The Statesman.
London, England, 1818-08-20 00:00:00

• SALT DUTIES.
PARLIAMENTARY PAPERS.

REPOItT.
The Select Committee appointed to take into con•
sideratinn the Laws relating to.the Salt Defies,
and the means of remedying the inconveniences
arising therefrom, and to Report thereon, with
• their obsertationi and opinions, to the (loose, to.
gelher with the Minutes of the Evidence taken be.
fore them ; have proceeded to esamine and eon-
- .eider the same. together with the Petitions. Re.
• ports, and other Papers, referred to them by the
House.
Your Consailttee, have in the first instance, directed
their attention to the Reports of the Committee up- 1.,
pointed for the same purposes in 1801, as VI ell as to
that of the Committee appointed in the la's Session to
enquire into the 04P of sock-salt in the fisheries, and
' to the evidence still• int! to their respective Reports;
and finding that they have gone very fully into what
relates to the manufacture of salt and the use of it in
fisheries, your Committee have thought it less ma.
terial to call for much further information on those
two subjects ; and as the ohjections stated against
the Salt Li es arises rather from the caressive amount
of the Duties, and the severe penalties, forfeitures,
and rest rirtions. s hich have been deemed riecessary to
collect them, than from PM misconduct in those ap-
pointed to carry them into execution ; and Rs it ap.
pears, by the evidence of the S. liettor of the &rise,
and by the account whi. It he 1144 delivered in to the
Committee, that (except-in case` of •ummnty con•
.
victions) few informations for penalties In respect of
salt have bees' prose used to judgment in the Exche-
I that many of them have been compromised after
the suits %sere iiiclif 0011 the greatest part before
_any legal rocess had tieen commenced upon this sub-
ject ; they have directed their attention to the means!
of removing aeliPrul nicoriventences by any prectica-1
We measures which may he found consistent with the
secure collection of the Public Revenue.
The attention of the Committee of 1801 was di.'
reeled to the entire repeal of the Salt Duties, by the
substitution of a stew tea adequate in produce to the
Silt Duties, sod less ohjectionahle in its principle
and operation, and they submitted to the judgment
of the House their opinion, " that a commutation of
the Duties on Salt ss nuld he productive of many great
and important advantages to all descriptions t.f per•
cons in this kingdom, and would he highly hen. fi,ial
to its agriculture, fistieriea, tenth.. and manufact6reS
The late period .4 the Sp•Sirm at shirts that Com.
mittee had beets appointed ns.de it s.ecessary to
ponw the consideration the subject to the next Ses-
sion ; *l'Po% a very short peAce. s..cceeded a long
and expensive war, opecried to defe. till the pre-
sent time this cnnsiderati n f this important subject.
Your Comniittr-e have therefore thought it their
rhos to ..tideasour to a•certaiti how far the lerile.
Tel,iellee9 of the last L.A. are capable of allevia ion,
and tilow far thc3 h so beets .diex,eted tv) any measures
adopted since tilt- 11. pot t r f .1“oe 1801, and the stag-
' mentatiott of the Dude, to 1805; and whether it mav
rut be practicable, I.y a reduction of the Salt
Holies ac would do away ever), 1011%P(IIMPIlt that now
exists against the use of salt in agriculture, fisheries,
and manufactures, to remove the present irresistible
temptation to theft, smuggling, and fraudulent 'mi.
firm

To Great Britain, as a naval and commercial
Power, your Committee consider the home fisheries
to be of the greatest importance, as (independently
of the additional demand for labour and means of
tohsistence, and other advaniages which the% afford)
supplying the best and most economical moan% of
manning the British nays in time of war, and of giv-
ing occupation and subsistence' to our disbanded
sailors in time of 'peace. Your Committee do there-
fore regret to find, no reference to the Staute-hooks,
that no mats-dal amelioration of the Salt 1..0w% that
relate to the fisheries has been obtained since the Re.
pert of 1801, while the duties hasp been raised from
201. to 301. s ton, *Oh the exception of permission
to use rock salt, the full benefit of which cannot he
yet ascertained ; but on the other band, by a pr-vi-
sion in the Act of last year, h% which that permission
was give'', the pe►il of c:rrying sal► coast wise was in
some degree aggravated by milting the mater of the
•sestet liable to all deficiencies above one r.Pf
.*,,less he can•show the leak or boats h% which they
bevy been occasioned in tne tatistacrion of the officer:
this, which forms one of the most prominent sulijocts
of complaint amongst those concerned in the fisheries,
your Committee are of opinion, might alquit of a de-
gree of relegation sufficient to afford the means of,
g.ving relief in most cases where the deficiency had
arisen from accidental and unavoidable causes in the
fair conveyance of the article (rota one part to an.,
other.
With respect to many other alleged grievances and
Inconveniences now subsisting, or which have sub-
sisted since the year 1805 (in which period 'both the
fisheries, and the number of those engaged in the
trade of fish curing, have been considerably in.
creased), your Committee have the satisfaction to
believe, that in some instances they may he substan-
tially removed, and in others in a great degree alle-
viated, without any material danger to the safety of
the Revenue; end it appears to your Committee,
that as far as this can be effected, it is desirable it
should be done in the particulars of •the amount of
securities, the number of sureties, and the penalties
to which they are subjected, the delivery of salt, the
affording salt to the fishermen on the coast, the al-
lowing an increased facility in the cancelling of
bonds, and other minor points *bid% might be enu-
.merated.

Your Committee hue examined the parties who
ifpgwed Au fgepost gr spell! of ike,PotiOoossia
tie .;,..13 1i tl?.! . • •••1',E)4410191101 •

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