The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1842-03-18 00:00:00

FRIDAY MORNING, MARCH 18, 1842

We intimated in our last our disapproval of that
portion of Sir Robert Peel's new tariff which proposes
a duty of 4s. per ton upon the export of coals, whe-
ther shipped in British or in foreign bottoms; and a
more mature consideration of the subject has only
served to strengthen us in the opinion then expressed.
We are not at all satisfied that such a duty would be
productive of material advantage to the British manu-
facturer ; whilst we are perfectly convinced that it
would inflict a heavy blow upon our SHIPPING and
our MINING interests.

With respect to the bearing of the question upon
manufactures we must confess that we have not before
us the means of drawing an accurate conclusion. We
admit fully the impolicy of placing in the hands of
manufacturing rivals so important an advantage as a
supply of cheap fuel; and it would strengthen this as
an argument in favour of the proposed export duty if
it could be shown to 14S that any great proportion of
our present exports of coal is shipped to countries
whose rivalry we have serious cause to dread. We
believe, however, that this is not the case. Our ex-
ports in 1840 to Belgium and Germany (if we may
take the authority of Mr. Hodgson Hinde, a represen-
tative of the mining and shipping interests of New-
castle-upon-Tyne) were only 187,000 tons, whilst the
exports to all countries exceeded 1,300,000 tons ; and
even presuming that an authentic return would prove
that a larger proportion of our total shipments of coal
is taken by manufacturing countries and for manufac-
turing purposes, we do not think that upon an article
of such bulk it is necessary to carry the principle of
protection further than that already afforded to the
manufacturing interest by the additional freight which
the foreigner must pay.

So tar as our mining interests are concerned, it ml-
not be. denied that if the effect of a duty of 4s. would
be to reduce the export to a serious extent, the result
to them would be very disastrous. At present the fo-
reign demand takes off annually one-sixth of the en-
tire produce of our colleries. In 1839 the quantity of
coals raised in Great Britain and Ireland was estimated
at 7,223,013 tons, of which 1,449,417 were exported.
This trade has almost entirely grown up since the re-
laxation of the duty by the treaties of reciprocity with
foreign countries. In some parts of the kingdom vast
mining capitals have been embarked almost exclusively
in the raising of coal for the foreign market ; and the
closing of those markets, which we are confident will
be the effect of attempting to impose an export duty
upon the article, must bring with it vast injury to those
whose capital has thus been embarked, and to the
masses of population to whom it affords employ-
ment.

As it affects our shipping interest, however, it is that
our principal objection exists against this tax. The
transport of coal to foreign markets from the northern
ports of England employs a large quantity of ship-
ping. From the ports of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Sun-
derland, and Stockton alone, above a million tons are
annually exported ; and, to the class of vessels thus
employed, this trade furnishes the only source by
which a freight to the ports of Europe, from which we
draw the hulk of our heavy imports—as tallow, flax,
timber, corn, &c.—can be secured. At present, even,
the rate of freight which it affords is not of itself a
remunerative one, a cargo of coals being regarded by
the shipowner as only preferable to going out in bal-
last. Insomuch, however, as it contributes to defray
the charges of the outward voyage, and, consequently,
lightens the cost of importation of some of the most
bulky of our foreign commodities, this export is one
which is of peculiar value to the shipping interest and
the community as well ; and we confidently believe
that any discouragement offered to it (and a tax of 4s.
per ton will put a stop to it almost entirely) will be felt
as a very serious impediment to the employment of
British vessels in our carrying trade to and from the
ports of Europe.

Upon the shipping of Liverpool the tax in question
will press in a peculiar manner. The bulk of the coal
exported from this port is shipped in our large vessels
employed in the trade with Canada, the United States,
&c., at freights which barely cover our port charges,
and, in fact, as ballast rather than as a profitable car-
go. Our emigrant vessels load almost exclusively with
this article or with salt ; and those vessels even which
can procure regular cargoes of merchandise are com-
pelled to take from 50 to 150 tons of coals, or some-
thing similar (which is not always to be had) as dun-
nage freight. In this way we shipped from this port,
in 1839, principally to our own colonies, 103,639 tons ;
and we have no doubt, although later returns are not
within our reach, that the export has increased during
the last two years. So far as this trade from our own
port is concerned, we have no hesitation in saying that
the bulk of it will cease entirely upon the imposition of
an export duty of 4s. per ton upon, the article.

We do trust that a reconsideration of the whole sub-
ject, and the remonstrances which, we doubt not, will
be made from the northern ports of England, whom it
chiefly affects, will induce Sir Robert Peel to withdraw
this injurious duty. We are confident that it cannot
materially benefit manufacturing industry; we are
equally confident that it will not produce one-fourth of
the revenue anticipated from it; on the other hand it
must be productive of manifold injury to two impor-
tant national interests—our mining and our shipping
interests; and we do, therefore, trust that it will not be
persevered in by a government whose general policy is
especially directed to promote and strengthen the com-
mercial greatness of the empire, of which the prospe-
rity of these two interests constitute no unimportant
element.

We are compelled to notice the strong opinion which
exists on the part of an influential portion of the trade,
with respect to the policy of the reduction of the tim-
ber duties proposed by Sir Robert Peel. It is urged,
and by gentlemen with whom we are not often found
differing, that the effect of admitting the timber of the
Baltic at a duty of 30s. and 355. will inflict a heavy
blow upon the trade from our own colonial posses-
sions; that it will seriously injure the British shipping
which is now engaged in that trade; whilst, the timber
of Europe being chiefly imported in foreign bottoms,
the increase in the supply from the ports of the Baltic
will furnish to British shipowners no corresponding
increase in the profits of the transit from those ports
to the united kingdom. It is argued too that the re-
duction of the duty upon Canadian timber will operate
very seriously upon the interests of those merchants
who, at the present moment, we admit, hold unusually
large stocks, upon most of which the existing duty has
already been paid, and who are therefore called upon
to place those stocks in competition in the market, not
only with Baltic timber at the reduced duty, but also