The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1847-09-21 00:00:00

Flour equivalent in grain

558,163

Total grain from sth June to sth Sept. 4,331,517
Same period in 1846 .. .. 3,849,689

Excess in 1847 .. qrs. 481,828
Our contemporary argues from this as follows :
" Thus showing that the supplies available for the consump-
tion during the last three months have, notwithstanding their
extraordinary extent, beeq only 481,828 qrs. more than in the
same period last year. And when we take into account the
much smaller amount of home-grown grain, vhich we have
already shown has been brought to market during that period
in the present year than in 1846—(which cannot be less, accord-
ing to the Gazette returns, than 2,000,000 qrs.)—it would fol-
low that a much larger portion of the supplies of the present
year has already gone into consumption than had done so at
the same date in 1546."

We submit, however, that fairer data than the imports
of the three months only in each year may be taken ;
the argument as to the consumption of home-grown corn,
deduced from the Gazelle returns, we throw over board
altogether.
In the absence of any official data, from which to ar-
rive at the stock of foreign in hand, in June this year, the
Economist refers to the imports of the whole year, which
were—

First five months to June sth, Grain
of all kinds 3,286,702 qrs.
Last three months, June to Sept. sth
of all kinds 3 772 354
• • • • • • PP
cwts.
First five mon the Flour, &c. 2,627,107
Last three ditto ditto 1,953,571

Total cwts. Flour, &c. 4,580,678
The equivalent in Grain being .. 1,308,765

Total as Grain in qrs. .. 8,367,821
Now, with the facts before us, first that, during the
agitation for tie Repeal of the Corn Laws, which was
going on in the first five months of 1846, a minimum
quantity of foreign grain was released for consumption;
and secondly, that on the sth of January, 1847, there
would be a stock of foreign in warehouse, at the ports
and in the country, probably equal to the quantity so re-
leased from bond in the five months of 1846, we are
entitled to set the total imports of 1847 against the stock
in bond on the sth June 1846, and the imports to sth
of September.
The account will then stand thus :
Total imports to Sept. sth, 1847 in qrs. 8,367,821
Stock of grain in bond 6th June,
1846, and imported to sth Sept.,
in quarters.. 3,104,000

Flour and meal in and imported
same dates, in quarters grain 745,689
Total supply to sth Sept. 1846
Excess available for consumption in
Sept. 1847, over supply of pre-
vious year, in quarters 4,518,132
The only further statistical data furnished us by our
contemporary, bearing upon the question at issue—our
prospects in the coming year—consist of a return of the
imports from Sept. 1846 to the end of the year, which
amounted to a total quantity of 1,738,100 qrs. of grain.
He leaves us to form our own conclusion as to the proba-
bility of our receiving an equal quantity this year. This,
however, as depending upon the early setting in of the
winter and other accidental causes, is not a material ques-
tion to decide, and can only affect us temporarily.
We have given with as much fairness -as we have been
able, the data from which the Economist arrives at his
conclusion that they do not justify what he terms " the
panic" which has so reduced prices from their highest
point in June. We conceive that they are quite sufficient
to justify an anticipation of much lower prices in the year
which is before us, taking into consideration the changed
position of this country and of Europe generally, to-
gether with other correlative circumstances. In the first
instance, it will be seen that we have received, in the first
eight months of the present year, a supply of foreign
grain—the immense amount of 8,367,829 quarters—not-
withstanding the fact that the principal grain countries of
Europe were equally suffering with ourselves from the re-
sult of a deficient harvest and the partial failure of the
potato crop. We have re-exported largely to France and
other countries, and had Ireland almost entirely on our
hands to support Yet, by the aid of a timely harvest,
instead of a late one, which was calculated upon, we have
been enabled to steer through our difficulties triumphantly,
and our stock has been so far ample for all our wants that
the price of wheat, which, in the first week in June,
was 995. 10d. per quarter, reached 565. Bd. on the first of
the current month of September. If we could draw from
foreign countries last year the amount of 8,367,821 quar-
ters, what must be their surplus in the year which is before
us ? In the first instance, we turn to the United States.
This year that country teems with abundance, and is said
to have nearly doubled her cultivation of bread-stuffs,