunerating, at least a price some-
what less ruinous for their produce.
With regard to the first of these proposals, the ge-
neral objections against making the Public, through
the Executive Government, a dealer and speculator in
corn, the suspicions to which it might give rise, and
the uneasiness in the public feeling which it might
eventually excite, the danger of its being drawn into
precedent, the claims which it might be supposed to
give to other important articles-of iiomestic produce,
whenever they might be exposed to similar depression,
and the universal rule of allowing all articles, as much
as possible, to find their own natural level, by leaving
the supply to adjust itself to the demind, discourage j
your Committee from recommen ling it, even under
this extraordinary emergency, and with all the guards
and qualifications of a temporary expedient. But
with regard to the second, although much less effica•
cious in its operation, the objection of Government
becoming a purchaser does not apply, as individuals
would in this case act for themselves, and according
to their own discretion, the Government interfering
an otherwise than by making advances upon the
commodity deposited, which would be repaid, with a
low rate of interest, as soon as the article should be
brought to market.
For effecting this object, two different modes have
been suggested ; by one of which it was proposed,
that when the weekly average price is under 58s. (the
import scale remaining as at present) wheat should
be stored, subject to a monthly allowance of 6d. per
quarter, until the average price should reach 6.55.
The whole quantity not to exceed 600,000 quarters,
and the time for which the allowance should be pay-
able not to exceed 12 or 18 months.
Not more that a certain number of quarters, nor
less than another specified number of quarters, to be
stored on the part of any individual or firm.
- The owner of the corn so deposited to be at liberty
to withdraw it at any time, waving his claim to al-
lowance, or refunding it.
,The other proposition was, that for the purpose of
Alieving the glut which at present presses upon the
grain market, the Government, whenever the average
price of wheat shall be under 60s. should grant ad-
vances of money upon such corn of the growth of the
United Kingdom, as should be deposited in fit and
proper warehouses upon the river Thames, and in the
ports to be hereafter specified, to an extent not ex-
ceeding two-thirds of the market value of such corn ;
the quality of the corn and the fitness of the ware-
houses to be approved of by officers to be appointed
by the Government.
The loan to be at the rate of three per cent. and
the period of deposit not to exceed twelve months.
The cern to be withdrawn at the will of the depo-
sitor, upon payment of the interest, warehouse-rent,
and other charges.
The sum of one million so applied, would proba-
bly be 'fully adequate to give a temporary check to
the excess which is continually poured into the al-
ready overstocked market.
if the House should be inclined to agree with your
Committee in countenancing the latter of these pro-
positions, it is evident that it ought to lead to some
immediate proceeding ; and although no very great
effect can be contemplated from adopting it, its ope-
ration, as far as it .may extend, can hardly fail to
afford some temporary relief.
There is another measure also to which it is fit to
call the early attention of the House.
The foreign grain and flour of all sorts in different
warehouses under the King's lock, appears to have
amounted, on the sth of January last, to !x97,136
quarters ; with regard to which, although there is
`,"ttle probability that it can soon come into competi.
with our home produce, yet it still hangs over
""ket in a formidable mass,.ready to be poured
once, creating no small degree of panic as to
`ees, loth March, 4.5. 11.
fkk - - 46. io. The highest price of any one
YJ - 46. 11. week iu 11122, was 50s. 7d.
Lid Feb. - 47. 7.

.

its future
(which is
out ffee from
under the
shall be imoosed
of that law,

from foreign parts.
To relieve the' market from bath thewigahei:
proper to permit the'
nienees, it may be
such corn now in warehouses, under meta telliedillt
regulations and restrictions, to have the aaniegronad
into flour for the purpose of exportation ; and also an
provide, by legislative enactment, that in future MN
foreign corn warehoused in this kingdom shall bit
considered as corn coming from Illbto/14 and subject
to all such duties and regulations as are or may finds
time to time be imposed upon corn coining (Weedy
from a foreign port.
A proposition, which was submitted to your Com-
mittee, for advancing loans to Parishes on the credit
of the Rates, • appeared to be attended with so manyl
difficulties, and to be so little applicable to the pur-
pose of alleviating the distresses which are complained
of, that they do not deem it necessary to enter into
any examination of it, nor to lay it before the House.
Much aryour Committee lament that so little pro-
spect of immediate relief can be held out to the urgent
distresses which have been submitted to their anxious
consideration, they think it material to obviate and
counteract any unfounded alarm which may have
been, either casually or industriously, circulated, that
there was ever the least intention entertained by your
Committee, of rendering the present condition of the
British cultivators worse than it is under the existing
law ; and they therefore submit,with great confidence
to the House, that the Act of the 55th of the late
King, c. 26, which regulates the importation of
foreign corn, ought to continue in force until the
average price for wheat shall be 80s. per quarter, and
other kinds of grain in proportion.
It is impossible to carry protection further than
monopoly; and it cannot be denied that this monopoly
the British grower has possessed for more than three
years, that is, ever since February,lBl9, with the ex-
ception of the ill-timed and unnecessary importation
of somewhat more than 700s000 quarters of oats,
which took place during the summer of 1820. It
must be considered further, that this protection, in
consequence of the increased value of our currency,
and the present state of the supply of corn combined
with the prospect of an early harvest, may, in all
probability, remain uninterrupted for a very consi-
derable time to come.
But for the purpose of obviating the dangers in
which this law can hardly fail, sooner or later, to in-
volve the cultivators of the soil, and in conformity to
the reasoning contained in the Report of the Com-
mittee of the last Session upon the same subject, some
material change must be contemplated: your Com-
mittee, therefore, cannot avoid suggesting, whether,
under a full view of all the circumstances, it may not
be the duty of Parliament to turn its immediate at-
tention to the ruinous consequences which must follow
an unlimited importation and free sale of the surplus
produce of the 'whole agricultural world, which is
known at this time to be in a state of glut, at least
equal to what prevails wit Lin this kingdom, no less
impatient for, and unprovided with a market, with a
commodity raised at much less charge than our own,
which the proprietors would be ready to sell even at a
considerable loss, rather than not dispose of it at all.
The excessive inconvenience and impolicy of our
present system have been so fully treated, and so sa-
tisfactorily exposed in the Report already alluded to
(p. 10 and 12), that it is unnecessary to do more than
refer to it; adding only, that everything which has
happened subsequent to the presentation of that Re-
port, as well as all our experience since 1815, has
more and more tended/to .remonstrate how little re-'
liance can be placed upon a regulation which con-
tains an absolute prohibition up to a certain price,,
and an unlimited competition beyond that price;
which, so far from affording steadiness to our market,
may at one time reduce prices already too low still
lower than they might have been even under a free
trade, and, at another, unnecessarily enhance prices
already too high ; which tends to aggravate the evils
of scarcity, and render more severe the depression of
prices from abundance.
The mode in which these excessive inconveniences
may receive some modification (laying for the pre-
sent out of the question what permanent basis may
be ultimately the fittest for our corn trade) appears
to consist in the imposition of a duty upon all foreign
corn, whenever upon opening our ports it should be
admissible for home consumption. The occupier of
the land would thus obtain, in proportion to the
amount of such duty, a protection which is withheld
from him under the existing law ; but in return for
such protection, it is no more than reasonable to-
wards the consumer, that the import price should be
fixed at a rate somewhat lower than 80s. because the
new duty would otherwise not only check the sudden
and overwhelming amount of import, .but also en-
hance the price beyond that which it might reach un-
der the present system; nor must it'be lost sight of
in any future regulation, that owing to the great al-
teration in our currency, 80s. may and do now repre-
sent a different and much higher value than in 1815, as
measured by the price of all articles of consumption.
Should Parliament decide to legislate durink the
present Session, your Committee would recommend,
that, after our wheat shall have reached 80s. when-
ever circumstances, not now to be foreseen, may have
effected so great a change, a lower price may be as-
sumed for the future import, subject to a duty.
When the importers know that their grain can in
no case come into the market without paying a cer-
tain sum as duty, besides the charges of importation,
warehousing, and other incidental expenses, they will
be less red 4 to adventure rashly. than under an en-'
tirely free trade; they will also withdraw their corn
which may be lodged in warehouses gradually, and
with more circumspection, than they do at present,
and will naturally endeavour to feed the' market
rather than inundate it. It is now their interest to take
their whole stock, immense as it may be, at once from
under the King's lock; but when they must pay duty
for every quarter which is removed, they will pru-
dently calculate the time that any large stock may
' remain on hand before they can dispose of it to ad-
vantage. The foundation of any future Bill should
be the principle of so far modifying the operadas Of
the existing law, as to obviate, as far as may be, by
the imposition of reasonable dutiesi upon the admie-
sion of foreign grain for home consumption, the sad-


~. .s-.,..

preserve the import
somewhat lower tha-n the existing unport price
and your Committee are of opinion that 70s.
• ,
not be an improper limit to amp to that prim.. •
That a duty from lits. to 15;. should. beiropeur
upon foreign wheat for home consumption,'lWl do
price is from 70s. to 90s.
Also, that a duty of ss. should be imposed upon
'such wheat, when the price is from 80s. to 852. after
which the duty should be reduced to Is.
1 And that a further additional duty 01 52. should be
Imposed upon wheat imported or taken out of wares
house for home consumption, for the first three months
after the ports open, and when the price is from
7.05. to 8.55.
And for the purpose of rectifying the scale which
governs the import, the general proportion which the
price of oats bears to the price of wheat, appearing
to exceed the proportion which was assumed to exist,
Iwhen 275. was fixed as the import price of oats, your
'Committee suggest, that it would be expedient to in-
crease that price, so as to bear a more accurate pro-
portion to the price of wheat.
The scale at which barley is estimated appearing. to
be more correct than that of oats, the same proportion
which it now beats to wheat, appears fit to continue,
under any future alteration of the import prices.
The 6th, 70,8 th, and 9th clauses of the Act which
regulates the importation of corn, make provision for
admitting corn, meal, or flour, being the growth,
produce, or manufacture of any British colony or
plantation in North America, for home consumption;
when British wheat is at a lower price than 80s. with
regard to which colonies, it will be consistent with
good faith and sound policy to preserve the same re-
lative preference above foreign corn, in the event of
any future alteration being applied to the scale of
prices or of duties.
In compliance with an application made to them
by several of the owners of the foreign grain now
stored in warehouses, your Committee have already
recommended, that permission may be granted, under
sufficient and adequate regulations, to convert it into
flour, and export it in that shape, by which means
some pcktiott of this large stock will be carried out
of the kingdom, and remove all apprehension that
the quantities so ground down can ever enter into
competition with our home produce ; but in the event
of a large portion not being thus disposed of, and still
remaining in :tote, it appears practicable to adopt a
method which may render this remainder also advan-
tageous, rather than detrimental, in its effect upon
the value of British corn, whenever the average price
of our wheat shall have risen to 70s. and fluctuate
between 70s. and 80s. for if it be then allowed to be
taken out for home consumption, subject to a duty
401.172. per quarter, for the first three months, and
afterwards to a duty of 12s. the interest of the pro.
prietors of this grain will be brought strictly into
cannon with that of the British agriculturist, and into
Area hostility to that of all other importers of foreign
'stain ; so that every endeavour will be resorted to,
es their part, to advance the price to 70s. that they
may liberate their own stock ; but to keep it below
010 s. that they may exclude all foreign competitors.
The equitable claims which the holders of the grain,
already deposited under the Act of the 55th of the
late King, appear to possess, will thus be beneficially
preserved to them, and the danger of an immense in-
flux of foreign produce will be mitigated and de-
ferred, if not wholly prevented.
It must of course be left optional to the proprie-
tors in question, to avail themselves of this permis-
sion, or to abide by the conditions of the existing law,
under which they imported ; but in the first case, the
payment of a moderate duty will enable them, at an
early period, to enter a market over which they may
exercise some controls', conjointly with all the dealers
in British corn ; while in the other, they can hardly
expect to stem the torrent offoreign produce poured in
upon our existing supply, and the immediate depression
of value which must unavoidably accompany it.
If the circumstances of this country should here-
after allow the trade in corn to be permanently set.
tied upon a footing constantly open to all the world,
but subject to such a fixed and uniform duty as might
compensate to the British grower the difference of ex-
pense at which his corn can be raised and brought to
market, together with the fair rate of profit upon the
capital employed, compared with the expense of pro-
duction, and other charges attending corn grown and
imported from abroad, such a system would in many
respects be preferable to any modification of regula-
tions depending upon average prices, with an ascend-
ing and descending scale of duties; because it would
prevent the effects of combination and speculation, is'
endeavouring to raise or depress those averages, and
render immaterial those inaccuracies which, from ma-1
nagement or negligence, have occasionally produced,
and may again produce, such mischievous effigies'
upon our market : but your Committee. rather=loeik
forward to such a system as fit to be kept in view for
the ultimate tendency of our law, than as practicable
within any short or definite period.
A protecting duty which might at this day be
hardly sufficient to guard our home market-from the
most overwhelming competition, might, when din
ememire abundance on the Continent shall have bees
absorbed, operate against the real wants of this kingr
dom, and subject the. growers, as well as the consu-
mers, to the greatest inconveniences. Years of dearth
may again make it indispensable to have recourse to
foreign produce for a part of our supply, although.
in seasons of ordinary plenty it raay be hoped that
our own agriculture has been so improved and ex-
tended as to secure this kingdom from a state of de-
pendence upon other, and eventually hostile, territories
for the subsistence of its population.
Your Committee lave felt it their duty, for obvious
reasons, to lay without further delay before the House
the result of their deliberations; but they would con-
sider that they had omitted a most material of
the task imposed upon them, if they neglected to in-
quire into the present system upon which foreign
'corn is warehoused Your Committee ate now en-
gaged incarefully investigating this important subject,
ittid they will not fail to report the result to the House
as early as the nature of their inquiry will permit.
April t, 3122.

•

•

r.:4
~. • • ASSIZE& •
•
• KINGSTON (qURREY), Atlttt: t. -
praaapikillerit was indicted for usevalthilg Snail
iavey, 11.1 eldely woman, on 'tkit-kinies highways
puttimber in fear, and stealing from her person two
ehighielpid sixpence, at Egham, on the 17th of No.
vadher" It. The case ezeited cc ntidetalite interest‘
dielcirministantes of oistrage with which,the
alined robbery was attended:
It appeared in evidence that the-prosecutrix, a wei.
Sion far advanced in years, bad been attending the
- of her brother at *trines, on the day meat
' • in the indictment, and in theevening, between
dire and tie o'clock, was returning home to Egharat
She was overtaken by a. ruffian, %%hi), with a most
tremendous oath, demanded her money. The ever_
ing was dark, and the weather extremely wet. She
had a sixpence in her hand, which she intended to
lay out on her way home. The rsiffian seized hold
of her hand, and in his violence she fell into a deer
ditch. He then dragged her through a hedge into
an adjoining field, rifled her person, and treated her
with the most brutal cruelty, leaving her apparently
dead upon the ground. The ruffian left her, and
quitted the road, exclaiming to himself, "Lost, lost'."
Some persons passing on the road, heard the voice of
a person in distress, and called out, " What is the
matter?" The prisoner, who was close to the spot,
said he had lost his way, and was put into his court
by the passengers. Some hours afterwards, a wag-
goner going the same road, heard the voice of the
prosecutrix crying for help ; but the night being dark,
be could afford her no assistance; however, on his
arrival in Egham, he gave an alarm that there was
some unhappy female who had fallen into some peril.
Two men set off from Egham forthwith with lanterns,
and, after a search of some time, found the prosecu-
trix at two o'clock in the morning, drenched with
wet, and in a most deplorable state from the brutal
treatment she had received ; but after proper care
she was restored to self-possession. She said, upon
recovering, that she could swear to the voice of the
man by whom she had been assaulted. The prose-
cutrix, as to the fact of the robbery, was not distinct
in her evidence, and, under all the circumstances of
the case, theJnry, though there was sufficient evidence
of the prisoner's identity, found bim—Aot
On the motion of the Counsel for the prosecution,
the prisoner, however, was ordered to be detained
for the assault.
Jolla Matson Dolton was capitally indicted under
the Stat.lBth of Elizabeth, for violating the per-on
Matilda Atkinson, an infant under the age of 10 years.
Mr. RYLAND conducted the case for the prosecu-
tion, and in a short but very impressive
.speech de-
tailed the circumstances of the case to the Jury, wllich
were of the most atrocious nature.
The facts of the case were most fully proved by
the unfortunate child herself, and by several other
witnesses, who corroborated her in every important
point, but they were of a nature unfit to meet the
public eye.
The COMMON SERJEANT and Mr. PLATT appeared
for the prisoner, and called two witnesses, who de-
posed, that the poor child had, on two several occa-
sions, asserted that the injury complained of had'been
committed not by the prisoner, but by a brother of
her own, a lad of IS years old.
Mr. Baron WOOD summed up the case to the Jury

with great minuteness and impartiality, and they,
without hesitation, found the prisoner Guilty.
The Learned Judge immediately proceeded to pro-
nounce upon the prisoner the awful sentence of death,
holding out to him not the slightest hope that any
alleviation of the sentence would be extended to him.
He commented upon the peculiar atrocity of the pri-
soner's conduct, describing him as a monster unfit to
exist in a Chi istian country, and pathetically exhorted
him, by sincere repentance and fervent prayer, to
labour to make his peace with that justly offended
GOD before whom he must shortly appear.
The prisoner appeared quite unmoved during the
whole of his trial, and even when he quitted the dock.
The trial occupied the Court nearly five hours, and
excited the most intense interest.

BI RTHS.
Thursday, at Iruhop'sWaltham, the Lady of Samuel it H..-cys,
Esq of three See tonys,who,with the mother, are doing well.
Ftiday, la Whitehall place, Lady James Stuart, of a sti::.

31ABRIRD.

Saturday, John Savage, Esq. of the Middle Temple, barristet•
at-law, to Eliza, eldest daughter of the late Thomas l'atricklon,
Esq. of Bhckhsatb.
Saturday, at Flamatead, Frederick Franks, Esq. to Emily,
second daughter of Sir John Saunders Sebright, Bart.
Match 94 Charles C. Parks, Esq. of the Bengal Civil Service,
to Frances Susanna, daughter of W. Archer,Esq. of Lymington.
At Craigleith-house, the 48th inst. Andrew Tawse, Esq.
writer•to the signet, to Margaret, fourth daughter of the late
Alexander Brew, Esq. of Rath*.
At the Cathedral of St. Columb, Thomas Kennedy, En.
High Sheriff of the City and County of Londonderry, to Itliza.
beth Olivia Rosetta, youngest daughter of the late George Cary,
Esq. of White Castle, in the County of Donegal.
In Kendal, Jiolden Dunbabin, Esq. Lieutenant in the Hon.
East India Company's Military Service, Bombay, to Alice,
daughter of Mr. Thomas Knowles, Kendal

'T little prof
t tion with
1. I the marls
ill at oncef • nice',
•

. .
. .. .
, .
operitielt4l6ll iiiiSea tallatert of claim` diumaargra agiowerin which wah fTolspihiP
lel the utmost imvoratnoi_te _he beought . maylideosiatoadoteld yeas. lb, .4,1. ell&
Mtn distyi viherteetido piiiikiftiniloPirted I pot% dreataitaactatititarixteat with thii i"
e existing *kw, emit toppoeittr Oily duty and. ' .of the lair. • . ..
mposed by Parliament.. asidettati alteration For tarrying this purpose lota' Wet, it *Mid be C
avr, upon all corn hereafter to be imported expedient; silk* the ports shall have opened at 110 s. pi
!ign parts. (subject to a scale of duty hereafter to be final) to st
-L- ••--1.., ham .166th thaw. ;motive. preserve the principle ofon import price at a rate T 4
. . .
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