§ House in Committee.
§ The CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUERmoved a Resolution to the effect that, in lieu of the duties of Customs now chargeable on the articles undermentioned, imported into the United Kingdom, the following duties should be charged, namely, coffee, the lb., 3d.; coffee, kiln-dried, roasted, or ground, the lb., 6d.
§ MR. T. BARINGsaid, that it was his opinion that an equalisation of duties would be injurious to our colonies, more particularly to Ceylon, which had lately made very great progress in its exports, and had always relied on a preference for its produce in the home market. He objected more especially to such a sudden equalisa- 180 tion, and would, at all events, have expected to see the same plan pursued with respect to coffee as had been followed with regard to sugar. Knowing the opinion of Government and of hon. Gentlemen, that the British producer was to have no advantage over the foreign producer, it would be useless for him to press his opposition, though he considered it well founded. Moreover, out of doors he had not heard of any agitation against it; and if the colonial producers thought that they could compete with the foreigner without differential or protective duties, he did not desire to restrain them, being in favour of competition wherever it did not amount to ruin, conceiving fair competition to be a benefit to the consumer. He did not wish protection for the sake of protection, but only to meet just claims; but he thought it would have been only fair had the reduction been to 3d. on colonial, and to 4d. on foreign coffee. He should like to know if the opinion of the Government of Ceylon had been taken as to the effects of this change? Whatever opinion might be entertained on this point, there could surely be no opposition to a plan which would prevent great adulteration in coffee; for, if the colonies were exposed to competition, they had, at all events, fair claims to fair dealing, and if there was a considerable adulteration which was injurious to the producer, to the importer, to the consumer, and to the revenue, it was the duty of Government to prevent it. It was not necessary to prove that the consumption of real coffee had fallen off very materially—the revenue returns proved the fact; and though the Chancellor of the Exchequer might say it was attributable to an increase of low-duty coffee and to a decrease of high-duty coffee, he could not deny that, since 1847, there had been a diminution of 6,000,000lbs., and that every year there had been a decrease in the deliveries of consumption. That decrease was not owing to any want of power to consume it, for the country was in a state of great prosperity—["Hear, hear !"]—at least that was what the Chancellor of the Exchequer said; nor was it from any indisposition to habits of temperance; nor to the place of coffee having been taken by any other excisable article, because tea, which was looked upon as being most in competition with coffee, had not increased in consumption beyond the increase of population. The real cause of it was undoubtedly the adulteration of coffee, which 181 had taken place in consequence of a Treasury Minute, which sanctioned adulteration with chicory, and the consequence of which was, that the Excise never prosecuted for any adulteration at all. The fair trader was thus exposed to all the effects of this adulteration, and he could hardly blame those who practised it for believing they had the authority of Government on their side. But the producer and importer were not the only persons injured—the consumer had to pay a very high price for an adulterated article. The best adulterated coffee contained about one-fourth of coffee, and the rest was of other ingredients, and the consumer ought to get a pound of it for 6d.; but, instead of that, he paid much more. If he was to take adulterated coffee, let him get it at a reasonable price. The Chancellor of the Exchequer considered chicory a very wholesome substitute for coffee; but then let it be used as a substitute. When the Treasury Minute was issued in 1840, coffee was at a very high price, and tea was much higher than it is at present, in consequence of the Chinese war. Chicory was admitted then because there was no fraud on the revenue, and it paid duty; but since that time it had been largely cultivated in England. The Chancellor of the Exchequer ought either to reduce the duty, so as to prevent adulteration, or to put an excise duty on chicory, or to withdraw the Treasury Minute. The reduction of duty to 3d. would not prevent the adulteration of coffee, when the article by which the adulteration was effected cost less than the duty. The example of the United States had been referred to in justification of the course proposed to be taken by the Government; but it should be recollected that, in the first place, there was no duty on coffee in the United States; and, secondly, that almost all the Americans ground their coffee in their own houses. It was not his intention to dwell on the sanitary part of the question; but he would observe, in passing, that the adulteration of coffee was detrimental to the health of the consumer. It was impossible to conceive why the adulteration of coffee should be permitted more than that of tea, pepper, and other exciseable articles. The Chancellor of the Exchequer had declared his unwillingness to maintain an army of excisemen. Those were mere words. Every one knew that not an additional exciseman would be necessary. Besides, he (MR. Baring) had that day pre- 182 sented a petition from growers and coffee dealers, stating that they were quite ready to submit to such visits of inspection, if such were necessary, for the purpose of putting down the unfair dealer who adulterated his coffee with chicory or other articles. If the Government would abolish the Treasury Minute, the knowledge that there was a power to prosecute in case of adulteration would go a great way towards putting an end to the adulteration. The newspapers of that very morning had stated that there had recently been no less than thirty-six prosecutions for adulteration of beer. Well, then, why did not the Government prosecute for adulteration of coffee, as well as for adulteration of beer and pepper? He could not understand the difference, unless it was that the excise officers did not wish to be put to the trouble of inspecting the manufactories of adulterated coffee. He believed the proposed reduction of the duty on coffee would not prevent adulteration. That, he understood, was the opinion generally entertained by those engaged in the coffee trade. In conclusion, he gave notice that either he, or some person better qualified, would submit a Motion to test the opinion of the House as to the propriety of permitting the adulteration of coffee.
MR. PRINSEPwas of opinion that the Government was dealing hardly with the Ceylon planters, who, in the belief that the discriminating duty would be maintained, had expended much capital on the cultivation of coffee. He was not prepared to give up the differential duty so easily as his hon. Friend who had preceded him. He submitted that coffee was a peculiar article, which could only be cultivated under very peculiar circumstances, and at enormous expense; and these considerations having led Parliament to give the coffee planter a differential duty, surely it should be removed, if at all, gradually, as in the case of sugar, and not all at once. As to the adulteration of coffee, he thought the best remedy was the reduction of the duty, to which he had no objection, so that it was effected fairly.
§ The CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUERsaid, that as the hon. Member for Huntingdon (MR. T. Baring) had given an intimation that the question of the adulteration of coffee would be specifically brought under the consideration of the House, he (the Chancellor of the Exchequer) would reserve for that occasion what he had to say in justification of the course 183 which he had pursued on that subject. With respect to the question more immediately before the Committee, he could but repeat some of the facts he stated when he brought forward his Budget. The consumption of colonial coffee had increased 5,000,000 lbs. during the last five years. In 1846 the quantity of colonial coffee entered for home consumption was 23,720,000 lbs., and in 1850 it was 28,832,000 lbs. During the same period the consumption of foreign coffee had fallen off more than 10,000,000 lbs.—a convincing proof that the differential duty was telling in a formidable manner against the introduction of foreign coffee. It must be admitted that when the quantity of colonial coffee imported into this country exceeded the whole consumption, there could be little need of a protective duty. This, however, was the fact, for during the past year we imported 36,000,000 lbs of colonial coffee, while the whole quantity of coffee, colonial and foreign, entered for home consumption was only 31,000,000 lbs. Thus it was apparent that the quantity of colonial coffee imported exceeded the gross consumption by 5,000,000 lbs., and nearly 3,500,000 lbs. of colonial coffee were actually exported again. It must be evident that, under these circumstances, protection was useless. On the other hand, it was certain that the duty had the effect of excluding certain descriptions of foreign coffee which it was desirable should come into consumption in this country. It might be assumed that the consumption of coffee would increase after the reduction of the duty, and the planters of Ceylon would benefit by that result.
§ MR. MOWATTwished to know what would be the actual amount of duty levied on coffee after the proposed reductions should have been made?
§ The CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUERreplied, that the duties now payable were, on colonial coffee, 4d. and 5 per cent; and on foreign, 6d. and 5 per cent. He proposed that, in future, every description of coffee should pay an uniform duty of 3d., without the 5 per cent.
§ MR. HUMEsaid, as to the adulteration of coffee, having heard in Committee upstairs three of the Government chemists opposed by three of the first chemists in London, on the question of the adulteration of tobacco, he feared it would be exceedingly difficult to detect the adulteration of coffee. Nor was coffee a worse case than many other articles. Growers 184 had stated that one-third of the quantity of sugar was adulterated; and, indeed, it was an ascertained fact that one-third more sugar was sold than was imported. Unless the purchaser paid attention to the article he purchased, fraud could not be prevented. Last week a merchant in the City sent him up some coffee and some chicory. He tested them, and he found very little difference between the coffee prepared with chicory and the pure coffee; but another person who tried them seemed to think that the chicory improved the flavour. Some in the House were old enough to remember the coffee prepared by MR. Hunt, which was made out of roasted corn and chicory, and people thought it a very good kind of coffee. For his own part he wished to see every exciseman removed; and if the principles of free trade were fairly developed, he thought that would yet be the result.
MR. E. H. STANLEYtrusted that he should not be chargeable with unnecessarily occupying the attention of the Committee if he ventured to make a few observations with reference to the peculiar difficulties with which the colonial producers of coffee had to contend. With respect to the West Indies, it was hardly necessary to say a word, for in those colonies the production of coffee had all but ceased. Ceylon was the colony deeply interested in this question. The foreign countries whose coffee came into competition with that of Ceylon were Arabia, La Guayra, Java, Costa Rica, Cuba, and Brazil. Of Mocha coffee the quantity imported was small, and it sold at a high price; it was likewise brought to this country by a long voyage, equal to that from Ceylon, and these circumstances combined to prevent it from entering into competition, to any great extent, with coffee of ordinary quality. The same observation applied to the coffee of La Guayra and Java; and as regarded the latter country, the manner in which the land was cultivated, and the monopoly of sale enjoyed by the Government, which forced the occupiers of Crown lands to sell it at fixed and unremunerating prices, tended much to discourage production. As regarded Central America, there was some competition in Costa Rica coffee, which, though not formidable at present, was increasing year by year. It was, however, of peculiar quality and high priced; and, moreover, the greater part found its way into the markets of North America —a circumstance accounted for by geo- 185 graphical position; while the remainder, with the exception of a very small quantity imported into this country, went into the markets of Germany. The quantity of coffee produced in Cuba was not very great, and the quality was not superior. The real competition was exclusively between the coffee of Ceylon and Brazil, and, therefore, he was desirous of stating, very briefly, the disadvantages under which the colonists of Ceylon laboured, compared with the coffee-producers of the Brazils. These circumstances were, the extent and quality of soil, labour, price of food, expense of clearing land, inland transit, and cost of voyage—the last item dividing itself into the two heads of insurance and freight. In Ceylon the soil was of limited extent, the coffee plant growing only on the uplands, the soil of which was described in the report of the Sugar and Coffee-planting Committee, and in other official documents, as being poor generally, and soon exhausted. It was also stated— and he believed accurately—that after four or five years the coffee plants pined and died unless they were carefully manured. To obtain a manure a large expenditure of capital was necessary, there being no pasture for cattle in the uplands. Brazil, on the other hand, possessed a rich alluvial vegetable soil. The area of cultivation was, practically, unlimited, and the coffee-tree lasted there, without artificial attention, for between twenty-two and thirty years. But the quality of soil and extent of territory — important as they were — were not so important as the facility of obtaining an adequate supply of labour. It was notorious that no labour was as cheap as slave labour in a country where public opinion was not directed against the practice of slavery. In Brazil, therefore, there was a constant supply of the cheapest labour. In Ceylon, on the other hand, it was almost impossible to induce the Kandians, who formed the great mass of the population to work as hired labourers, they believing it to be beneath their caste to do so. It had been calculated that the number of Kandians, who could be prevailed on to work, did not form one-fifth of the whole number of labourers required on the coffee estates. It had, in consequence, been found necessary to import Coolies from India to carry on cultivation. Even of these the number had never exceeded from 30,000 to 40,000, while the number of labourers actually wanted was 80,000. Thus the Ceylon planter was supplied with only half 186 the necessary amount of labour. The average wages of a Coolie were from 18s. to 20s. per month, with lodging, and food sold to him at a low fixed price. In Brazil all the food of the labourers was raised on the ground. Ceylon did not grow rice, which was imported from India at a heavy cost for freight, and paid a duty of 7d. per bushel, besides a charge for inland carriage, raising the price to 7s. or 8s. per bushel. Again, while the cost of clearing of estates, owing to the circumstances he had stated, was in Ceylon not loss than 3l. per acre, in Brazil 25s. to 30s. per acre covered the expense. In Ceylon the coffee grew only on the hills, at an altitude, in many places, exceeding 4,000 feet, and at a distance of not less than 70 to 100 miles inland. The roads, though improving, were still few; the usual mode of carriage was, to the nearest highway, from five to fifteen or twenty miles, on men's heads; and the cost of carriage to the shipping port was thus raised to a sum varying from 4s. 6d. to 8s. per cwt. On the other hand, in Brazil, where the estates lay mostly in the Organ mountains (Paracayba district), 60 miles inland, the average price for carriage was 8d. the arroba, or 2s. 2d. per cwt. Then, as to ship conveyance. From Rio it was possible to ship all the year round. At Colombo, from December to June, the monsoon blew from N.E.; from June to December, from the S.W. During this latter period—nearly half the year—ships found great trouble in loading or unloading on account of the waves and surf. There was another harbour on the opposite coast, Trincomalee, but no roads led there, and the distance from the coffee-growing districts was much greater. Again, the time of voyage from Ceylon was, on an average, not less than five months, while from Rio the average was two months or ten weeks. The freight from Brazil was not more than from 27s. to 57s. per ton, whereas from Ceylon the lowest freight was 3l. pet ton, but oftener 5l. 10s., and in 1847, when rice, imported for labourers on Ceylon estates, was shipped off to Ireland, it was as high as 7l. 10s. When the corn law was under discussion in that House, great stress had been laid on the circumstance that the home producer had no freight to pay. Let him have the benefit of the argument now, when he pointed out, in this respect, the more favourable condition of the foreign coffee-grower as compared with our own colonists. This would 187 appear in the summary of the case which he would give in this comparative statement:—
The difference, then, per cwt. between the cost from Ceylon and from Brazil was 18s. 6¾d. per cwt.; and this was exactly counterbalanced by the present rate of duty, which, at 2d. per lb., amounted to 18s. 8d. per cwt. Hence he inferred that that duty was no more than an adequate compensation for the disadvantages under which the colonial producer laboured. He would not longer detain the Committee, and, aware that anything beyond a protest would be unavailing, he should content himself with entering that protest.
COST OF COFFEE PER CWT. FROM CEYLON AND BRAZIL. Ceylon. Brazil. Difference. £ s. d. £ s. d. £ s. d. Cost of production 1 15 0 1 3 0 0 12 0 Carriage to place of shipment 0 5 6 0 2 2 0 3 4 Freight 0 5 0 0 2 4 0 2 8 Insurance 0 1 1½ 0 0 6¾ 0 0 6¾ Total cost per cwt. in England, exclusive of duty £2 6 7½ £1 8 0¾ £0 18 6¾
§ MR. LABOUCHEREthought, that unless the House was prepared to depart altogether from the principles for the regulation of commerce which it had of late years acted upon, it would not be induced by the hon. Gentleman (Mr. E. H. Stanley) to support discriminating duties. There were many circumstances at present tending to make this a favourable moment for the introduction of these equalising duties. It was a fact that they received from their own colonies at the present moment an amount of coffee in the year which they could not consume, and which they were, therefore, obliged to export. We were now receiving from our own colonies not only enough coffee for our own consumption, but a surplus for exporting abroad. There was, then, no such occasion for despondency on this head as seemed to be suggested. The hon. Gentleman had urged the great advantage which slave labour gave to the Brazils in the cultivation of coffee over the free-labour cultivation of our own colonies. He differed altogether from the hon. Gentleman as to the permanently greater cheapness of slave-labour; and anybody who paid the least attention to what was going on in Brazil at this moment must be aware upon how insecure a basis the whole system of slave-labour rested. No doubt, it had always been contended that in the cultivation of sugar there was great advantage to the employer of slave-labour, by reason of the constant and excessive na- 188 ture of the labour to which the wretched slaves were subjected; but then the cultivation of coffee had always been contrasted with that of sugar, as a cultivation which could be easily worked by free labour. The hon. Gentleman also spoke of the coffee-grounds of Ceylon as poor, thin land, not naturally adapted for the growth of coffee, and which, unless protected, must be thrown out of cultivation. This was the old argument for the protection of inferior soils, which had been so thoroughly used, so worn out in the corn-law debates, that he had never expected to hear it revived. The hon. Gentleman had revived it; but the House, he was sure, would at once repudiate it.
§ MR. CARDWELLsaid, the hon. Member for Montrose (MR. Hume) wanted to make out that adulterated coffee was just as good as pure coffee. The hon. Gentleman had, perhaps, not been sworn at Highgate, and was, therefore, not bound to prefer the better to the worse article; but it was extremely desirable that the House should not give Parliamentary sanction to fraud; there had already that been said in the House of Commons which encouraged the roguish grocer, which discouraged the honest trader, which had occasioned a falling off in the annual consumption of 3,200,000 lbs. of coffee, and an annual falling off in the revenue of 80,000l. It was time that the honest grocer should be told by Parliament that his neighbour, if a rogue, was at least not a rogue by authority of the House of Commons.
SIR F. T. BARINGsaid, that when he was Chancellor of the Exchequer, great complaints wore made, as now, of adulterations in coffee. A deputation, purporting to represent the coffee trade, that was to say, the honest coffee trade, waited upon him, and earnestly protested against the frauds committed by the dishonest grocers, which tended utterly to ruin those who obeyed the Excise regulations. He asked them, "Can you yourselves frame any set of Excise regulations which will not seriously interfere with trade?" and they at once answered in the negative. The only course that hereupon seemed adapted for giving all parties an equal chance, was to suspend those Excise regulations which it had been represented those knavish traders throve by systematically evading, and which it had been also represented the honest grocers were ruined by obeying.
§ MR. WAKLEYsaid, that in 1840 the 189 use of the miscroscope was not so well known as it was at present. As to the statement that it was impossible to discover the adulteration of coffee, he could assure the hon. Member for Montrose that there was no difficulty whatever. He asked how the Government could allow such a document as the Treasury Minute to remain in force, which was immoral in its tendency, sanctioning, as it did, a cheat and an imposture, and oppressing, as it had been shown, the honest trader? It was highly discreditable to Government, after all that had been said, to persist in retaining this Minute. He asserted that both chemically and medically chicory was a noxious, unwholesome root, and that its consumption was attended with pernicious consequences and most deleterious effects. He would readily undertake to show the Chancellor of the Exchequer, by the means of a microscope, the difference between the two articles.
MR. LOCKHARTsaid, that not only chicory, but beans, lupins, lentils, and all sorts of adulterations, were palmed off as coffee upon the poorer classes of consumers, who had not the remedy in their own hands, as, to a certain extent, the rich had.
§ LORD CLAUD HAMILTONsaid, that the observations of the hon. Member for Finsbury ought to receive great attention from the Government, on this particular question, as that hon. Member brought to bear not only his habitual philanthropic feelings towards the lower classes, but also great chemical and medical knowledge. His opinions were, therefore, entitled to great weight with the House and with the country. It was a very marvellous thing that the right hon. Gentleman, who boasted of being one of the chiefs of a free-trade Government, now came forward to advocate a protection which forced the lower classes to consume a deleterious drug. He trusted that the right hon. Gentleman would not lend the sanction of his high name to a system of fraud most injurious to the morals of the country. The right hon. Gentleman, in an unfortunate speech, declared his belief that the adulteration of coffee with chicory was wholesome; now that opinion was quoted in favour of the continuance of the fraud. He did not wish entirely to prevent the use of chicory, he wanted to have it by its right name; let them have chicory, or sham chicory, sold as such, but do not let the poor man be obliged to take for coffee 190 what was nothing but a deleterious, noxious, and unwholesome drug. If a person forged a letter upon the right hon. Baronet, and obtained five shillings under a false pretence, he would have him punished; but what was this adulteration but a false pretence?
§ The CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUERsaid, if he considered chicory a noxious and deleterious article, he would at once consent to the suggestion of the hon. Member for Finsbury (MR. Wakley); but it was because he did not believe that it was such that he still maintained his former opinion.
§ MR. WAKLEYbegged to explain; and to show the extent to which the adulteration of coffee was carried on, he might state that examination had been made of coffee bought at a hundred different shops, and nearly every one of them was found to be adulterated, not only with chicory, but with roasted corn, acorns, peas, and beans. After this, chicory itself was purchased at a great many shops and examined, when it was found that the chicory was adulterated in the same way and with the same materials; so that it was plain the coffee was doubly adulterated, first by the articles themselves, and then by the chicory containing these articles. The right hon. Gentleman suffered very much last year from ill health, and he was afraid the cause might be traced to his taking adulterated coffee.
§ Resolution agreed to, as was the Resolution on the Timber Duties.
§ House resumed; Resolutions to be reported To-morrow.