The Statesman.
London, England, 1822-04-03 00:00:00

• • THFM'ATI

the House.
Considered that among all the i:nportant objects re-
ferred to then, none could be mere d -serving of their
earliest attention than an inquiry into any measures that
could be suggested for affording some temp •rary relief
to the distresses, of which the num..rous Petitioners
with so much reason comp) tin, and which appear,
from the returns of the average prices of corn during
the late weeks,' to be progressively increasing rather
Clan diminishing.
Your Committee do not venture to determine, win-
ther the ',resent state of the corn market be owing to an
riCellt of production, or to what extent that excess may
reach, beyond the osual and requisite supply ; or whe-
ther the necessities of the occnpiers of land cause en un-
precedented eagerness to dispose of their produce at,
almost any price ; but it appears from an official return,
that the qnantity of British wheat and oats (but not of
barley) sold in Mark-lane, between the let November
and Ist March last, has very considerably exceeded the
quantity sold in the corresponding months of the 20 pre-
ceding years.
Such an excess of supply beyond demand can have
no other effect than to continue the depression of
price, and increase the accumulation or the stuck upon
030 A while it is evident, fruit the present eery low
rate of price on the continent of Europe. as coinp ired
with prices in this country, that there is no chance I,
marketg to the natural expedient of relieving the
by exporting any portion of 011 t own corn.
even with the aid of any bounty which would mit be
excessive.
Tao other modes have therefore been under the con-
sideration of your Committee; by the first of which it
was proposed that one million of Exchequer Bills should
be applied to porchasiag, throngh the a ....eau of Go-
vernment. and laying up in store a eertoln portion of
'-0 grown in the United Kingdom; and by the
-'-at facility and encouragement should be of-
luals to deposit a part of their stock in
that they might not be forced to come
<et simultaneously, and under the disadvan-
ive competition, but might be enabled to
supply. having approached nearer to the
u consmers, might afford, if not a reamer-
, a price somewhat lens rulnons far their

gird to the first of these proposals. the general
-limit making the public, through the Es-
omens, a dealer and speculator in corn, the
which it might give rise, and the uneasi-
abbe feeling which it might eventually eit.
Inger of its bring drawn into precedent, the
irh it might be supoosod to give to other int-
wticles of domestic pwsissw, „whenever they

lea.;
-ice

might be exposed to similar ileprt ulna, and the
.iteerell
rule of 'Bowing all Leis les, as much as pds4hto, nil
their own natural level, by leaving the .iipp'y to 41151
'Serif to the demand, discourage yoor Committee frau.
recommending it, aria ander this ext riordinary entree-
cues% and with AI the guards and qualcations
the ofsecond.
a tem-
porary expedient. lint with regard to
although much less efficaciou• in its' open,
.re the onot
b.
jection of Government
apply, as isdividnals would in this case am for sham
selves, and according to their own discretion, the ti
ad-
ts-
vernment interfering ao otherwise than by making
vances upon the commodity deposited, which would be
repaid, with a low rate of interest, as soon as the ankh
should be brought to market.
Fur effecting this object. two different moles bay,
.!wen suggested; by one of which it was proposed,
that when the weekly average price is ostler 58s.
(tile import scale rasitaining as at present) wheat should
'.be stored, subject to a monthly. allowance of sixpence
per quarter, until the average price should reach 65s.and
The whole quantity not to exceed rotooo quarters,
the time for which the allowance should be payable not
to exceed It or 18 months.
' Not more than a certain number of quarters, nor less
than another specified number of quarters, to be dared
on the part of any individual or firm.
The owner of the corn so deposited. to he at lib/My to
withdraw it at any time, waiving his claim to ollonsemee,
or refunding it.
The other proposition was, That for the purpose of
relieving the glut which at present Orestes ore the Frain
market, the Government. whenever the average price oil
wheat shall he under fine. should grant advances of money
upon such corn of the growth of the United Kingdom,l
las should he deposited in lit and proper warehouses upon
die river Thames. and in the ports to be hereafter specs-
,lkeda to an extent sot exceeding two-thirds of the market
'odes of such corn ; the quality of the corn and the fit-
area of the warehouses, to be approved of by officers to
be appointed by the Government.
The limo to be at the rate of 3 per cent., and the period
of deposit nut to exceed 12 months.
The corn to lie withdrawn at the will of the depositor,l
upon payment of the interest, warehouse rent, and other
charges.
The sum of one million so applied would probably
be fully. adequate to give a temporary check to the excess
which is continually poured into the already overstock-
ed market.
If the 'loose should be inclined to agree with your
Committee in countenancing the latter of these propel-
dons, it is evident that it ought to lead to some immedi-
ate proceeding; and although no very great effect can
be contemplated from adopting it. its operation, as far
as it may extend, can hardly fail to afford some tempo-
rary relief.
There is another measure also to wbicb it is fit to call
the early attention of the House.
The foreign train and door of all sorts in different
se warehous ut.der the King's lock, appeart to have
ainounted, on stb Jan. last, to 897.136 quarter' ; w
regard to which, although there is little probability that
it can soon come into competition with our home produce,
yet it still hangs over the market in a formidable mass;
ready to be poured in at once, creating no soiall degree
of panic at to its future operation, and invested with a
sort of claim (which Is of the utmost importance) to be
brought out free from duty, wli the ports shill bP
opened tinder the existing law, even supposing any duty
shall be imposed by Parliament, antler an a
dial law,upon all cora hereafter to be imported fromalteration fo-
reign parts.
To relieve the mark,* from both these inconveniences.
it may be proper to permit the holders of such corn now
in warehouses, under certain adequate regulations and
restrictions, to have the same ground into flour for ,the
purpose of exportation ; and also to provide, by legisla-
tive enactment, that io future any foreign corn ware-
housed in this kingdom, shall be consideted as contemn-
ing from abroad, and subject to all such duties and re-
gulations as are or may from time to time be imposed
upon corn coming directly from a foreign port.
A proposition, which was submitted to your Commit-
tee, for advancing loans to parishes on the credit of rates,
appeared to be attended with so many difficulties, and
to be so little applicable to the purpose of alleviating the
distresses which are complained of, that they do not
deem it necessary to enter into any examination of it,
nor to lay it before the House.
Moab as your Committee lament, that so little pros-
pect of immediate relief can be held out to the urgent
distresses which have been submitted to their anxious
consideration, they think it material to obvi mud
counteract any unfounded alarm which may have been,
either casually or industriously, circulated, that there was
ever the least intenCon entertained by your Committee, of
rendering the present condition of the British cultivators
worse ''ian it is under the existing law; and they there-
fore submit, with great confidence, to the House, that
the Act of the 55th of the late King. c. 26, which regu-
lates the importation of foreign corn, ought to continue
in force until the ge price for wheat shall be Mk.
per quarter. and other kinds of grain in proportion.
It is impossible to carry protection further than mono-
poly ; and it cannot be denied, that this monopoly the
British grower has possessed for more than there years,
that is, ever since February 1819, with the exception of
the ill-tiineil and unnecessar oftiportation of somewhat
more than 700,000 quarters oats, which took place
during the summer of 1820. It must be considered fur-
ther, that this protection, in consequence of the increased
value of our currency, and the present state of the sup-
ply of corn combined with the prospect of an early har-
vest, may, in all probability, remain usiaterrupted for a
very considerable time to come.
gut for the purpose of obviating the dangers in which
this law can hardly fail, sooner or later, to involve the
cultivators of the soil, and in conformity' to the reason-
ing contained in the Report of the Counuittee of the last
Sesdon upon the same subjert, some material change
ttttt st be contemplated; your Committee, therefore,' can-
not avoid suggesting, whether, under a toll view of all
the circumstances, it may not be the duty of Parliament
to turn its immediate attention to the ritinous conse-
quences which must follow an unlimited importation
and free sale of the surplus produce of the whole agri-
cultural world, which is known at this time to he in a
state of glut, at least .goal to what prevails within this
kingdom, no less impatient for, and nnprovided dith a
market. with a commodity r tised at much less clisrge
than our own, which the proprietors woold be really to
sell even at a considerable loss, rather than not dispose
of it at all.
The excessive inconvenience and itnpoliry of our pre-
seat system, have been so fully treated, and so satisfac-
torily exposed in the Report already alluded to, that it
is unnecessary to do more than refer to it ; adding only.
that every thing which has happened subsequent to the
presentation of that Report, as well as all our experienci-
since 1815, has more and more tended to demonstrate
bow little reliance can be placed upon a regulation
which contains an absolute prohibition tip to a certain
price, and an unlimited competition beyond that price ;
which. so far from affording steadiness to our market,
may at one time reduce prices already too low, still ,
lower than they might have been even under a free trade.)
and at another, unnecessarily enhance prices already to.
bight ; which tends to aggravate the evils of scaritityt
and render more the depression of prices front
abundance.
The mode in which these excessive inconveniences
may receive some modification (laying for the present
out of the question o bat permanent besis may be ulti-
mately the fittest for our corn trade) appears to consist

j, ?I, 91
wheat grown in the united
wimp's). a ..... -j ....
second, that facility and encouragement should be of.
feted to individuals to deposit a part of their stock in
: t, • warehouses, so that they might not be forced to come
into the market simultaneously, and under the disadvan-
tage of excessive competitioo,. bat might be enabled to
1:!' 1!/; , wait until the supply. having approached nearer to the
I ' wants of the consumers, might afford, if not a resumer.
14., i i
4• 1 ,: cuing, at least a price somewhat lessa rulnons far their
'.
produce.
• With regard to the first of these proposals. the genera
, objections against snaking the public, through the Ex
*votive tiovernment, a dealer and speculator in rorn, the
suspicions to which it might give rise, and the uneasi
ress is the public feeling which it might eventually es
cite, the danger of its being drawn into
.precedent. tit
claims which it might be supoosed to give to other in
portant articles of domestic produce, whenever the
, -
. •
. t • Prices, March 16, 455. 11d.; March 9, 465. 10d,
1. March 2.460. lid. ; Feb. 33, 475. 74. The highest Nil
of any one week, in Iti22, was ;ios. 74;