The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1843-03-24 00:00:00

OR RATION

of it RtVt7 *Crow DIE
PRIG or PROVISIONS,

The parti2ans of the Anti-Corn-Law faction, when the
modification of the import duties was taken out of their
bungling fingers, maintained loudly that, from such a mea-
sure, no material alleviation of the condition of the con-
suming classes could result. And when the existing tariff
measure had been brought forward and passed—a measure of
infinitely more extended scope than any of which they could
have dreamed, in their wildest moments—it was sneered at
by these sages as a mere surface operation, wholly inade-
quate to produce any sensible lowering of prices. 'We had
been told at former periods, it is true, of the cheap beef and
pork of other countries—of beef and pork which could be
imported at lid. to 2d. per lb., whilst the same articles, of
English growth, were at 6d. to Bd. ; but when they were met
upon this ground,—when the articles were imported and
brought at a low duty into the British markets,—it was all
at once discovered that they were unfit for consumption, and
that the grand specific for the national suffering lay in cheap
bread alone. The tariff was styled an inoperative measure.
It had " unsettled everything and settled nothing ;" and,
worst of all, it had brought no " cheap food" to the working
man's table. Let us see however whether this is true. Let
us examine how far the tariff has conferred the boon of

cheapness upon the consuming classes.
But, first, have we obtained this boon, and to what extent
are the provisions of the people cheapened? We will not
refer to articles such as foreign fruits, rice, coffee, &c., of
which the cost is composed mainly of the duty levied—(for
none can deny that these have been cheapened, or the amount
of comfort derivable from their reduced price)—but proceed
at once to the staple, butcher's meat. The price of beef,
then, in the London retail market, is at present to families,
about 6d. a lb. for all joints, coarse and fine together, of
prime meat. There is a saving here, we maintain, over the
prices of this season last year, of a Id. to 1;d. per lb. The
retail market, we must premise, we take for this reason. A
large proportion of the supply, now, is brought coastwise in
a ready killed state, and comes at once into the market for
consumption, the prices at Smithfield being thus—for infe-
rior meats especially—less sensibly affected than the carcase
and retail markets. The price of mutton has sustained an
equal fall. Wether legs of mutton may be bought at New-
gate and other markets at 51d. to 6d. per lb., and other
joints in proportion ; whilst mutton, of less first-rate descrip-
tion, but such as is bought by the working classes may be
had a full penny a pound, or more than that, lower. Pork
has sustained a similar reduction; and it may be said, with
justice we believe, that butcher's meat, generally, is at the
least 25 to 33 per cent. below the prices of last year. So
much, then, for the metropolis.

The same state of things may be noted in all the great
meat markets throughout the country. In three weeks, we
are told, the Irish markets have fallen 9s. per cwt., or nearly
Id. per pound, in addition to previous reductions. Pork was
selling in Dublin last week at 3d per lb! In Liverpool and
Manchester the fall, since last spring, has been 20 to 30 per
cent.,—in the former place even more. And this, it must be
borne in mind, has taken place, not because of any favouring
circumstances enabling the native breeder and grazier to feed
more cheaply, but the reverse; for the last season's fodder
was far from being an extraordinary crop—the hay harvest
being, in many places, almost an utter failure—and the stock
of cattle of all deseriptions being a deficient one. The farmer
must, by the result of his operations in feeding, have been a
heavy sufferer, and the consumer, indisputably, has been the
sole party benefitted.
We are told, however, by the free traders that it is the
inability of the working classes to consume largely which has
caused the reduced prices of food, and not the tariff. In
reply, however, we may urge that the condition of the work-
ing classes is improving, whilst the price of consumable ar-
ticles is falling weekly. The manufacturing population is
better employed now than at this period last year; and yet
prices have fallen 25 to 30 per cent. in those districts. The
price of the working man's staple, too—bread—is full 30 per

cent. cneaper now than it was then ; and, according to every
theory laid down by the free trader, he ought to consume
more largely of other articles of food, and must do so,—if
his wages have not been reduced to the level of the prices of
both ! Even reduction of wages however, admitting that it
has taken place, and knowing that it will take place as food
cheapens, cannot have caused an " aggregate decrease in the
amount" paid to the working classes, and available for the
purchase of food ; for we believe the amount of employment
to be sufficiently large now, as compared with last year, to
more than compensate for the reduction of the rate to indi-
vidual workmen.

With respect, ellen, to this alleged decreased consumption
of food we incline to think that the very contrary is the fact ;
that the working classes consume now more beef and pork
and mutton, in proportion to their bread, than formerly ;
and hence the otherwise unaccountable depreciation of our
corn markets. The poor man, it is well known, consumes
more bread than the affluent. The loaf is the ready meal for
one who has but sixpence or a shilling to expend. But place
fresh meat and potatoes within his reach, and consumption
of bread stuffs must decline. The cheapness of one article
will cheapen another. The shop of the butcher will com-
pete with the shop of the baker. Such must be the case at
the present moment ; for whereas we can see nothing in the
abundance of the late harvest—which was, after all. little
more than an average one—or, in the quantity of foreign corn
released, and no prospect of an early great importation
under the existing scale, to account for the decline of prices
in every corn market throughout the kingdom, we can see
abundant grounds in the reduced and reducing prices of
butcher's meat for the falling price of the great staple corn.
The fact appears to us clear that the supply of cheap, and the
prospect of still cheaper, animal food have arrested the aver-
age consumption of bread stuffs.
The tariff, we maintain, affords every reasonable expecta-
tion of a continued fall in the price of butcher's meat ; and
we are satisfied that to the operation of that measure is to be
attributed the decline thus far. We do not refer to the im-
portation of live cattle ; for years must elapse before any
material effect upon our markets can be produced from this
source. But from the improvement in the preparation of
American and Canadian pork and beef, vast effects may be
anticipated. The importations of last year, we admit, were
very inferior in quality, and unsuited to English consump-
tion. Much of it was old stock, and all too highly salted,
having, in fact, been cured when these articles, " slightly
salted," were prohibited. The importations of the present
season are, we understand, of a much changed description ;
and, when it is borne in mind that at the Canadian duty of
2s. per cwt. the article can be profitably retailed at 3d. per
lb., there is little doubt of both foreign corned beef and pork
becoming staples of the consumption of the working classes.
That such is the impression amongst the graziers and pro-
vision houses in Ireland very recent advice assures us ; and,
if this be admitted, why need we wander further than the
tariff as the cause of that reduced price at which provisions
of every description are now afforded us. Admitting that
the foreign article is inferior in quality—an admission, as
applied to American pork, which can scarcely be safely
made—yet its extensive importation and consumption must
affect the sale of our own inferior meats, and hence operate
upon the price of our best. Besides, it must be borne in
mind that every article available for food—and there are
many besides flesh meat cheapened by the tariff—must affect
the demand for and consequent price of the remainder. At
all events, we are confident that, taken as a whole, this mea-
sure has fully redeemed the predictions of its authors, that it
would save the consumer the amount exactedfrom him by the
income tax ; and if it be objected again that it has not pro-
duced, at once, the revival of commercial prosperity, what
can this objection, if true even, establish more than the fact
hat free trade in provisions and cheap food are not the in-
allible for the national distress which they were so
audly declared to be !

EDUCATION, SCIENCE, AND ART.—By a statement just
laid upon the table of the House of Commons of the estimates
for 1843-4, for the purposes of education, science, and art,
it appeared that there will be required for public education in
Great Britain, £50,000; ditto in Ireland, £50,000; schools
of design, £4,411 ; Professors at Oxford and Cambridge,
£2,006 ' • University of London, £5,148 • Universities, &c.,
in Scotland, £7,380; Roman Catholic College in Scotland,
£8,928 ; Royal Irish Academy, £300; Royal Hibernian Aca-
demy, £300; Royal Dublin Society, £5,600; Belfast Aca-
demical Society, £1,950 ; British Museum Establishment,
&c., £32,576; ditto buildings, £37,485; ditto purchases,
£5,275 ; National Gallery, purchase of pictures and expense
of the Gallery, £1,600 • Museum of Economic Geology,
£2,008 ; and Scientific Works and Experiments, £4,000;—
the total for the year 1843-4 is £210,889. In the expense,
therefore, of 1843, as compared with 1841, there will be an
. .

nerease Of 1:6,443, and as Compared with 1842, of £8,078.
SINGULAR ROBBERY.—At Worship-street (London) Po

lice-office, on Monday, a man of very gentlemanly appear-
ance, about 30 years of age, named William Alexander
Grint, and who was stated to be the son of an officer in the
royal navy, was brought up before the magistrate, charged on
suspicion of stealing a quantity of plate, the property of Lady
Anne Playter. A son-in-law of the prosecutrix stated that
the prisoner was of highly respectable connections, and had
dined at Lady Playter's with him and a party of gentlemen
on the Sunday week previous. A servant in her ladyship's
establishment stated that on the 6th instant the prisoner
knocked at the ball door about 8 o'clock, and witness ad-
mitted him. He said he had brought a note from Mr.
Squires, in the neighbourhood, and asked her when her mis-
tress would be up, and she told him at 9 o'clock. She asked

him if he intended to stop to breakfast, and he replied in the
negative, as he had ordered it at an inn, where he was staying.

`Witness showed him into the parlour, and, after a short con-
versation, the prisoner pulled her mistress's work-box about,
and turned all the things over. She told him not to do so,
as her mistress would be angry, but he treated it as a joke,
and she quitted the room, leaving. the prisoner there. Pre-
vious to admitting the prisoner she had set the breakfast
things, and the usual articles of plate were on the table.
Shortly afterwards another servant told her the fire in the
parlour was nearly out, and on going into the room she
_ .

found the prisoner had left the house. The salt had been
emptied out of the silver saltcellars into the fire, and the
silver teapot, the saltcellars, five silver teaspoons, several
gravyspoons, and a great many other valuable articles had
been stolen. She was not at first alarmed on missing the
plate, as she thought the prisoner had put it away and hid-
den himself; but, finding such was not the case, she became
very frightened, and informed Mr. Watson. On the pri-
soner entering the parlour, he at once lit Mr. Watson's
rneersehaum pipe, and was smoking it when witness left the
room. No other person had entered the parlour but the pri-
soner, and she was d convince no one but him could have
taken the property. The prisoner had taken off his own
boots, which were very indifferent
nife a ones, and had put on al
good pair. He also took a penknd a case of surgica
instruments. Lady Playter was so deeply affected in having
to press the charge, that she could not give her evidence.
The prisoner was remanded for a week.