The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1851-03-18 00:00:00

v on fore

The writer, who, we repeat, is a very
intelligent authority, assures us that such a duty
may be levied, " without injuring America one
dollar, or in any way lessening the quantity of
breadstuffs which she will send us."

gn grain will se

ously diminish im-

portation

OUR free-trade organs are becoming more and
more puzzled to account for the present low prices
of grain. This fact we are little disposed to wonder
at. Charlatans, who assume the prophetic vein,
are liable to make sad mistakes; and the advocates
of our present suicidal policy have been particularly
It is tolerably safe to prophecy an
h is to take place a couple of hundred
hut the prophet is little worse than a
in° draws short-dated bills upon futurity.
'as for both drawer and
zptor, if the return is one of "no assets !" The
mchester Guardian has made himself conspicuous
ongst the would-be-wise of his party; and has
I the farmers of England, some scores of times,
prices they might be assured of getting for
luce, so soon as the world should reach
of delusion which would
the rather material fact
that there are more sellers than buyers. And our
contemporary has accordingly been for months
past explaining away at a most awful rate, racking
his own brains, and devouring blue hooks and
" cooked" statistics, in the hope of getting out of
the sad dilemma in which experience has placed
him, and of sheaving to all mankind that his pro-
phetic assurances would have been all right but for
—a sad derangement of the world's affairs, unnoted
amongst the speculations of the political econo-
mists. On Wednesday last he devoted a good
column to the aforesaid " explaining away" style of
argument, in reply to which we shall take the
liberty of offering a few facts.
First of all, however, we must quote our contem-
porary's premises. He says :
" The continued decline in the prices of all descriptions
Of grain, not only in this country but on, the continent,

unfortunate

!vent v

hence

l'hey come due

and, al

that comfortable state
enable them to overlook

engages the earnest attention of statesmen and public
writers, as a problem not only of great importance, but of
considerable difficulty." . .

A tolerably fair admission; but as to there being
any problem in the case, we believe that the prices
of grain are just about where every sensible man
expected they would be. Either we were to have
cheap bread, or we were not. The League•said
that we should have " a big loaf"—the bigger the
better. We have got it; and certainly League
journalists ought not to be treating such a fact as
"a problem," only to be solved with " considerable
difficulty." But to proceed :
" That the price should be low in England surprises
nobody, because the abolition of the corn law seems to
account for the fact : but then, how comes it that, in
those countries from which our supplies of foreign grain
are derived, and where an English demand, in addition
to that which previously existed, ought rather to have
raised prices, there is also an unexampled depression 7"
The conclusion which our contemporary draws
from this is, that we ought to look forward to the
" inevitable approach" of " a general scarcity,
which will follow the depressed state of the grain
markets with as much certainty as night follows
day." Lest his readers should be very greatly
alarmed at this awful prospect, we beg to inform
the Guardian that the " unexampled depression"
of which he speaks is a mere phantom of his own
brain. Prices are not lower in any of the principal
markets of the world, than they were before free
trade was established. Five years ago, and for
many years previously, the winter contracts for
wheat at the northern ports of Europe were made
at prices ranging from 265. to 28s. per quarter,
free on board. This winter and spring buyers have
been paying 325. to 335. per quarter in these ports;
and thus, whilst importers have lost heavily, the
foreigner has been able to pocket from ss. to 6s.
extra price, as the result of our markets being
opened to him. When this extra price shall be
got rid of, which event will take place only when
the average price of wheat in this country ap-
proaches to 30s. per quarter, the agriculturist of
the north of Europe may possibly begin, as sug-
gested by the Guardian, to think about devoting
his land to the growth of some other description
of produce. We have, however, according to our
contemporary, scarcity to fear, instead of low
prices :
" What may be the amount of stocks on hand in this
country at the present time, we have not the slightest
information ; but, judging from the general disinclination
of all classes of persons,—whether farmers, dealers, or
speculators,—to keep stocks of grain, on account of the
long-continued decline of prices, we fear it will be found.
—in case the late extraordinary and unseasonable winter
all over Europe should be succeeded by an equally un-
seasonable summer,—that stocks are, not only in this
country but elsewhere, dangerously low ; and a few weeks
of wet and cold weather next July and August may sud-
denly convert the present apparent abundance and unex-
ampled cheapness into scarcity and dearth.
" Of course it is by no means certain that any such
results will be experienced during the present year.
Favourable weather and a fourth good harvest all over
the continent may, to a great extent, counteract the un-
questionable tendency of the present low prices ; but,
sooner or later, those prices will involve us, and the people
of Europe generally, in very serious consequences."

" Disinclination of all classes of persons to keep
stocks of grain"! Why, it is notorious that the
warehouses of every port in the kingdom are
crammed full of foreign grain and flour, the stock
of which is augmenting every day. From the
.

Mediterranean alime, we'find, from the circular of
an eminent firm in Mark-lane, that in the week
ended 28th February 70 cargoes arrived off our
coasts, and in the week following we had 109
cargoes reported from the same quarter; and this
is notwithstanding the fact, that, as stated in the
circular of Messrs. Sturge of the sth instant,
" both the Danube and the port of Odessa had
been closed with ice since the second week in
January, with no immediate prospect of opening."
The imports into Liverpool alone, during the week
ended the 10th instant, comprised 26,425 quarters
of wheat from Europe, &c., and 6341 sacks of flour.
From the United States, during the same period,
we received 56,610 barrels of flour. The stocks
on hand throughout the Continent are not at all
" dangerously low," as represented by our contem-
porary. There are still ample supplies left for us
in the north of Europe, and the Mediterranean has
still a fair quantity to offer. In the port of Odessa
alone we find, from the yearly circular of Messrs.
J. Zuckerbecker and Co., the stock on hand on
the 24th of January was 615,400 chetworts of
wheat, against 365.000 in 1849, 605,000 in 1848,
and 594,000 in 1847. In 1846 the accumulated
stocks, waiting no doubt for the opening of our
markets, amounted to 798,000 chetworts. And it
must be borne in mind that the increased stock
this year, which is over one-third of the entire
exports of 1850 and 1849 respectively, is not attri
butable to the last year having been one of the
four years of good harvests mentioned by our
contemporary. On this point we quote from the
same authority :

" WHEAT.—the quantity imported of this article during
the past year has been smaller by 170,000 chetwerts than
in 1849, and by 1,200,000 chetwerts in 1847. The reason
of this diminution is partly to be found in the low range
of prices abroad and the consequently increasing demand
from thence, and partly in the failures of our crops,
which have given rise to many complaints, especially from
' Poland • the reports from other- districts, however, parti-
cularly from Bessarabia, are favorable in almost every
point; and taking into consideration that our present
stocks are comparatively larger than at this time during
the last three years, and that further supplies, much
favoured by the present dry weather, will reach us, we
feel induced to anticipate a further decline in prices,
unless an impulse is given to the trade by an increased
demand from abroad."
We beg to direct particular attention to the
concluding lines of the above paragraph. They
rather upset Mr. Cobden's notions of a " natural
price" for wheat. The rates in the Mediterranean
countries are obviously regulated by the " demand
from abroad."

We beg to assure the Guardian that he need not
entertain the slightest fears of an approaching
scarcity of grain, as the result of present prices.
They pay the foreign grower very well. Further
reduction of prices however he may look foward to
as the result of an abundant harvest in this coun-
try, aided by foreign supplies. Last year, as any
intelligent factor will assure him, the harvest in
this kingdom was a deficient one. The yield in
the eastern counties of England was not much
above a third of an average crop. Yet we have
wheat at 365. per quarter. With a full crop 30s.
would have been nearer the mark. We may re-
mind him also that the present unexpected low
prices may in part he accounted for by the blun-
dering of our free-trade statisticians. For example,
the great authority, Mr. M'Culloch assured us that
"the charges attending the importation of Odessa
wheat to England, including insurance, &c., would
amount to from 15s. to 16s. per quarter." Of this
he puts down 12s. per quarter for freight alone.
We beg to hand him a statement of the freights
paid at Odessa last year :
......

5/ to —,

per quarter,

Februt
March
April .
May .
June .
July .
August
September
October .
November.... .... 5/ to 7/
December.... n .... 7/ to
The charges, for which we undertake to find an
influential firm to undertake the landing, &c., of
wheat in Liverpool are :
Insurance from 15s. to 60s. per cent.
or say per quarter ...
Duty
Dock and Town-dues
Landing charges

67 to 7/
61/ to 8/
61/ to 8/
61/ to 9/
7_l/ to 9/

74/ to 9/
6/ to 7

2s. 10d

Brokerage for selling is of course charged upon
British as well as Foreign and therefore need not
be considered. We have therefore Mr.
loch's 15s. or 16s. of protection in the shape of
freight and charges, reduced to an average of about
9s. 6d. ; and the price of foreign grain in the mar-
kets of Great Britain will, therefore, be 6s. below
the calculations of that ingenious. gentleman.

LARGE CARGO.—The ship Tempest, Captain Patten,
cloared at the Custom-house yesterday, for Liverpool,
having on hoard 3.504 bales Upland cotton, weighing
1,513,388 lhs., and valued at 193,146 dollars.—Savannah
Republic, Feb. 28.
BRITISH CONSULAR FEES ABROAD.—W 3 understand
that the heavy charges made by British Consuls abroad,
has become the subject of inquiry by a sub-committee of
the Shipowners' Association of this port, lately appointed
to inquire into the burthens and restrictions affecting
British shipping, and that strong efforts will be made to
procure the total abolition of fees taken by British Con-
suls, and to remunerate them by fixed salaries in lieu
thereof. At all events, it is hoped that the strong facts
which will be brought before the Government will induce
them to see the propriety of greatly reducing the amount
of the fees. We would suggest to any of our mercantile
friends who have suffered from this grievance, to lose no
time in bringing their cases below the Shipowners' Asso.
ciation.